Bhikshatana
Every question on the site tagged Bhikshatana, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The discipline of alms-begging — subsisting solely on alms collected during specific hours from unrelated households — used by advanced lineages to eliminate spiritual ego (Guru-ahankara) in accomplished practitioners; Lord Dattatreya Himself is said to embody this practice.
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Warnings rather than sudden retribution when conduct or ritual slips, and Bhikshatana between 11:30 and 1:30 to dissolve an accomplished practitioner's ego
Higher entities closely monitor a practitioner's conduct, sending warnings for errors in conduct or ritual rather than sudden retribution; advanced lineages further use Bhikshatana (subsisting solely on alms from unrelated households during fixed hours) to eliminate the spiritual ego of accomplished practitioners, a discipline Lord Dattatreya Himself is said to embody.
What does the kavach say about Dattatreya's daily round?
It is written in it, the speaker says, that Mahamuni Dattatreya daily bathes in the morning in the river Ganga at Kashi; then, reaching the Mahalakshmi temple of Kolhapur by the sea, does japa and dhyana of the Devi; and going to Mahuripur, Mahurgadh, does bhiksha there; and then rests and sleeps in the caves of Sahyachal in digambar garb. Reading all this, he says, you will get to know a great deal — there are many things in this kavach.
May sweeping be done while a puja is going on?
Asked whether sweeping may be done while doing puja, since many pandits forbid it, he takes the question to mean that someone else is sweeping while you sit at puja — and in that case it absolutely should not be done. At the time of performing puja, sweeping, mopping, or giving anything to anyone in alms, all these things must remain stopped. So long as the puja runs, sweeping, mopping and bhiksha must not happen.
What happens if alms are given while one's puja is going on?
If that is done, there is also an insult of the devatas and a destruction of punya. If you are giving alms or daan while your puja is running, and someone of your household goes and gives in alms, then all your punya has gone over there. And in tantra, he says, there is a different game altogether in this: if someone's sadhana is to be stopped or destroyed, or something is to be projected, it is at just such a time that this asking of bhiksha is made. So they forbid it rightly.
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