The Shikshapatri explains how to behave, where by respect amoungst friends, family and work mates can be acheived. A householder or grahasta is anyone who is a man or women and who is engaged in wordly affairs. There are in total 22 sections for householders in the Shikshapatri, from slokha 135 to slokha 156.

In slokha 135 the Lord says that my male fellows who are householders shall not touch widows who are not thier nearest realatives. You are allowed to touch for example your grandmother who may be a widow but no-one else. Lord Swaminarayan explains that a householder shall never stay alone in a quite and secluded (lonely) place with their young mothers, sisters, or daugters execpt if it is really necessery (in an emergency).

If you are abused by a young female then you should leave that place immedatly otherwise the people of the world have a habit of talking, Lord Swaminarayan here implies that a devotee shall in such circummstance save yourself from any unnecessery or unwanted false claims on your honesty, dignity and self-respect.

Lord swaminarayan says that you not give as a donation your wife to anybody for any reason, the examle of the Mahabharat when king Yudhistir gave away his wife Drupadi to the evil Dhoryodhan can be considered here.

If you happen to be the host of a quest you should treat him/her with love and respect and provide the necessery meals. One shall carry out all religious rituals which may be required from time to time with respect to either a deity, or your parents, grandparents etc.

Sahajanand Swami says that all the followers should wilfully serve their parents like God, guru or any disabled person according to your capability. A devotee should provide money or help an unfortunate, blind, deaf, dum or any other person, and spare as much time as possible. Sravana served his blind parents to such a high level that god was extremly pleased with, and so if we wish God Swaminarayan to be happy with our actions we should always care and look after our parents and do as they say.

A householder should always save money for food according to their needs so that there is never a need to beg for food. Anyone who has cattle (cows) shall always provide them with food because the cow is a scared animal for hindus (the cow was always by the side of Lord Shree Krishna), if they cannot look after them with food and water they should not look after them at all.

A householder shall never lend money or land to anybody even if it is their own son or father if there is no written paper clearly showing the exchange of money or land. This exchange should be done in front of a witness, the reason for this is so that there is no misunderstanding between the two parties at a later date. Equally exchange of money for marriage related items shall also be in a written form.

Lord Swaminarayan advises his followers that you should only spend only what you earn from your job, as spending more than your income will cause unnesscery hardship in life. For example if a devotee earns £100 and spends £110 then a devotee shall bring on to him self much pain and misery, Lord Swaminarayan says that my householder devotees shall therefore keep a proper account of there income and expenditure.

According to our great shatras it has been proclaimed that out of our income a devotee shall donate either one tenth or one twentieth of that income to Lord Krishna, the reason for this is that in our day to day living we often do something which may be wrong according to the religion, without knowing such as killing and ant, the donation is so that we can clear our soul of this burden.

All devotees shall observe fast on days such as Ekadhashi which falls every two weeks on different days, devotes shall abstain from eating flour or items made from flour, the reason for this is that the fast gives our Indriyas or bodily organs a rest from daily eating. Observation of Ekadhashi helps to achieve our desired results in life.

All my satsangi said Lord Swaminarayan shall perform puja or worship Lord Shiva and Ganesh, the god of luck and fortune with bilva leaves during the month of Sravan (August) and also perform fasting according to their ability, this is treated as a very high form of sacrifice.

Householder devotees shall never borrow money or other items from the temple or the Acharya, as confusion in returning these items may result in insult being directed towards the satsangi.

When going for darshan to a temple or to a saint the devotees shall take their own food with them as taking food from saints or others takes away the fruits of their pilgrimage, and is also treated as impolite.

Lord Swaminarayan says that if you are a businessman then you should pay your workers a reasonable rate of wages , you should always respect workers and never pay them less then the going rate at the time and place. The devotee shall never deal with a wicked person and shall avoid these persons when ever possible.

Lord Swaminarayan says that when there is a risk of life as a result of bad times such as famine due to drought (lack of rain fall) or invasion from a wicked enemy my devotes shall leave that place immediately and shall migrate (move) to a place where they can live peacefully. Lord Krishna done exactly this in Mathura when the city was being invade by the evil Jarasandh (Father-in-law of the evil Kans) ,the whole of Mathura was abandon and a new city call Dwarika was built, where Krishna and his people lived happily and peacefully.

Lord Swaminarayan has advised rich satsangis who are capable to perform various sacrifices involving proving food for saints and brahmans, and also for the needy in ashrams. These donation should be made either on Ekadashi days or on other religous days. The householder shall celebrate with love, reverence, pride and joy, festival days in the temple and give various alms to deserving brahmans.

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