avoiding physical touch

[Guest guest]

Unrelated men and women should be cautious to keep at some distance from

each other and avoid physical touch. When a woman is to give or receive an

object from a non-related or respected man, or a brahmacari, vanaprastha, or

sannyasi, the object should not be given directly hand to hand, but should

either be given to a male such as the woman's husband or son to be passed

on, or placed on a table to be picked up. Usually, even between women and

close male relatives, even hand to hand passing of objects is done by

carefully dropping the object into the hand, so as to avoid physical

contact.