Holy Shikshapatri Part ONE
Regular Recital
Read this Shikshapatri daily.
If that is not possible, ask someone to read it out to you,
and so listen to it with great reverence.
If that too is not possible, then adore and worship it daily
with great reverence.
Thus revere this Shikshapatri
as the very embodiment of My Divine Personality.
Shloka: 208, 209
Path of Righteousness
He who performs righteous deeds is happy. He who acts thoughtlessly or with a bad intention invites misery.
Shloka: 8
Perform duties appropriate to your station in life. Do not perform duties that are prescribed for others. Do not perform duties that are fictitious or imaginary.
Shloka: 24
Do not act thoughtlessly and without due deliberation. However, act promptly in matters pertaining to religious duties.
Shloka: 36
However beneficial or profitable it may be, do not perform unrighteous actions. Do not give up the path of righteousness out of greed or selfishness.
Shloka: 73
Follow only the righteous deeds of great men but do not follow examples of their unrighteous actions.
Shloka: 74
Ethical Life
Do not gamble.
Do not steal; not even for a religious or a benevolent cause. Do not take fuel, flowers, fruits and such things without the owner's permission - not even for a good cause, such as worship or making an offering to a deity.
Shloka: 17, 18
Do not use abusive language. For the sake of a selfish gain, do not lay a false accusation.
Shloka: 20
Do not accept bribes. Speak only the truth. But do not utter such words that may hurt others.
Shloka: 26
Do not trespass into prohibited areas belonging to others. Do not use the premises of others, without seeking the prior permission of its owners.
Shloka: 33
Do not commit a breach of trust.
Shloka: 37
Do not indulge in self-praise.
Shloka: 57
Non-Violence
Non-violence is the highest ethical code of behavior. Do not kill any living creature. Do not kill animals; not even for a sacrificial offering to a deity or to an ancestor.
Shloka: 11, 12
Do not kill a human being; not even for the acquisition of a woman, wealth or a kingdom.
Shloka: 13
Do not commit suicide; not even in a place of pilgrimage or a holy shrine. Whether in a fit of anger or out of guilt for a sinful act, do not commit suicide.
Shloka: 14
Do not mutilate any part of your body or that of others, either out of anger, excitement or as a punishment for misconduct.
Shloka: 16
Being Practical in Life
Keep away from the company of thieves, vicious persons, drug addicts, heretics, sex maniacs and deceivers.
Shloka: 27
When any serious trouble arises from natural calamities, fellow men or illness, act cautiously and carefully to protect your life and that of others.
Shloka: 119
In practical life, even with friends and relatives, do not carry out transactions of sale, purchase, transfer, borrowing, lending, payment, etc., without an appropriate document in writing, and the presence of witnesses.
Shloka: 143
Maintain a daily account of income and expenditure. Do not indulge in extravagant expenses. Let not your expenses exceed your income.
Shloka: 145, 146
Even if it be your native place or usual place of residence, leave it and migrate to a better place, especially when your prestige, property or life is in danger on account of acute famine, harassment from the wicked or the tyranny of the state authority.
Shloka: 153, 154
Diet and Ecology
Do not eat meat.
Shloka: 15
Do not consume tobacco, hemp or hashish nor consume wines, liquors, opium and other such alcoholic drinks and drugs.
Shloka: 18
Do not drink unfiltered water nor use water which contains germs; not even for bathing purposes.
Shloka: 30
Do not consume food, drink and medicine given by a doctor whose conduct and credentials are unknown to you.
Shloka: 31
Do not dirty public places such as mandir premises, holy shrines, lakes or river banks, highways, the ground around trees, farms with standing crops, by spitting, urinating, defecating and throwing garbage.
Shloka: 32
Social Ethics
Entrust tasks to a man for which he is best suited. Do not entrust him duties for which he is unfit.
Shloka: 66
Take good care of your servants in respect of their food, clothing and shelter, according to your means of subsistence.
Shloka: 67
Address honorably and deal respectfully with people in accordance with their social status
and prevalent social customs.
Shloka: 68
Spreading of knowledge and education is a great meritorious deed. If possible, either aid or establish an educational institution and appoint pious scholars as teachers therein to spread
the right knowledge on the earth.
Shloka: 132
Serve fellow beings in their illness and distress. Serve your parents in their old age and take good care of them, especially in their illness.
Shloka: 139
Pay the correct wages in cash or kind, according to the contract to the workers employed by you.
Shloka: 152
If you happen to be in power as the head of a state, then: live a righteous and religious life; treat your subjects like members of your own family; take good care of them; and make an honest attempt to consolidate morality and religion in your kingdom.
Shloka: 157
Continence
Do not commit adultery. Do not indulge in pre-marital, extra-marital or illicit sex relations.
Shloka: 18
But for sheer emergencies, avoid the company of the opposite sex in solitary places.
Shloka: 136
http://www.swaminarayan.org/scriptures/ ... continence