It came to you instinctively.

Madhukari is an ancient Indian tradition of collecting alms from householders by Sanyasins. Let me explain the origin of the word and why it is termed as Madhukari.

The Honeybee

What does a honeybee do? It collects honey and stores it in a Beehive.

Note that the honeybee does not extract the entire nectar from a flower. The honeybee is an intelligent specie, it knows that if today it extracts the entire nectar from a flower, tomorrow it won’t get any more. The honey bee hops from one flower to another and suck nectar and other essential ingredients. The honey bee processes these natural nectar and converts it into honey, which is then stored in the Bee hive.

The honey bee stores its food for a rainy day. Bees produce honey as food stores for the hive during long months of winter when flowers aren’t blooming and therefore little or no nectar is available to them.

What is Madhukari?

Madhukari is an Indian tradition which encourages a monk to live life like a Honey bee does.

The monk is encouraged to beg for his own food by visiting different families door to door. The monk must beg for his food and be dependent on the generosity of the householder. At the same time, the monk must not suck the entire nectar, he must not demand too much from any house. He should fulfil his need for food by taking as little alms as possible and by begging from one door to another.

This particular mode of bheeksha is called Madhukari, collecting food and only food like a bee which goes from flower to flower and putting it all together for future use. It is the duty of a householder to offer food to the needy and only after he has offered his “Madhukar”, he should feed himself and his family members. Alas, these principles have been long forgotten and people don’t respect it anymore.

What’s the Purpose behind Madhukari?

When a person enters “Parivrajaka”, the final stage of life, he is supposed to live the life of a “Madhukar”.

This is the stage when the man must free himself from all needs. He must free himself from material needs of property and money. He must free himself from emotional needs of relationships, family and belonging. He must free himself and wander about in search of eternal truth. He must fulfil his need of food by collecting it from a householder and showering him his blessings and wisdom.

Parivrajakacharya – Parivrajaka + Acharya – a wandering teacher, the ultimate journey of a man.

___________

Hippie Lou, this is very interesting. You have been practicing Madhukari not knowing that you were doing so. It came to you instinctively. Not a bumblebee but a honeybee, you are nourished by those you meet and touch with your stories... beautiful.

rekindling

Hi Hippie Lou,

What kismet that we bumped into each other three weeks ago! Thank you again for your original zine.

How have you been? Let me know when's a good time to get coffee at Jivamuktea Cafe.

Speak soon!

Warmly,

you can breathe.

i realized the problem
was not with me and my thinking
but with the architecture of the world

i was seeking free space
in the broadest sense
across all dimensions
where we could all flourish

i set off searching for that space
and if it could not be found
whether it could be created
in my mind's eye
and by my behavior

watching the trail of crumbs
i had left behind

organizing those crumbs
looking at the trail
the detours
the shifts

seeing what i moved towards
and what i moved away from
see who moved towards me
who moved away

to see what happened
and wonder why

to reveal by
revealed preference

energy flows
motivations
preferences
endowments
technology

and to use that information

to see if an alternative pocket
an alternative fold
could somehow be built

inside the skin of our world

you have constructed
a pocket for yourself

you can breathe

you can breathe

you can breathe

you can breathe.

i realized the problem
was not with me and my thinking
but with the architecture of the world

i was seeking free space
in the broadest sense
across all dimensions
where we could all flourish

i set off searching for that space
and if it could not be found
whether it could be created
in my mind's eye
and by my behavior

watching the trail of crumbs
i had left behind

organizing those crumbs
looking at the trail
the detours
the shifts

seeing what i moved towards
and what i moved away from
see who moved towards me
who moved away

to see what happened
and wonder why

to reveal by
revealed preference

energy flows
motivations
preferences
endowments
technology

and to use that information

to see if an alternative pocket
an alternative fold
could somehow be built

inside the skin of our world

you have constructed
a pocket for yourself

you can breathe

you can breathe

you can breathe

cooking up something good.

Hey Hippie-

Looks like you are cooking up something good, but you're gonna have to explain. Not sure what I'm looking at in the pictures. Is it a pen pal thing?

Hope you are doing well!!

✌🏼️,
M

Teyze says "hello" back to you. I told her about your performance today and she said "tell him to continue doing it. 👍👍👍

This is now only of historical interest but I wanted you to read my sentiment

You can call whenever. You were tremendously generous with your counsel and I know you wanted the same from me