sÄyantanaá¹ Å›vastanaá¹ vÄ
na saṅgṛhṇīta bhikṣukaḥ
maká¹£ikÄ iva saá¹…gá¹›hṇan
saha tena vinaśyati

 sÄyantanam - meant for the night; Å›vastanam - meant for tomorrow;  - either; na - not; saá¹…gá¹›hṇīta - should accept; bhiká¹£ukaḥ - a saintly mendicant; maká¹£ikÄ - honeybee; iva - like; saá¹…gá¹›hṇan - collecting; saha - with; tena - that collection; vinaÅ›yati - is destroyed.


Text

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 maká¹£ikÄ 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 maká¹£ikÄ bee his spiritual consciousness will be ruined. This point is so important that it is repeated in this verse.