Shloka : 193

भिक्षां सभां विना नैव गन्तव्यं गृहिणो गृहम् ।

व्यर्थ:कालो न नेतव्यो भक्तिं भगवतो विना ॥ 193 ॥

અને ભિક્ષા તથા સભાપ્રસંગ એ બે કાર્ય વિના, ગૃહસ્થના ઘર પ્રત્યે જવું નહિ. અને ભગવાનની જે નવ પ્રકારની ભક્તિ તે વિના, વ્યર્થ કાળ નિર્ગમવો નહિ; નિરંતર ભક્તિ કરીને જ કાળ નિર્ગમવો. ॥ 193 ॥

And to accept the alms or to attend the (religious) gathering, only for these two purposes, a house of a Grihastha should be visited; and the saints should not waste their time but should practice the nine types of devotion and they should spend time through continuous worship of God. || 193 ||

Commentary

The saint devotees of Shri Hari should not visit the house of a Grihastha for any purpose other then accepting alms and attending some religious gathering. 'Alms' means to ask for the raw food or if invited, to go to various houses to 'accept the alms' i.e. to have food. And 'Gathering or Assembly' means the devotees of God get together and discuss the religion and philosophy etc. topics of knowledge. If the function has been organized at a Grihastha’s house and the saints have been invited to attend the function, then they should go. They should go in a group of minimum five saints.

While asking for the alms, they should go to a house of a pious Grihastha, where the doors are open, without looking at the women, they should recite the name of Shri Hari in loud voice and in this way ask for the alms, i.e. while standing outside, they should ask for the alms and they should not trouble only one Grihastha but from many houses they should accept a little food as alms. Then, the Tyagi Sadhu should become pure and clean, and cook the food which has been given as alms and offer cooked food to Shri Hari. After that the food should be mixed with the 'Charnamrit' of Shri Hari or that with the water offered to Shri Hari, and then with recitation of the name of Shri Hari and with the remembrance of the divine form of Shri Hari, the saint should have food. Thus, by accepting the alms from various houses, the Tyagis destroy all the sins committed by the people who have given alms.

Moreover, the Tyagi devotees of Shri Hari should not spend a single moment without practicing the nine types of devotion towards God which are hearing, reciting etc. And at various places, the Tyagis should teach all the seeker devotees, who surrender to them, the devotion towards Shri Hari only which destroys all the sins, strengthens one’s state of being into religion and makes one experience only the divine form of Shri Hari.