Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

no, if they are family members.

If I have to be honest I dont believe in such a thing....
This is just my opinion. Dont think of this as an offence. :)

[quote][cite] mishra:[/cite]no, if they are family members.[/quote]
so that means YES?
I have seen people buying used clothes. Even jackets user during the war. Isnt that super bad karma?

i heard if you buy it, should be OK, cause you are leveling out the karma like this...

i would be interested in a scriptural reference

Let me give a hint how you can find refs for yourself. This type of things are dealt with in dharma sastras. Go to the most prominent one, Manu samhita, online (if you dont have in on your hard disc) and search for desired keywords.

Ms 8.396 and 10.123-5 are closest to support not using others clothes.

396. A washerman shall wash (the clothes of his employers) gently on a smooth board of Salmaliwood he shall not return the clothes (of one person) for those (of another), nor allow anybody (but the owner) to wear them.

http://www.philosophy.ru/library/asiatica/indica/samhita/manu/index.html

thanks veda!

But that doesnt really address "karma," that just says that if an employee is washing his bosss clothes, he shouldnt give them to somebody else. Thats the sort of thing that should go without saying. If I dropped my clothes off at the dry cleaners, Id be furious if I saw a stranger on the street wearing them.

I think we create our own karma through our thoughts, decisions, and actions. If we can be condemned by something as simple as shopping at thrift store, then theres no point in even trying- Im already doomed.

About the way of spreading karmic influences:

Sin spreads from a man to man slowly by conversation, mutual touch, frequent association, taking food together, sitting together, lying together and travelling together. (Garuda Purana 1.115.6)

The second Ms quote is about used clothes given by brahmanas to sudras. They are fit to wear them but there is no mention that dvijas should do the same.

but one thing i dont know if these things are applicable to us kali yugers or even devotees.

Please see Bhag. 2.2.5 and purport
" Are there no torn clothes lying on the common road?"
Certainly such clothes would have been used by someone.
Personally, I gladly accept any gifts of useable preowned clothing. To me , it is terrible waste of Prabhupadas Laxsmi to buy new clothes. These funds can be used for so many other important necessities. Do one Nirjala Ekadasi fast and you can burn up more karma than you can imagine.

Yes, I agree. But if u are bit more sensitive, maybe others has this also, u can feel sometimes some really strange vibration from someone else clothes and u can be affected. The owner'b4s mind, frame of midn, deeds....everything is there, even if the clothes are clean.

And according Vaishnava ettiketh, what I read, that we can give our clothes to "younger" devotee and accept from "elder". Hmm..but I didn'b4t read about wearing the clothes from unknown people.

One should wash them you know or you may pick up a decease or something you know.

Bhag.2.2.5

Are there no torn clothes lying on the common road?

::::-)

None...

Does it mean you will get karma?

throw a small cow flop in the washer with the used clothes and they become suci.

Nectar from Jayanandas website: Murali Krsnas account
So finally, Jayananda and I were in a store together. Jayananda spent about a half hour getting the cheapest, most funky pair of pants he could find, and he goes, "Okay, I think these are okay." Then we get in line and I said, "Jayananda, theres some flip-flops over there," those little thongs, for about 80 cents. And he had one that was about this big on his foot, it only went about halfway up his sole, it was red, and he had another real big one with a hole in the bottom that was brown, and he wore those for months. I said, "Jayananda, why dont we get a new pair? Theyre only 80 cents." He goes, "A new pair of thongs? Hey, Ive got another month left in these things." I talked him into the thongs. So he was in line, I could see him, he was intensely meditating, he was in intense anxiety. He was looking out, I was talking to him, and he wasnt even listening. Finally he turned around to me and he goes, "I think I can do it." And I go, "What?" And he goes, "Well, I just dont think I can pay for the pants. I think I can do it with the thongs, but the pants, its too much. Ive got them on, I think Im going to walk out. What do you think?" And I went, "All right." So he pays for the thongs, we walk out the door, and immediately we get caught. Jayananda goes, "Oh, no!"
We get in the room and Jayananda goes, "I did it. I did it, I admit it." Then the cops come, there were two cops there, and he goes, "Look, officers, Im a monk, its Gods money, I just couldnt spend it on myself. I tried, Ive had these other pants for months now. I just couldnt do it, its too much. This ten dollars could buy three books, could feed twenty people, and I couldnt spend it on myself. I just couldnt see it." So the cop looked at the other cop and he goes, "This guys a saint. What are we supposed to do with him?"
So they brought him in front of the judge. Jayananda explained the whole thing to the judge and the judge says, "The only penalty I can incur on this man is to pay for the pants that he has taken." And the cop jumps out of his seat and he goes, "Ill pay it! Let me pay it, Judge!" They were only a ten-dollar pair of pants. So the cop gave five and Jayananda paid five, and they squared it away finally.

Another nice example is that of Gaura kisora das Babaji. He used to go to places where corpses were burned and take the clothes lying around which were used to cover the corpses. He would wash them and use them as garments.
The only thing he did was remembering Krsna and therefore he didnt incur sin. Alright we are not to imitate saintly personalities, nor do we have to were these kinds of clothes. But we can also remember Krsna according to our capacity and wear second hand clothing or shoes without incurring sin, just as Jayananda did.