Pravachanasara

SR No.: 003289
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram
Publication Year: 1964
Total Pages: 612
Language: Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 16 MB

Page 575

410
Translation of
[III, 26
26. He is Sramana who has no desires in this world and no attachment for the next, whose diet and tourings are proper, and who is free from passions.
*17. The ascetic becomes negligent or careless, when he is affected by the four (passions), anger etc.1 and unhealthy gossip, by the objects of senses, and by affection and drowsiness.
27. (Really speaking) the soul of the monk does not eat (any) food; that is the (internal) penance; and the ascetics are after that. The ascetics are (as good as) without food, even if they accept faultless food.
28. The Sramaņa possesses the body alone, and even towards the body he pays not attention of mineness; he yokes the same to austerities without concealing his ability.
29. (The proper food consists of) one meal which is not stomachful, in the form in which it is obtained, which is obtained by begging and by day, wherein there is no consideration of juices and which does not contain honey and flesh.
*18-19. There is an incessant growth of subtle organisms of the nigoda class2 (similar to the colour of the flesh etc.) in the pieces of flesh cooked or raw and in the course of being cooked; he, who eats or touches the pieces of raw or baked flesh, kills, in fact, a host of many crores of beings.
*20. The unauthorised food (i.e., not sanctioned by the scriptures), which has fallen in the (cavity of) palms, should not be given to others; he is unfit to eat (again) after giving it (to others); if he eats, he must repent for that.
30. A monk, young or old, exhausted or diseased, should practise a course of conduct fit for him in a manner that there is no violation of primary virtues.
31. If a Sramana observes his course of conduct understanding the (nature of) food, touring, place, time, physical labour, his forbearance and his bodily condition, he incurs the least bondage.
32. He, who is concentrated on one thing alone, is a Sramana; such a concentration is possible for him whose comprehension of the
1. Anger, pride, deceit and greed are the four passions; unhealthy gossip is also of four kinds: about women about food, about thieves etc. and about the state.
2. nigoda beings form a class by themselves at the lowest stage of evolution with minimum amount of vitality. They live in groups rather than as individuals. They are said to take birth and die eighteen times within a wink of time.