Seven Healthy Habits

(Adapted from Swami Paramarthananda’s talk)

Hindu means a Vaidika who follows a way of life, prescribed by the Veda.  Veda also prescribes certain fundamental rules regarding conduct for every Vaidhika, Hindu, to follow.  They are the common rules to follow for all the Hindus irrespective of their varna, asrama or sex. These common rules together are called Sadachara.  Achara means code of conduct or habits and Sadachara means healthy code of conduct.   They are compulsory for every Hindu who wants to lead a Dharmic way of life.   All the other religious activities like pujas, prayers etc, are validated only when these healthy habits are observed.  There are seven of them, as listed below.  Of the seven, the first three are in relation to oneself; the next three in relation to others and last governing all the six.

1)    A life of discipline; discipline of planning and preparing in advance.

2)    Hard work for completing the job on-hand perfectly.

3)    Aesthetic excellance in work I.e. neatness , orderliness etc.

4)    Being true to one’s inner conscience.

5)    Obedience to sastraic instructions.

6)    Consideration for others.

7)    Sincerity in the observance of rules.

Let us see them one by one in a little more detail.

Our scriptures point out that one should never take to any thoughtless action.  All the actions, whether they are minor or major, secular or sacred, religious or spiritual, must be preceded by advanced planning, advanced preparation. All the thoughtless actions may lead to adverse consequences, which will not only affect the performer, but will affect all the other people who are associated with that.  Therefore, thoughtless action is a form of Himsa to oneself and also to others.  All thoughtless actions will come under Tamasic karma. All those actions which are preceded by preparation, planning and rehearsal are called Satvic karma. Tamasic karma is Durachara and Satvic karma is Sadachara.  Lord Krishna describes Tamasic karma in Gita 18-25 as below:

Anubandham kshayam himsam anapekshya cha pourusham I

Mohadarabhyate karma yatattamasamuchyate II

That action is declared to be Tamasic which is undertaken out of delusion, (and) without consideration of its consequence, loss to oneself, harm to others and (one’s) ability. (18-25)

Lord Krishna gives us the clue as to what all factors must be thought about before doing any action. One must think of the adverse consequences which will affect oneself or other people especially, family members, the expenditure involved in the form of time, energy and money in that action, one’s resources, whether they are physical, emotional or time, including financial resources without overestimating the resources and underestimating the drawbacks.  So, the first Sadachara or healthy habit is the discipline of preparation, planning and if necessary, rehearsal.

Planning and preparation are no doubt important, but equally important is dhrithi, hard work for implementation. Implementation is a hard work, as obstacles may rise in implementing the plan which would have to be overcome with hard work backed by perseverance and strong will.  Lord Krishna describes satvic dhrithi as follows:

Dhritya yaya dharayate manah pranendriya kriyah I

Yogena avyabhicharinya dhriti sa partha satviki II

O Partha, the unwavering firmness with which one controls the functions of the mind, vital forces and the organs, that firmness is satvic. (18-33)

With Satvic dhriti one should attempt to complete the job and that too with as much perfection as possible.  Swami Chinmayananda says aiming at perfection is a spiritual trait. So the second Sadachara is hard work for completing the job with perfection.

Vedic tradition always values aesthetic excellence.  Aesthetic excellence consists of three things. One is that every place and thing that we handle should be extremely neat and clean. Every place that we make use of, whether it is house or office must be spic and span.  Lord Krishna calls it ‘Soucham’ in Gita.  The second component of aesthetic excellence is orderliness with regard to everything one handles in one’s house or working place or any place, for that matter.  The third component is beauty or attractiveness.  It is not an exercise in glamour but an expression of one’s sense of beauty. The Rangoli drawn before the house, after it is swept and washed clean with a lighted lamp in the middle is an example.  Similarly decorating the puja room with Kolam and flowers and deities with Vastram, Chandanam, Kumkum, Mala etc. all constitute aesthetic excellance. So the third Sadachara is aesthetic excellence. These three i.e. planning and preparation, hard work and aesthetic excellence are Sadachara associated with oneself.

Now let us see the three healthy habits from the standpoint of a group.  With regard to one's family and social life also, these three habits apply.  The first one is honesty or integrity.  Human beings have got a free will, which they can use properly or abuse. Because of the abuse of free will, one may violate several healthy values, out of selfishness. When one abuses the values, one harms oneself and others.  Bhagawan has created an in-built check to warn against abuse in the form of Conscience.  Conscience working according to the Universal principle; “what I don’t want others to do to me, I should not do to the others” warns one, whenever one violates this principle. It is called guilt. Bhagawan has given such a conscience that it will prick one in the form of guilt when one tends to violate.  At that moment, one must restrain oneself and should not go according to one’s natural tendency, which is selfishness, but go according to the scriptural values. One must always keep the inner voice loud and clear and restrain oneself whenever the inner voice says ‘no’. This is the fourth Sadachara, being honest to ourselves.

The fifth Sadachara is obedience and scriptures talk of two types of obedience.  The first obedience is the obedience with regard to the instructions given by one's seniors who are supposed to be the models of Sadachara.  Seniors may be in the form of parents or guru or rulers, only the seniors should be models of Sadachara.  The second obedience is obedience of all rules and regulations, which are important in any form of group existence. The rules are called Dharma. Whether they are religious rules or secular rules of the society, whatever instructions are given, our scriptures say always follow the rules. This is obedience, the fifth one.

The sixth one is consideration for others.  Always remember that we are never alone in the family or in the society.  Therefore, before doing anything, keep in mind how our action will affect others.  Bhartruhari talks about three different types of people. Uttama Purusha is one who sacrifices even his self-interest while considering other’s wellbeing.  Madhyama Purusha is one who takes care of his Self Interest as well as other’s wellbeing in parallel. Adhama Purusha is one who takes care of only his Self interest even at the cost of the wellbeing of others.  Always expand your mind to accommodate others’ interest as well and never be an Adhama Purusha in your dealings with others. This is called Hitatvam, consideration, the sixth Sadachara.

The seventh Sadachara is sincerity, sincerity with regard to the implementation of the previous six rules.  It is not easy to do that without falling a victim to laziness, the biggest obstacle in implementation. So let us implement them without finding excuses, for the benefit of ourselves and for the people and society we belong to.  These seven habits are valid in all stages, in all times and constitute Sadachara. 

-------------------------------------------