Righteous Conduct

Righteous Conduct
by Swami Jyotirmayananda

Righteous conduct is the foundation of Yogic move­ment. In Sanskrit terminology it is known as Sadachar, but, more popularly, it is known as Dharma. A life devoted to Dharma is the very spirit of Yogic culture. Not founded on Dharma, life becomes meaningless.

In Yogic tradition, the soul of righteous conduct is Ahimsa, Non­violence. This theme is also echoed in the Bible as “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Righteousness in Yogic scriptures is elaborated as the Yamas of Raja Yoga: Ahimsa — non-violence, Satyam — truth­fulness, Asteya — non-stealing, Brahmacharya — purity of mind and body, and Aparigraha — non-covetousness. These are the foundations in the practice of righteous conduct.

In the practice of righteous con­duct, a philosophical insight is very important, because without it a true understanding of righteousness will not develop. That philosophical in­sight is based on the study of Vedanta — the study that all living beings are expressions of the Self. This being so, do not be led by an egoistic vision, but by a vision that is meant to efface your ego. That vision will express itself as most wonderful qualities in your personality.

Also, knowing that many rules and laws of righteous conduct are mere lifeless rhetoric, you will be able to act in the best way possible in any given circumstance. Different people, given similar circumstances, act dif­ferently. Take, for example, a situation which calls for resistance, an external display of anger or violence. One person shows valor and expresses his resistance in an external manner, an­other person simply retires and does not react at all. Of course, the person who did not react will be appreciated by others as a good person — he didn’t fight, he didn’t quarrel — but from a subtle point of view, by turning away from a situation that required his attention, he had not lived up to his ethical ideal, his Dharma. If he had turned away out of cowardliness, ex­ternally he might have displayed right­eousness, but internally his mind prob­ably harbored hatred and a complexed mental condition. That is pointed out by Lord Krishna in the Gita, where Arjuna’s discussions on philosophy were perfectly rational, yet Lord Krish­na scolded him, “You speak like a philosopher, but you act as a coward.”

Therefore, righteous conduct does not necessarily agree with the social concept of righteousness, but with the principle of one’s evolu­tion. The goal of right­eous conduct is to turn to the Divine Self — a conduct that makes one healthy, integrated and closer to the Self. In this direction Lord Buddha outlined eight points in the practice of righteous conduct, which we will briefly discuss.

Lord Buddha pre­sented a picture of Sad­achar in the form of his Eightfold Path (Ashtanga Marga), which should be understood and followed:

The first aspect of the Eightfold Path is call­ed Samyak Drishti (right vision). It is the spiritual vision which serves as a foundation for the su­perstructure of right­eous conduct have a correct understanding of your goal and the Law of Karma.

Correct understand­ing covers a vast area and is the topic of much philosophical study. Continue this study un­til you deeply and pro­foundly understand that the same Self dwells in all. All virtuous conduct must proceed from the deep conviction that al­lows you to view your whole body like a straw towards the service of right­eousness, even to the point of risking your life. You can make this sacrifice because it is Dharma that ultimately enables you to be liberated. Everyone must one day sacrifice his body, so why not let it be sacrificed for Dharma?

This dedication to Drishti has been illustrated in the lives of numerous great personalities. Mahatma Gandhi toiled for Dharma, and many times fasted to the verge of death. However, your pursuit of Dharma does not nec­essarily have to be long fasts, or imitat­ing what others have done. Dharma in every individual expresses in its own unique manner. An aspirant living a balanced life day by day does not have anything spectacular to show for it, although such a balanced life, is, in itself, a powerful Dharma. Such Dharma implies that you have learned the lessons of bearing insult and injury, adapting and adjusting, harmonizing with different personalities, waiting with patience to see things improve, and seeing that what you want is not forced on others, but rather presented to them with a gentle persuasion.

The next of the eight points is Samyak Samkalpa (right willing). Your will must be healthy. That is, do not will for things backed up by mental illusion. For example, if you develop hatred towards someone and mentally will for that person to suffer, it is a diseased desire and reduces your willpower. And then, in course of time, when the negative result develops, you suffer and pray to God with everything you can muster for alleviating your sufferings. And when you find that there is no response to your prayers, your mind turns to disbelief in the scriptures —“Why doesn’t God listen to me?” You must realize that by keeping negative Samkalpas in your mind, you have created a negative situation — your prayer does work but you must not be impatient. Realizing the effect of your negative Samkalpa, you must learn the art of purifying your will.

Samyak Vacha (right speech) is the third point: whatever you speak must be conditioned by a cul­tured insight. Speak sin­cerely, but at the same time see that your words do not hurt others. You should be persuasive, yet gentle. Rough or vi­olent talk can prevent a person from doing wrong, but only out of fear. It will not cure the root of the error. Words, therefore, must be con­ditioned by correct un­derstanding.

There is a Sanskrit saying, “Satyam Vada Priyam Vada Na Vada Satyam Apriyam” which means, “Speak the truth; speak that in a pleasant manner; do not speak the truth in an unplea­sant manner.” The very purpose of speech should be to help others to see the truth. But when a person speaks harshly, the listener becomes of­fended and does not lis­ten to his words. He may also develop a dis­like towards the speaker. Therefore, a spiritual as­pirant must learn the art of persuasive speech blended with love and compassion.

The next is called Samyak Karmanta (right action). Whatever situa­tion you are in, be guided by your balanced mind and reason, and have an insight into the Law of Karma. Be sure that good Karmas proceed from your personality day by day. And just as a miser goes on counting his money every day and sees to it that it multi­plies, so you must be a miser with reference to spiritual Samskaras. How many good Karmas have you done? How can you do more? Every good Karma is a golden brick that you have stored for the “heavenly world.” That is, every good Karma performed in a right spirit and every good Samskara generated in the unconscious paves your way to Liberation.

The next point is Samyak Ajiva (right means of livelihood): the pro­fession or career you take up should not involve unrighteous means, such as falsehood, violence and the like. In spite of the fact that there is so much limitation in every means of livelihood, righteous men promote righteousness no matter what their profession — doctor, lawyer, judge, professor, shop­keeper, or businessman. However, an aspirant should not take up jobs in butcher shops, gambling casinos or places of that nature. Such jobs are all Tamasic and Rajasic and must be avoid­ed. Do not be attracted towards them. There are thousands of people who will benefit and evolve through them and a spiritual aspirant is not one of them.

There is a small episode from the life of Rajendra Prasad, the first pres­ident after India’s independence and also a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. During his early days when Rajendra was a very successful lawyer, a man was sent to him who wanted to possess all the money and possessions of his widowed aunt. The man told his in­tention and promised the lawyer a very handsome fee if he could help him. Rajendra Prasad asked, “What would you do with this sinful money, dishonestly acquired? It will not give you any happiness!” The man was very frustrated, and returned to his friend complaining, “I thought you sent me to a lawyer, but instead he turned out to be a saint”

Spiritual values may not allow you to prosper quickly, but eventually you will prosper, and such prosperity will be complete. All spiritual move­ments require immense patience, and once people realize you are a right­eous person — a person of his word, a person of character — you become successful. You are successful in your job, in earning money, and in winning the confidence of others.

The next is Samyak Vyayam (right endeavor). In your daily life, you must strive to perform righteous deeds, to master the mind and senses, to re­strain the negative thoughts and to generate positive ones. You must con­stantly strive to integrate your person­ality and to progress spiritually.

If you do not strive with vigilance, negative thoughts enter the mind un­awares and become intensified, thus restricting your spiritual movement. But by constant effort, you should continue to dispel negative thoughts, and in turn entertain positive thoughts. This form of practice is vital to spirit­ual movement

Then comes Samyak Smritti (right memory), which refers to the awaken­ing of spiritual memories that lead to mystic advancement. The art of de­veloping good impressions must be learned through Satsanga (good asso­ciation), through the practice of con­centration and meditation, and through all the spiritual disciplines that allow you to develop a clear mind. During a clear and Satwic (pure) state of mind, you remember the subtle realities of your life. Those memories, of medita­tions and of experiences of Divine Love operating through your life be­come a powerful basis for spiritual advancement

Most human beings, on the other hand, are guided by a confused mem­ory that flows from either childhood experiences or past embodiments. But as you practice meditation and Samahdi, you no longer look at things through the complexes with which you grew up, but you look at them with a detached mind. Led by a Satwic mem­ory you become a transformed per­sonality. You no longer refer to your­self as you were six years ago — how you struggled through childhood, how you were bullied by someone in school. Rather, you develop Satwic memory on the basis of experiences of spiritual Sadhana.

Lasdy is Samyak Samadhi (right Samahdi) — the right concentration of mind, which is mind flowing towards the truth, towards the Divine Self.

There are three stages in the prac­tice of mental discipline: concentra­tion, meditation and Samadhi (intense meditation leading to superconscious­ness). An aspirant begins with the practice of concentration, and as Sattwa or purity increases in his mind, he moves on to meditation and Samadhi. And then he continues to ascend the various rungs of Samadhi until there arises intuitive vision which removes ignorance — the root-cause of all the miseries of life.

These eight points constituting the Eightfold Path of Buddha, as well as the standards for righteous conduct presented in Raja Yoga, the Bible, and other elevated spiritual teachings, all point to the goal of Nirvana or Libera­tion or Self-realization. Truly right­eous conduct blooms into the state of Self-realization, and the standard of righteous conduct is then set by men who are Self-realized.

When you study the characteristics of Sthita Prajna (the state of being established in Brahman) given in the Gita, you will gain a further insight into the fact that righteous conduct flows from the enlightened Sage spontan­eously, while an aspirant must adopt certain means and methods to pro­mote it. A Sage is free of egoistic vision and desires. He is balanced in plea­sure and pain, in gain and loss. He sees the Self in all, and is, therefore, exceedingly compassionate to all.

The art in the higher practice of righteous conduct is the enquiry of “Who am I?” Create a constant af­firmation that “I am not the physical body; I am the eternal Self.” If the mind is kept in that healthy and elevated level wherein it negates the de­velopment of egoistic vision, it becomes the basis of the most wonderful qualities. This healthy mind has ne­gated the ego-sense and envisions the Cosmic Self — “I am the Non-dual Reality.” And the qualities arising from that mind are the basis of a powerful culture that can promote harmony and peace in the world.

So, Sadachar is not just for an individual’s own good. Rather, it is a movement that makes the individual so healthy that he vibrates with the universal plan of life. He vibrates with the Cosmic Mind. And so, whatever he does, whatever he thinks, becomes an inspiration for the masses to follow the spiritual path. Without that move­ment, the world would enter into chaos. All the chronic defects of so­ciety can be attacked by this one sim­ple and powerful method, which in­spires people to understand the na­ture of the Self, integrates the person­ality, and promotes a healthy and uncomplexed mind.

It would be wonderful if people actually understood the joy of not being egoistic. Egoism is a disease and all thoughts arising from it are venomous serpents. If such an under­standing could penetrate the educational system and encourage young students with the zeal of becoming like Buddha or Jesus, society would have no criminals. But lacking that deep understanding, social leaders have not impressed this on their minds. Therefore, it is up to the Yogi to follow the path of righteous conduct and promote it in society.

“International Yoga Guide” Vol. 21, NO.5, January 1984

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