Shloka : 17

स्तेनकर्म न कर्तव्यं धर्मार्थमपि केनचित् ।

सस्वामिकाष्ठपुष्पादि न ग्राह्यं तदनाज्ञया ॥ 17 ॥

અને ધર્મ કરવાને અર્થે પણ અમારા સત્સંગી કોઈએ ચોરનું કર્મ ન કરવું; અને ધણિયાતું જે કાષ્ઠ, પુષ્પ આદિક વસ્તુ તે તેના ધણીની આજ્ઞા વિના ન લેવું. ॥ 17 ॥

My devotees should not perform theft for the sake of religion also. Even the things like wooden sticks, flowers etc. should not be taken without the permission of the owner. || 17 ||

Commentary

Shri Hari says to His devotees: My devotees should not perform theft directly or forcibly or in a disguise to perform religious rites also. Because stolen material is unfit to perform religi­ous rites. Everyone should perform the religious rites using the materials which are obtained by the ethical means and profession prescribed by one’s caste system. And a person, who performs charity using the stolen material, attains the hell and the bene­fit goes to the person who owns the material. The prudent person, who does not accept anything even in his imagination which is not given to him, attains the higher stage of evolvement.