Skip to main content

ŚB 11.8.12

Devanagari

सायन्तनं श्वस्तनं वा न सङ्गृह्णीत भिक्षुक: ।
मक्षिका इव सङ्गृह्णन् सह तेन विनश्यति ॥ १२ ॥

Text

sāyantanaṁ śvastanaṁ vā
na saṅgṛhṇīta bhikṣukaḥ
makṣikā iva saṅgṛhṇan
saha tena vinaśyati

Synonyms

sāyantanam — meant for the night; śvastanam — meant for tomorrow; — either; na — not; saṅgṛhṇīta — should accept; bhikṣukaḥ — a saintly mendicant; makṣikā — honeybee; iva — like; saṅgṛhṇan — collecting; saha — with; tena — that collection; vinaśyati — is destroyed.

Translation

A saintly mendicant should not even collect foodstuffs to eat later in the same day or the next day. If he disregards this injunction and like the honeybee collects more and more delicious foodstuffs, that which he has collected will indeed ruin him.

Purport

Bhramara refers to that honeybee who wanders about from flower to flower, and makṣikā is the honeybee who accumulates more and more honey in the beehive with great attachment. A saintly mendicant should be like the bhramara bee because if he imitates the makṣikā bee his spiritual consciousness will be ruined. This point is so important that it is repeated in this verse.