Sadachar

By

Most reverend Pandit Sri Gayaprasad Baba ji

The first sermon i heard at Radhakund had the heading ‘sadachar’. The respected devotee  (he really is one of the ‘rare species you can classify as ‘good’  ) – he  had eloquently started off with – “Who is entitled to hear Srimad Bhagavatam ? Vyasdev says it isi for ‘nirmatsaranam sataam’- so who does ‘satam’ refer to? Naturally – one who has sadachar.” i remember this dialogue so well.

 However sadly, most devotees seem  to think that sadachar is all about washing hands, and howmany times to tinkle the bell in some dark corner. For many of us sadachar means to follow Hari-Bhakti-Vilas to perfection. If this was true, then, Vyasdev would not have made such a statement in the very beginning of his all-encopassing most relishing text – propounding the highest principles of spiritual science.

As a result i was thrilled when i heard the self-realised soul,  Sri Gayaprasad Babaji’s vachanamrut.  

Sant Sri Gayapasad Babaji of Brijbhoomi

Sadachar  is comprised of two words – sat and achar. Sat means ‘ very good’; achar refers to ‘ acharan’ or ‘way of living’. This means that sadachar indicates the manner in which very good people, namely the saints live. So what all does this ‘sadachar’ contain ? And how can we imbibe sadachar ?

One way is to observe carefully the present day saints – see how simply they live. Scrutinize their mannerisms – how generous they are, how magnanimous ! How forgiving ! How they can bear all pleasures and pains equally, how they greet both sorrow and joy with equal detachment towards both.

They are all-worthy, yet have no anger in them. They never judge nor blaspheme anybody. They never wish anyone ill. They always protect themselves from the opposite sex. They do not keep any contact with money and property.

If we do not come across such saints personally, we should read constantly about them from the scriptures.

This is the sadachar that Vedas, puranas, Upanishads, all scriptures and saints talk about.

As and when we, the sadhaks, keep on absorbing such sadachars, we come out of the hypnotizing grip of Mayadevi. We keep on proceeding towards extreme goodness – that is – saintliness.

The association of good devotees(satsang), constant absorbance in devotional texts (sad-granth), good thoughts (sad-vichar) and continuously engaging in sat-karm (devotional activities) sum up to build sadachar. 

Jay Sri Radhe !!!