The Shikshapatri is based on religion, humanity, perfect and peaceful living, Lord Swaminarayan has shown how this may be achieved by his simple but effective teachings.

The dharmas or rules for all his followers are listed from slokha 11 to slokha 122 in the Shikshapatri every hindu should follow these basic rules for the fulfilment of their duties to their religion, let us look at these:

Slokha 12/13 ~ Lord Swaminarayan has said that my followers shall never kill any living being for any reason under any circumstances including killing of small insects such as lice, bugs and ants, a satsangi shall not kill any animal for offering to any deity or to deceased ancestors, whether it be for a festival or for scarifies. My satsangis shall not kill any human being in order to gain land, wealth, or a wife, because violence of any kind as been totally outlawed by Lord Swaminarayan, non-violence is therefore considered as the highest dharma.

Slokha 14 ~ Lord Swaminarayan has said that no person shall commit suicide (taking ones own life) even in a state of anger or fustration, by either drinking poison, hanging, or by falling from a mountain top, the soul within us is unable to reach Akshardham if suicide is committed.

Slokha 15-22 ~ As hindus, eating meat is totally out of bounds within our religion, and no shall eat meat knowingly (even if it is a form of prasad). A devotee or haribhagat shall never through anger, fustration, excitement or any other means harm any part of his anatomy (body) or that of other living beings, by any means such as weapons.

No haribhagat should steal or commit theft even if it serves a religions purpose, by taking items such as flowers, fruit, wood etc. from a place without the consent or permission of the owners.

Slokha 18 ~ To save embarrassment and trouble from the community, followers shall not take part in adult games or sex before marriage, and shall not take involvement in vices (bad habits) such as gambling of any sort involving land, money or family (King Yudhistri of the Pandvas staked his wealth, kingdom, and even his wife. the result of this mistake was thirteen years of pain.

Slokha 18/19 ~ A devotee shall not pass into his body intoxicating items such as bang, opium ,tobacco or wine. Lord Swaminarayan says that to ensure good health a devotee shall never eat food prepared by an unknown person or drink water from such people even if it is remanance (prasad) of Sri Krishna except the one offered at Jagnathpuri where the level of cleanliness is declared of a high standard.

Slokha 20/21 ~ Lord Swaminarayan has said that by wrongly accusing a person of robbery, murder or theft to obtain wealth, land, or a woman. A devotee shall not listen to or utter words of abuse directed towards Lord Shri Krishna, brahmas, sadhus, women, religious books, or scared places. One shall immediatly leave that place, as to hear words of this nature can influence even the very clever and learned person to stray from the path of righteousness.

Slokha 23 ~The Swaminarayan sampradaya is part of the hindu religion, just as a branch is part of a larger tree trunk, and therefore if a devotee happens to pass a temple of any other (dev) deity within the hindu religion, for example Shivji, Hanumanji, Ganpatiji etc, they shall bow down and take darshan of these deities with respect and honour.

Slokha 27/28 ~ A devotee shall not have any association (friendship) with a wrong doer, thief, alcoholic, etc a devotee shall not associate himself with a person who uses his devotion, bhakti or religious knowledge to commit a sin such as going after women, wealth and other material objects such as tasty dishes.

Slokha 30/31 ~ To be totally healthy and free from sickness a devotee shall always drink water, milk, and oil which has been filtered. Water for bathing should also be filtered as unfiltered liquids may posses small insects which may cause harm to the human body. A haribagat shall not take medicine which may contain any sort of meat, flesh or liquor. Any medicine which may be needed due to bad health shall only be accepted from a physician or doctor who is well known. It is wrong to pass urine or throw spit in certain places which are considered special these include temples river banks or ponds, sown fields, trees and gardens. To disobey this is simply an act of immaturity, it is totally unacceptable by lord Swaminarayan A person shall not enter a place of residence owned by someone else without there consent and permission.

Slokha 34/35 ~ Lord Swaminarayan said that my followers shall not listen to females giving religious lectures about God as this can create attraction to the opposite sex and distraction from God .They shall not enter into useless arguments with any body. For anybody to insult or degrade a Guru, a leader, a very highly respected person, a very knowledgeable and learned man or a person with weapons is considered to be wrong by Lord Swaminarayan as this could cause humiliation to the devotee.

Slokha 36 ~ If a person has great understanding about God and his greatness he should be willing to pass this religous knowledge to others for the benefit of thier souls. The knowledgeable person shall always keep constant contact with saints and Gods devotees.

Slokha 37 ~ When we visit a guru a deity or a King, we should not go empty handed but should respect and honour the dignitary with gifts and love, and it would be wrong to speak of our own greatness at such gatherings. Devotees should never praise himself.

Slokha 38/39 ~ A devotee shall when wearing clothing respect himself by not exposing any part of the body for others to views this creates attraction and leads to distraction of the mind. As a devotee of the Supreme Lord we should have great love for Lord Krishna and worship him with great perseverance and patience, but shall not leave this worshipping for fear of insult from ignorant people.

Slokha 40 ~ Whenever a devotees goes to the temple for darshan of Lord Krishna the male and female devotees shall not touch each other and there shall be separate sitting arrangements, as the two sexes will naturally generate attraction towards each other, and distraction from God.

Slokha 40-46 ~ Disciples who have been intiated into the sampradaya shall wear around their neck a double folded kanthi made from tulsi beads and shall mark their forehead with a tilak, (tiloo) the tilak should be prepared from sandle paste or gopichandan like a U shape. Between the U tilak a round mark made of gopichandan or kanku (red powder) shall be made, other haribagats may also perform the practise while brahman devotees shall wear a necklace made of rudraksh beads, and shall never give up this tradition.

Slokha 47 ~ All devotees shall treat Narayan, Vishnu and Mahash (Lord Shiva) as one as the religious books proclaim.

Slokha 49-51 ~ When a devotee wakes up he should wake up before sunrises and offer prayers to Sri Krishna before performing the call of nature, then presiding at one place the devotee shall clean his teeth and body and put on a pure cloth, the devotee shall daily perform puja and worship God by facing the North or East direction. He shall sit on a pure cloth perform sipping of water three times.

Slokha 52 ~ A tilak as explained shall be made, women devotees shall place a round mark of red kanku, but a widow shall do neither. The devotee shall mentally recite the word Lord Shree Krishna, with Radhaji and bow down and have darshan of the puja with love and respect, the devotee is now permitted to carry on with the daily activities.

Slokha 55/56 ~ Haribhagats who like King Ambrish who donated, and dedicated everything to the service of Lord Krishna shall all perform the rules laid down above. A devote shall worship Lord Krishna or the idol of Shaligram with fruit, flowers, sandal paste and the like, the devotee shall then chant the holy name Shree Krishna or sing songs in the praise of the Lord, the offered fruit may now be taken as prasad.

Slokha 58-60 ~ As a devotee of Lord Swaminarayan, we must always offer food or drink first to Lord Krishna and then only should accept the meal.

Slokha 61-64 ~ If the devotee due to some illness becomes unable to perform puja of the divine form of Lord Krishna they may pass the murti or idol of the Lord to someone who may take proper care of it. An idol that has been installed at a temple or given by the Acharya Maharaj shall be offered puja and devotion, the devotees shall sing songs, read and listen about the greatness of the Lord with musical instruments in front of the installed idols.

Slokha 67/68 ~ Lord Swaminarayan says that a person should be given the job that suits his ability and intelligence, but should never be inspired otherwise. Each individual shall communicate to other person according to the status of the person and the place of the meeting, for example meeting a king at a palace.

Slokha 69-72 ~ A devotee shall repect kings, Gurus, learned persons, and an old person. For a devotee it is not acceptable to sit crossed legged in the presence of a Guru, a king, and shall not enter into useless discussions with such dignitaries. When a Guru comes to town the devotees shall meet him at the outskirts of the town and shall treat him with respect and at shall bid farewell again at the outskirts of the village at his departure..

Slokha 73/74 ~ A devotee shall never perform a task for his own benefit that may be outside the boundaries of the religion even though it may serve a religious purpose, or if it has been performed by great men in the past because the observance of religious law create all happiness and fulfils all desires.

Slokha 75-78 ~ A devotee shall not humiliate another person by revealing any secrets of another person. All devotees shall generate greater religious understanding during the four months of monsoon, this should include listening, singing, reading, worshipping, chanting the mantra of the Lord, chanting hymns, taking Gods idol in ones right hand round Gods idol and having darshan of Lord Shree Krishna. Lord Swaminarayan proclaims that these are considered as very high forms of bhakti.

Slokha 79-82 ~ All devotees shall observe fasting on Ekadashi days and on Janmastmi (Shree Krishna's birthday) and other important days, these days are decided by Sri Vithalnathji, son of Sri Vallabhacharya, and the devotee shall not sleep during these days, or engage in sexual intercourse, as this destroys the benefits of the fast.

Slokha 83/84 ~ All devotees shall undertake yatra or pilgrimage to religous places and observe the dharmas accordingly. Pligrimage allows religous thoughts to flourish and inspire good actions. One important aspect of the Swaminarayan faith is the respect and regard that Lord Swaminarayan has afforded the Five deities, viz Vishnu, Shiva, Ganapati, Parvati, and the Sun, these deities are treated as the foundations of Hinduism.

Slokha 85 ~ Lord Swaminarayan has advised that during troubles from evil spirits and ghosts a devotee shall recite only the mantra of Narayan Kavach, or Hunuman Strota as found in the shastras.

Slokha 86/87 ~ The eclipse has been given a very prominent place in Hinduism, Lord Swaminarayan says that on occurrence of an eclipse my devotees shall stop all their work, and once the eclipse has passed they shall bathe them selfs and wash all their old clothes, devotees shall than recite the mantra of Lord Krishna.

Slokha 88 ~ Another very important rule that hindus follow is the observance of suthak these are days which are observed after the death or birth in the familly, when all religious rights are stopped, as they are considered as impure days.

Slokha 89-91 ~ Lord Swaminarayan has given the four classes that is Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras, different jobs and has assigned different qualities to these classes. Brahmans shall been pure, patient, and happy at all times, the Kshatriyas or warriors shall have qualities such as bravery, and courage to fight for what is right, the Vaishyas who are the business men shall be involved in farming, money lending and other similar activities, while the Shudras shall serve the above three classes.

Slokha 92 ~ When a devotee has commited a sin, he shall ask for forgiveness sinceraly and this should be made through a saint.

Slokha 93-97 ~ Lord Swaminarayan has proclaimed that he considers eight shastra (religious books) has his favourite, these are the Vedas, Vyas Sutras, Puran or Srimad Bhadwat, and Shri Vishnusahasranam, Sri Bhagwad Gita, and Vidurniti, Shri Vasudev-Mahatmya, and Yajnavalkya, all devotess shall listen to them and saints shall teach these great books to others, everyone shall listen to or hear the tenth sections of the Srimad Bhadwat and the Shri Vishnusahasranam in a holy place either every day or once a year. These shastra will provide aid in making decsions for social, legal, and personal satisfaction, and help in releasing the greatness of Lord Shree Krishna.

Slokha 102-105 ~ Dhrama and Bhakti must go together if a devotee wishes to realise the true greatness of Lord Krishna, and also to attain deep love and in depth knowledge of the leelas (glories) of Lord Krishna. To be able to love Shree Krishna totally a devotee must become totally detached from all other material objects, this is known as Viaragya, and knowledge enables a devotee to accept the greatness of Lord Krishna.

Slokha 105 ~ The Jiva is the soul and is invisible, it has no smell, no form, but is present innall our bodies, Lord Krishna is present in our own Jiva at all times and so control of the Jiva shall give us the fruits of our actions. The Jiva shall incarnate according to our actions.

Slokha 109-113 ~ An important understanding of Lord Krishna is that when he is with Radhaji , he shall be known as Radha-Krishna, when he is with Rukmini, Krishna shall be known has Laxmi-Narayan, and when he is with Arjun (from the Mahabharat) Krishna shall be known as Nar-Narayan. Lord krishna shall be known accordingly to whose company he is with, these bhaktos reside (stay) within Lord Krishna, but they are considered as one, no devotee shall consider these forms as different or insult Krishna as having many arms, it is the power and will of Lord Krishna that he has only two arms, everyone on this earth shall worship him as there is no other or better form of attaining mukti or salvation from this earth.

Slokha 114 ~ Lord Swaminarayan says that a person shall keep continuos contact with true saints, and devotees, as these are considered the best form of company. Without bhakti of Lord Krishna or friendship of saints, even a qualified person shall degrade himself to a useless person.

Slokha 115 ~ Lord Swaminarayan has instructed his followers that they should only meditate (think in their minds) the form of Lord Krishna or his various images. A devotee shall not meditate on any person or deity regardless of how great he may be, as loyal devotion to Lord Krishna his the highest bhakti and devotion one may assume.

Lord Swaminarayn says that every person shall behave in their lives according to their capacity and take into consideration, the place, time, their age, their financial situation, and physical ability when performing a task in life, otherwise unnecessary pain and trouble may result.

Lord Swaminarayan says that all devotees shall follow these dharmas accordingly, which have been laid down to defend our religion and advance the true understanding of God.

Devotees shall listen to the tenth section of Shrimad Bhagwat either daily or once a year, and also read other books such as the Vishnusahasranam.

Note, that further and in depth reading of tehShikshapatri can be obtained with reference to the Shikshapatri Bashya, or the more comprehensive version of teh Shikshapatri.

By following these dharmas my devotees shall have full happiness and satisfaction in this life and in the next, prescribes Lord Swaminarayan himself.

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