Part II: Chapter I / II – (ii)

Sadachar

It is the necessity for self-discipline that makes sadachar the second cornerstone of the pattern. The word sadachar is not easy to translate. One can find many literal equivalents, but none of them really expresses its extensive and many-sided significance. In brief, it stands for the good and pure life. It does not imply any rigid code or set moral formulae, but suggests purity and simplicity, which radiate from within and spread outwards, permeating every action, every word, every thought. It is as much concerned with one’s personal habits, good and hygienic, as with one’s individual and social ethics. And on its ethical side, it is concerned not merely with one’s relation to one’s fellow men but to all living things, i.e., harmony which is the result of recognition that all things are from the same Essence, and so a worm is as much a part of Brahman as the mightiest of gods, Indra.

The first lesson taught by a True Guru is that of the identity of substance, and he who has grasped this Truth will discipline his life accordingly. He will not be a prey to inordinate desires, and his one aim will be to reach the still point which holds in itself all actions, the point where to have nothing is to possess everything. He will know that the One Path to fulfilment is through renunciation, and the One Way to reach the Almighty is through freeing himself from all other attachments:

In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything, desire to have pleasure in nothing. In order to arrive at possessing everything, desire to possess nothing. In order to arrive at being everything, desire to be nothing.

St John of the Cross

Cleanse the chamber of thy heart that thy Beloved may enter.

Tulsi Sahib

Where there is nothing, there is God.

W.B. Yeats

Freed from the demon of desire, kama, he will be freed from the demon of wrath, krodh, which follows upon frustration of desire. Liberated from these, he would be freed also from greed, lobh, attachment, moh, and pride, ahankar, which are but the extensions of desire.

His would be a life of detachment or of nishkama. But detachment would not be for him a life of indifference or of ascetic renunciation. To know all life is to discover a new bond between oneself and the rest of creation. He who knows this cannot be merely ‘indifferent.’ He must perforce be filled to overflowing with sympathy for all that he confronts, and sympathy towards the whole must imply a certain Holy Indifference to the part. He will no longer be tied to his own narrow individual interests, but will share his Love and resources with all. He will develop, slowly but surely, something of the compassion of the Buddha and the Love of Christ. Nor will he feel himself called upon to leave the world for the solitude of the forest, the mountain or the desert cave.

The detachment must be an Inner One, and one who cannot achieve it at home will not achieve it in the forest. He will recognise the great use of occasional retreats from worldly affairs and cares to the silence of solitary meditation and concentration, but he will not seek to escape from life and its responsibilities. He will be a loving husband and a good father, but while being these he will never forget the Ultimate Purpose of life, always knowing how to give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and preserving for God that which is God’s. The way for transcending desire, he will know, is not through repressing it but meeting it squarely and overcoming it. To him, sanyasa is not a matter of outer evasion or escapism but of Inner Freedom, an idea that is well expressed by Nanak thus:

Let contentment be your ear-rings, and endeavour for the Divine and respect for the Higher Self be your wallet, and constant meditation on Him be your ashes. Let preparedness-for-death be your cloak, and let your body be like unto a chaste virgin. Let your Master’s teachings be your supporting staff. […]

Jap Ji, Stanza 28

The two cardinal virtues that such man will cultivate will be charity and chastity. He will be large of heart and bounteous, caring more for the suffering of others than for his own, and easily forgiving those that injure him. He will be simple and restrained in his habits. His wants will be few and easily satisfied, for one who has too many desires and too many attachments cannot be pure of heart. For him chastity will extend even to giving up meat and drink. When all life is one, to live upon the flesh of other living beings would be to defile oneself. And when one’s goal is to attain even higher realms of consciousness, to resort to narcotics and intoxicants is only to court regression. It is not an idiosyncrasy of Indian seers that they should have made abstinence from meat and drink a necessary part of the Spiritual Disciple. We have similar injunctions in the Koran and the Holy Bible.

Thus in Deuteronomy, we find, –

[…] He who adds drunkenness to thirst: […] the Lord will not spare him […] and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.

Deuteronomy 29:19-20

And in Romans, –

It is good neither to eat flesh, nor drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Romans 14:21

And in Corinthinans:

Meats for the belly, and belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

1. Corinthians 6:13

In the Essene Gospel of John – direct Translation from the Aramaic of the pure original words of Jesus –, we have:

But they answered Him: “Whither should we go, Master […] for with You are the words of Eternal Life. Tell us, what are the sins we must shun, that we may nevermore see disease?”

Jesus answered: “Be it so according to your faith,” and He sat down them, saying:

“It was said to them of olden time, ‘Honour thy Heavenly Father and thy Earthly Mother, and their commandments, that thy days may be long upon the earth.’ And next was given this commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ for life is given to all by God, and that which God has given, let not man take away. For I tell you truly, from one Mother proceeds all that lives upon the earth. Therefore he who kills, kills his brother. And from him will the Earthly Mother turn away, and will pluck from him her quickening breasts. And will be shunned by her angels, and Satan will have his dwelling in his body. And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself and whosoever eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats of the body of death. And their death will become his death. For the wages of sin is death. Kill not, neither eat the flesh of your innocent prey, lest you become the slaves of Satan. For that is the path of sufferings, and it leads unto death. But do the Will of God, that His angels may serve you on the way of life. Obey, therefore, the words of God: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb, bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is breath of life, I give every green herb for meat. Also the milk of everything that moveth and that liveth upon each shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given unto them, so I give their milk unto you. But flesh, and the blood which quickens it, shall ye not eat.’ ”

And Jesus continued: “God commanded your forefathers, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ But their heart was hardened and they killed. Then Moses desired that at least they should not kill men, and he suffered them to kill beasts. And then the heart of your forefathers was hardened yet more, and they killed men and beasts likewise. But I say to you: Kill neither men, nor beasts, nor yet the food which goes into your mouth. For if you eat living food the same will quicken you, but if you kill your food, the dead food will kill you also. For life comes only from life, and from death comes always death. For everything which kills your foods, kills your bodies also. And everything which kills your bodies, kills your souls also. And your bodies become what your foods are, even as your spirits, likewise, become what your thoughts are.”

*With the chastity in food and drink will go another kind of chastity, the one that pertains to sex. He will not suppress all sexual desire, for repression can only breed neurosis and prepare the way for a downfall, but he will be ever seeking to sublimate it. He will understand that nature’s purpose in this instinct is to preserve the race and he will channelise it so as to fulfil that purpose, never making it an end in itself, a source of physical pleasure, for when it becomes that, it turns into a drug that anaesthetises the spirit and begins to defeat nature’s purpose of procreation by encouraging the invention and use of contraceptives.

* (This section is adjusted to the First Edition of 1961;
Editor’s Note 2011.)

In short, the sincere and conscientious aspirant will reorient his entire mode of life, in eating and drinking, thinking, acting, feeling, etc. He will gradually weed out of his mind all irrelevant and unhealthy desires, until he gradually attains the state of purity and simplicity that marks the child.

Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of God.

St Matthew 18:3

All religious teachers the world over, laid great stress on higher moral values, and these in fact, constitute the groundwork for their teachings. A True Master always insists on maintaining of a record of daily lapses in thought, word and deed, from non-injury, truth, chastity, Universal Love and selfless service of all, the five cardinal virtues that pave the way for Spirituality. It is only the knowledge of our faults that can make us weed them out and strive in the right direction.

Through all this process of reintegration, his inspiration will be the example of his Master and the Inner Experience he gives. His Master’s life will be a living testament beckoning him towards the ideal of sadachar, and the experience he has of the Word within will stand as a proof of the Truth of what his Master teaches. Sadachar is no dry discipline that can be attained by following certain set formulae. It is a way of life, and in such matters only heart to heart can speak.

It is this that makes Satsang, or association with a True Master, so important. It not only serves as a constant reminder of the goal before the seeker but through the magic touch of personal contact, gradually transforms his entire mode of thinking and feeling.

As his heart and mind under this benign influence grow gradually purer, his life more fully centres in the Divine. In short, as he increasingly realises in practice the ideal of sadachar, his thoughts, now scattered and dissipated, will gain equipoise and integration till they arrive at so fine a focus that the veils of Inner Darkness are burnt to cinders and the Inner Glory stands revealed.