By: Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji
There is a nomadic Durmurgi tribe in northern Karnataka which has a traditional occupation of begging. They were asked to stop begging by the Government authorities. These families would walk, from village to village, as their forebears had done for ages, subsisting on alms. Good-intentioned government officials gave them a reorientation about the virtues of hard work that would help them earn a living. These families were enrolled as labor under a rural employment scheme. Reports said the families were happy to embrace a socially dignified means of livelihood.
Let us analyze the ancient practice (read ‘institution’) of begging: Bhiksha, begging, began as a religious practice, not due to economic poverty. A prince like Siddartha, as the enlightened Buddha, practiced begging. So did Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, Christian friars, and some nomadic tribes. The most exalted beggar perhaps was Mahavishnu who incarnated as a dwarf, Vamana, and approached the king with a begging bowl, to reset the corrupted cosmic order.
The enlightened person who chooses poverty as a way of life does not beg, plead, or solicit for alms. He just goes around or sits in calm. The laity who feels inspired, bring and lay their offerings before him. They feel blessed if their offering gets accepted by the noble soul.
Sai Baba, the Sage of Shirdi often went around the village, begging. He called at a few select homes – not the richest in the village – whose offerings he accepted. Such “begging” is the obverse of anna-daana, which requires that the daana (charity) should consist of items acquired by fair means, offered with humility and reverence, to worthy recipients.
Sai Baba used to beg from five houses. He used to mix this food and eat it with dogs, pigs, sparrows. He did not bother about taste or quality. He was a personification of ‘Vairagya’ – dispassion.
‘Begging’ is respected in Hinduism, Sufism, Buddhism, Judaism, and some Christian denominations. Begging had a code of conduct. A young Hindu, after initiation, is required to beg for himself and his preceptor. The preceptor guides him regarding the homes where to call. Once the day’s requirement is received, the pupil must forthwith return and lay the collection before his preceptor. Storing for the morrow is evil. As Jesus exhorted, seek from providence your ‘daily bread’. No donor may send a fat sack of rice to the preceptor. How much should a donor give? The common measure was a fistful.
After completing his education, if the pupil so chose, he could become a mendicant. This comes from the Latin word, mendicare, meaning, ‘to beg’. Mendicants, cutting across religions and nations, practiced the Vedic value of aparigraha, non-possession. When Ramana Maharshi left home empty-handed to discover Self, he received a dhoti from a kindly donor. The Maharshi felt it was too much to accept. He tore it on one side, just enough for a loincloth, and returned the ‘extra’ wear!
Many mendicants in India went around the villages discoursing or singing edifying songs and psalms. Sometimes, they carried an ektara, a single-stringed harp, suggesting the bare minimum. The very visit, the sheer footfall of such a mendicant, was seen as a blessing by villagers. His presence was purifying and uplifting. And this positivity would linger even after the mendicant moved to the next village.
Now beggary has lost its virtue and degenerated into becoming a nuisance, inviting legislative ban in many places which is due to the shift in values and ways of life.
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