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Vigilant Seeking Of Food etc (Esana Samiti) –
To seek and obtain food and other monastic necessities like shelter, clothes, utensils, etc with due discretion is to observe the rules of vigilant seeking or Eṣaṇā Samiti. Food is the prime necessity for preserving the body, which is a means to perform even the monastic duties. According to the practices followed in the two traditions - Digambara and Śveta-mbara - there is some amount of monastic equipage that their ascetics keep. Seeking these necessities requires exercise of a lot of care and watchful discretion. The ascetics have to be extra careful because exercising due care may even deprive them of accepting available food and other necessities and they may be tempted to overlook some provisions. Jaina practices prescribe seeking and accepting food only for sustaining life for preserving the body for monastic duties and not for satisfying their taste buds or enhancing their bodily strength and looks. They are, therefore, to avoid 42 flaws of seeking food. Mūlācāra by Vattakera also mentions 46 flaws of origin, production, purposive food, etc, which must be avoided by the ascetics while seeking and accepting food. The spatial constraint of distance directs that food can be sought only within a distance of two miles, that of time specifies that food must be sought, brought and consumed within the third quarter of the day (these days, however, the food is sought brought and consumed three times a day. Nevertheless, time-constraint still applies and the ascetics are not supposed to keep the food for more than threequarters of the day), the constraint of mood requires them not to have any attachment towards food or other material monastic possessions.
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For a proper observance of these discretionary provisions, only those monks or nuns are allowed to proceed on food-seeking rounds, who have studied the 'Pindaniryukti 'that contains detailed descriptions of all the flaws of seeking food and the ways to avoid them. Only those monks or nuns who have studies
298 JAINISM: THE CREED FOR ALL TIMES
