Good Behaviour (Sadachara)

The sages asked

We wish to hear about sadachara, good conduct, by which a learned person can conquer the worlds. Tell us about dharma and adharma, which lead respectively to heaven and hell.

Suta replied

A brahmana with good conduct is called vidvan. One with good conduct who also practises the conduct of the Vedas is a vipra. One who has only one of the two is a dvija. A brahmana with a little good conduct and a little of the Vedas is called a kshatriya brahmana and becomes the king's servant. One with a little good conduct who farms and trades is a vaishya brahmana. One who ploughs the field himself is a shudra brahmana. A brahmana who is jealous and harms others is called a chandala brahmana. A kshatriya who rules the earth is a rajan, the others are ordinary kshatriyas. Those who buy and sell grain are vaishyas, the others are called vanijakas. One who serves brahmanas, kshatriyas and vaishyas is called a shudra. A shudra who tills the land is a vrishala, and the others are dasyus.

Everyone should rise in the morning, face east and think of the gods. Then he should think of dharma, wealth, difficulties, receipts and expenses. The direction in which one rises in the morning decides the fruits for the day: life span, hatred, death, sin, fortune, ailments, nourishment and strength. The last part of the night is called Usha and the last half of it Sandhi. A brahmana should rise then and relieve himself. He should do so outside the house, far from it, sitting facing north; if something obstructs this, any other direction will do. He should not sit facing water, a fire, a brahmana or a god's image. He covers his genitals with his left hand and his mouth with the other. When he rises he must not look at the stool. He cleans himself with water that has been collected, not external water, and not by going down into a holy water of the gods, ancestors or rishis. With mud he cleans the anus seven, five or three times; the genitals can be cleaned with mud the size of a cucumber, but the anus needs a prasriti of mud. He rises, washes hands and feet and rinses the mouth eight times, without spitting the water into an outside water body. Then the teeth are cleaned with leaves or a twig, avoiding the index finger. Next, worshipping the water deities, he speaks the mantras and bathes. Those who are weak immerse themselves to the neck or waist; otherwise he stands in water to the knees and bathes reciting mantras. A learned person takes water from a holy place and offers water oblations to the gods and others. He takes a washed cloth and wears it in the five-fold style, with an upper cloth in all rites. When bathing in a river or holy place, the garment is not washed at the time of bathing. Afterward he takes it to a tank or well or inside the house, and cleans it with water from the tank or well by pounding it on a rock or a wooden plank. Brahmanas, when a garment is cleaned like this, the ancestors are pleased.

With the mantra spoken by Jabalaka, the Tripundra of ash is smeared on the forehead. One who enters the water without doing so is bound for hell. To calm sins, water is sprinkled on the head with the mantra "Apo hi stha." For freedom from sins, water is sprinkled on the leg joints with "yasya kshayaya." The learned know that bathing with mantras means sprinkling water on feet, head and chest; then head, chest, feet; and finally chest, feet and head, in that order. When there is a bodily ailment, fear from the king or kingdom, or a great calamity, it is enough to do this mantra bathing with a slight touch of water. In the morning one sips water and rinses the mouth with mantras to Surya, in the evening with mantras to Agni. At noon water is sprinkled on the head. Brahmanas, after japa of the gayatri, arghya is offered to the sun facing east. With the mantra, arghya is also offered at noon and evening. In the morning it is offered with both hands raised, at noon released through the fingers, in the evening released on the ground facing west. At noon the sun is always viewed through the gaps between the fingers. One circles oneself, rinses the mouth with water and purifies oneself. Sandhya done before the right muhurta in the evening is useless. If it has been done at the wrong time or omitted for a day, one adds a hundred more recitations of the gayatri each day for the number of days. If omitted for more than ten days, the gayatri is recited a hundred thousand times. If omitted for more than a month, one must go through the sacred thread ceremony again.

To gain success, Isha, Gouri, Guha, Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, the two Ashvins, Yama and other gods must be pleased. One makes oblations to Brahma, sprinkles the mouth with water and is purified. A learned person should control himself and sit to the right of a holy place, in a revered monastery, in a god's temple or in his own house. The seat must be firm and his mind fixed. He bows to all the gods and first recites Pranava, then the gayatri. While reciting Pranava he must realize the union of the individual self and the brahman. "We worship the creator of the three worlds, Achyuta who preserves, and Rudra the Destroyer. We worship the self-luminous one behind our organs of perception and action, our minds, leanings and intellects. He constantly urges us toward knowledge of dharma and gives pleasure and liberation." A person who meditates so with his understanding will certainly reach the brahman. Unable to do that, as a brahmana let him do japa daily. Every morning a bull among brahmanas should recite this a thousand times, and others as they can. At noon the japa is done a hundred times, and in the evening twenty times, with the Shivashtaka. Beginning at the muladhara, he meditates on the twelve chakras, fixing on Vidyesha, Brahma, Vishnu, Isha, the individual self and Parameshvara. Taking himself as one with the brahman, he does japa of "Soham." Beginning from Brahmarandhra he meditates on those outside the body. From the principle of Mahat there are thousands of bodies, and gradually he does japa on each, one at a time, and progresses. So the individual self unites by japa with the other, the supreme. This is said to be accomplished with two hundred Shivashtakas. The learned say this is the progress of japa, and that a thousand such japas give Brahma's status and two thousand Indra's. One can protect oneself by doing it fewer times and be born as a brahmana. After worshipping the sun, one does this every day. A complete brahmana is one who has done it 1,200,000 times. A person who has recited the gayatri fewer than a hundred thousand times is not fit for any Vedic rite.

When a person reaches seventy, he leaves for the forest. One who has gone to the forest does japa of Pranava twelve thousand times every morning. If a day is missed, it is made up the next day. If the omission lasts more than a month, japa is done 150,000 times. If more than that, he must formally enter the forest again, and the sin is calmed. Otherwise he goes to the hell Rourava. A person who wishes for something must strive for dharma and wealth and nothing else. A brahmana should wish for liberation and always pursue knowledge of the brahman. Wealth comes from dharma, pleasures from wealth, and non-attachment from pleasures; that is, wealth earned by dharma must be spent on pleasures, and this produces non-attachment. If wealth is earned by contrary means, attachment results. Pursuit of dharma is said to be twofold, through objects and through the body. Objects are offered as oblations and the like; the body bathes in holy places and so on. A wealthy person can become poor, but austerities let a person gain a divine form. Lack of desire makes a person pure, and doubtless purity leads to knowledge. In krita and the other yugas austerities were praised, but in kali yuga the pursuit of dharma is through objects. In krita, knowledge came through meditation; in treta, success came through austerities; in dvapara, through sacrifices; in kali yuga, knowledge comes through worship of images. Fruits match exactly the good or bad deeds done, though differences in body and in the quality of objects can increase or decrease them. Adharma is violent by nature, while dharma's nature is happiness. Unhappiness comes from adharma and dharma makes a person happy. Wicked conduct leads to misery and good conduct to joy. So for success in gaining both pleasure and liberation, people should follow dharma. A person who provides a livelihood for a brahmana and four of his family lives in Brahma's world for a hundred years. A thousand chandrayana vows lead to Brahma's world. A kshatriya should arrange livelihood for a thousand families, which gives Brahma's world; for ten thousand, it gives Indra's world. Those who know the Vedas know that a man gains the world of the god he placed foremost when making his gifts. A person without wealth must always seek to gather austerities, go to holy places and practise austerities there, and he will enjoy eternal happiness.

Now I will speak about earning wealth; listen carefully. A pure brahmana must receive after officiating at sacrifices, but earn this wealth without distress or hardship. A kshatriya earns by the strength of his arms and a vaishya by farming and animal husbandry. If wealth earned by proper means is given, success is ensured. By a guru's favour everyone gains success in pursuing knowledge and liberation, and success in the pursuit of liberation is gaining supreme bliss. Brahmanas, among men this arises only through association with the virtuous. When the time comes, a householder who wants his welfare must give everything to brahmanas: wealth, grain, fruits and non-grain food. Water must be given to the thirsty and food to calm the ailments of hunger. Gifts of food are of four kinds: from the field, unhusked grain, uncooked food and cooked food. Until one has heard of Shiva, or until the food is digested, one who does the good deed of giving food doubtless earns half the merit the receiver has. So a receiver of gifts must cleanse this sin by austerities, or he will go to Rourava hell. One's wealth should be spent in three ways: on dharma, on increasing wealth, and on pleasures. For dharma one should do nitya, naimittika and kamya karma. The second part is spent on the beneficial work of increasing wealth. The last part may be spent enjoying pleasures. One tenth of what is earned by farming must be spent on cleansing sin; the rest may be spent on dharma and the others, otherwise one goes to Rourava. One who does not do this is evil-minded and will certainly bring about his own destruction. A discriminating person who earns by lending at interest must set aside a sixth for giving. Pure and excellent brahmanas who receive must give away a quarter. If wealth is received unexpectedly, an excellent brahmana gives away half. Everything received from a wicked person must be thrown into the ocean of charity. Before giving, the recipient should be invited, which increases the giver's enjoyment of pleasures. As far as he can, a person should always give whatever he is asked for; if a requested thing is not given, that debt is carried into the next life. A discriminating person never talks about another's faults, and a brahmana in particular never speaks of such things he may have seen or heard. A learned person never says things that cause rage in beings' hearts. To gain prosperity he observes the fire rites at the two sandhyas. One who cannot do both does it once, following the norms and worshipping the sun and fire with oblations of paddy, grain, ghee, fruits and roots. By the norms, food properly cooked in an earthen vessel is offered in the vessel itself. If no food is available, the main ghee oblation suffices. The learned have spoken of many such nitya acts. Or, looking at the face of the sun, one can do only japa. So those who wish their own welfare should act accordingly. They must always practise brahma yajna, be devoted to worshipping the gods and the fire and the guru, and satisfy brahmanas, and then they will all enjoy themselves in heaven.