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HISTORY OF VEGETARIANISM IN INDIA
The sannyāsin does not sacrifice anymore as the grhastha does since he has himself become identical with the sacrificial fires which consist in his vital breaths (prāņa). His sacrifice is an ātmayajña, a sacrifice in his self,262 and it consists of the food he has begged. His detachment from all sensual pleasure requires that he eats his food like a medicine, i.e. without tasting it, after having given portions to the creatures out of compassion.263
Vasiştha and Gautama teach that the ascetic has to be indifferent towards the creatures by avoiding injury as well as favour.264
Of great importance are Gautama's rules that the ascetic shall not take any limb of plants and trees if it is not (already) separated [638] and that he shall avoid the destruction of seeds.265 This means that he has to subsist on food devoid of life.
The idea that the sannyāsin must live only on food that is abandoned voluntarily and spontaneously is already present in the Isopanişad:
All this that moves on earth (= all living beings) is to be dwelled in by (= is the abode of) the Lord. Therefore you should nourish yourself with what is abandoned (voluntarily ceded to you); you should not covet anybody's property. 266
At the same time this verse is another instance for the conception that the Self (Ātman) - here identified with the Lord - dwells in all living beings. This conception is, moreover, again connected with the idea of ahimsā: “"Demoniac" are called those worlds, they are covered with blind darkness - to them those people go after death who are killers of souls (or: "a soul").' - 'Who however sees all beings in his own self, and his self in all beings – from him it (the one) does not strive to protect (hide) itself (= to him it reveals itself readily). 267
262 Baudh 2, 10, 18, 8-9. 263 Baudh 2, 10, 18, 10 bhūtebhyo dayāpūrvam samvibhajya sesam adbhiḥ
samsprśyauşadhavat prāśnīyāt. 264 Vas 10, 29 upekşakaḥ sarvabhūtşu himsānugrahaparihāreņa. Gaut 3, 24 samo
bhūteșu himsānugrahayoḥ. 265 Gaut 3, 20 nāviprayuktam oşadhivanaspatīnām angam upādadīta. 23 varjayed
bijavadham. 266 Isop 1 išāvāsyam idam sarvam yat kim ca jagatyam jagat, tena tyaktena
bhuñjīthā mā grdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam. The translations from Isop are those of P. THIEME, JAOS 85, 1965, 89 sqq.
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