Sadacharasmriti

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SADACHARASMRITI

 

yasmin sarvAnikarmAni sanyasyAdhyAtma chEtasA

nirAshirnirmObhutvA param jayati so$chyuta:h

To interpret this sloka:

Victorious is He,that Achyuata,by submitting all

actions to whom a person, with a mind having the

knowledge that HE is the 'paramatma',the indweller in

him,and having no desire for fruits of the actions and

also with the knowledge that he owns nothing on this

world and that all his possessions belong to the

Lord,reaches His abode.

This is the essential teaching of the

Bhagavadgita, as studied by us in the Gita saroddhara

of Sri Vishnutirtha (which was posted recently by

Hunsur Sriprasad).

The above sloka is the 'mangalcharana sloka' of

Srimadacharya's work 'Sadacharasmriti'.

This work contains 41 slokas and is in the form of

'upadesa' by the revered guru, Srimadanandatirtha

bhagavatpadacharya to his sishyas. This 'upadesa' has

been handed over to us through generations by his

followers who are sadvaishnavas.

Out of the 41 slokas, only the first 18 slokas relate

to 'sadachara' and except for 3 slokas which give

some particuar instructions to'yatis' and

'brahmacharis',the remaining slokas are from the

Bhag.Gita, or are based on Upanishads, and other

sacred works. The BG slokas ,start with 'dvAmimou

purushau lOkE',the 4 slokas from ch.15 which

Srimadacharya quotes in almost all his works. All the

slokas quoted here show that Sri Hari is the supreme

Lord; and Srimadacharya exhorts us to be constantly

devoted to Him and set our mind all the time on

Vishnu,the supreme.

The first 18 slokas are meant to show us the means

to achieve this devotion to the Lord . These give us

the daily routines that a Vaishnava should follow.

That is why this work is called the 'Sadachara

smriti', the right code of conduct for Vaishnavas.

Let us summarise them:

1. Get up early in the morning with Vishnu (Hari

)smarane.

2. Go to the bath room,brush your teeth and take bath

as prescribed. As per the procedure stated here, one

should take bath in a river. During bathing,the

'dvadashaxara mantra- Om namO Bhagavate VasudevAya','

shadaxara mantra- Om Sri Krishnayanamah' and 'astaxara

mantra - Om namO NArAyanAya' have to be repeated and

also the mantras 'ApOhishtAmayObhuvah...',

" Aghamarshanamantra " , and 'Purushasukta' have to be

recited. During reciting 'Purushasukta' it should be

assumed that the bathing is 'abhisheka' to the Lord

within us.(NOTE: The Vedamantras like Purushasukta and

the Narayanastaxaramantra,etc. can be recited only if

one has had learnt from a Guru. Others may recite any

stotras or Devaranamas).

3.Wear proper clothes(one dhoti should be tied and

one dhoti/angavastra used as upper garment).

4.Perform sandhyavandana(includes arghya to Lord

Narayana staying within Suryamandala,Gayatri japa,japa

of Narayana astaxara mantra 3times the no.of gayatris-

) and give agrghya to devatas. Also,pay obesience to

devatas,gurus,elders and haribhaktas.

5.spend sometime in 'dhyana',study

and teaching.

6. Collect the articles required for 'puja' and

perform 'Devapuja' according to the procedure laid

down in Tantrasara(recently we had the postings of

'Jayatirtha's 'PadyamAla' by Srinivasans. We may note

that the 'Tantrasara' procedure was laid down in

'Sadacharasmriti' by Srimadacharya,which was explained

by J. in PadyamAla).

7. Perform the Homas known as 'Vaishvadeva' and

'Baliharana'.

8. Submit the results of Homa,puja,japa etc . and

one's wife,children,dear ones (kith & kin),and one's

own life,that is every thing dear to a person, as

offerings to Vishnu.

9. Take food offered to the Lord as naivedya in the

company of 'guests'(atithis) and all members of the

family.

While taking food,we should think of the Lord within

our heart and keep our mind set on HIm.

10.After food,perform 'achamana' and keeping the

right hand on the stomach,repeat 'astaxara mantra'(Om

namO NarAyanAya).

11.Remaining part of the daytime, should be spent in

study or discussion pertaining to Vedas and shastras.

12. In the evening 'sandhyavandana ' should be

performed.

13. One should sleep about 2 hours before midnight,

praying to Lord,Janardana before resting. If one gets

up in the middle of the night,then also one should do

'HarismaranE' as far as possible.

14. All actions performed by a person with his

body,speech or mind should be submitted as offerings

to LORD NARAYANA.

From the above,what mainly follows is that we should

think of the Lord devotedly all the time and all the

procedures laid down is meant towards it. Without the

concept that Hari is the supreme Lord(and all devatas

are his followers),and sincere devotion,all our

practices will be of no avail. All this is summarised

in the 'Dvadasa stotra' in one phrase 'santatam

chintaye$nantam' by Sri Madhvacharya.

It is for us to ponder how much of these procedures

laid down in 'Sadacharasmriti' we are following. Sri

Krishna says in the BG 'svalpamapyasya dharmasya

trAyayE mahatO bhayAt'- even a little of(this-what He

has preached) dharma followed,saves from great

fear(fear of 'naraka'). So,we should try our best in

this regard,the least being 'sandhyavandana', twice a

day and Harsmarane as far as possible and submitting

all our actions to Him as His worship.

With best wishes,

Bannur.R

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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