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Jaina Acara: Siddhanta aura Svarupa
The Vedic and Bauddha mendicants were never required to observe such hard rules. They could take all kinds of food, cooked for them, or even bought for them. Only it should be offered with due respect. The Buddha was invited by Sina, an army-chief and he obliged him with his followers. He obliged a Chief Minister, too, along with his 1250 followers. But a Jaina monk cannot accept food from a house where out of the two concerned persons one wants to offer but the other is reluctant, since such food necessarily involves some subtle violence.
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Vṛhatkalpa says that a monk should relax and renounce physical activities before moving out for alms-tour. He should know what kind of vow he is to observe, how much and what kind of food he has to take. He does not accept food if it should be meant for a pregnant woman, for beggars or for the poor. He has to see that the mistress of the house, after having offered food, has not to cook again for her family. He is not one to collect food by hook or crook. If in some village he is given nothing, he should take it as a blessing in disguise. This is an opportunity for him to practise still harder penances. He should know what villages are hospitable or otherwise. Hospitality only means care in offering food because of Jainas' prescribed or self-imposed restrictions.
A monk should not be in a hurry to take fresh and relishable food before some of his other associates should reach there. When the mind is unsteady, he cannot even properly inspect the offered food and thus incur sin. He has to enter houses for alms. In those houses there are girls and beautiful ladies. Unless he be steady, he cannot possibly have acceptable food. In no case should he introduce himself. The householder should also offer food selflessly. Only then it can be uncontaminated.
While going out for alms, he may imagine as follows:
(1) Petikā It is a small bag or a basket. If houses in a village be like this, a monk should divide them in four parts and move out for alms with a four-sided gait.
(2) Ardhapetika-It is to accept food after dividing the houses in two
parts.
(3) Gomutrika-It is to take alms in a zigzag way like the flow of a cow's urine.
(4) Patangavithika-To accept food not from houses in a line but by leaving some of them like the flight of a kite.
(5) Gatvapratyāgata-It is to take food from houses in a line and while returning, a monk enters the houses opposite those first visited. Sankhāvarta-It is to take alms in a circular manner like a conch. (7) Rjugati-It is to take alms in a straightforward manner.
(6)
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