Study a Verse

• According to Vedic regulations, one practicing austerity should collect only what he requires for immediate use, and upon receiving gifts of foodstuff he should immediately give up that which he has previously collected, so that there will be no surplus.
• One should never stock food or other bodily necessities for future use.
• Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura points out that unless one is completely incapacitated, one should not depend on others for one’s personal maintenance, as this will create a debt that can only be repaid by taking another birth in the material world.

The purport's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Uncertainty → Clarity. The coming separation makes the instruction personally urgent.

Chapters 10–20 of Canto 11: Kṛṣṇa's teachings on self, yoga and wisdom. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 18: Description of Varṇāśrama-dharma

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

He should accept as his food whatever bulbs, fruits, roots and so on that grow in the forest, taking sometimes grains cooked by fire and sometimes fruits ripened by time. Furthermore, he should take as his garments tree bark, grass, leaves or the skin of a deer.