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7.
Limiting Items Of Utility (Upabhoga-Paribhoga Parimăna Vrata) -
The householders' seventh vow and the second qualitative vow is about laying down a limit on the number of items of utility that one can use. It is not difficult to imagine that this vow is supplementary to the vow of limited possessions. Upabhoga means one-time use. Hence all those items that can be used only once come into its ambit. They are – food, water, etc. Paribhoga means repeated use and all those items that are used again and again such as -- house, clothes, jewellery, seats, beds, etc. fall in this category. There are as many as twentysix types of items of food and utility that have been mentioned in the seventh primary canonical work – Upā sakadaśānga and Srāvaka Pratikramaņa-sūtra. They cover almost all types of items that were prevalent in the households at that time and during that period
The excesses (Aticāra) of this vow concern two areas of a householder's activities, namely concerning his food-habits and his vocation. The first part concerns infringement of the laid-down or accepted limits in respect of items of food and the second part about the vocational pursuits.
The Excesses included in the first Part are as follows: - a. Sacittāhāra – To eat the raw food beyond the accepted
limit, Sacitta Pratibadhāhāra - To consume converted food
attached to raw part, c. Apakva-ausadhi Bhaksanal- to consume uncooked
food, d. Duspakva-ausadhi Bhaksana-to consume half-cooked
food, and e. Tuccha-ausadhi Bhaksana – to consume such food in
SĀGĀRA VINAYA (THE HOUSEHOLDERS' CONDUCT): 259
