Householder Virtues

The householder who leads a virtuous domestic life may be compared to a monk leading an ascetic life. Thus it is very important to understand and act upon the duties of a householder.

The following topics are discussed under Householder Virtues –

• Hospitality

• Speaking Sweetly

• Charity

• Duty to Society

• Impartiality

• Self Control

• Discipline

Hospitality

The important duty of a house holder is to utilize his wealth for showing hospitality to his guests. Not sharing the wealth and food with the guest is waste. The man who entertains guests daily can never become poor. His desires will be fulfilled easily. Goddess Lakshmi resides in the house of a person who receives guests with smile, humility and fulfills their needs. The house holder who takes the food after serving the guest will get his means of living without any difficulty. The host who serves guests continuously will be served with good honor after his death in the abode of God. The advantages that the host gets from the hospitality depends on the worthiness of the guests he served. Real poverty means not entertaining any guest in the house at all. The non-responsive nature of the host makes the guest’s face pale just like a gentle flower which closes its petals when smelled. Hence it is the primary duty of a house holder to host the guests with love and respect.

Speaking Sweetly

Speaking is a gift given by God exclusively to the human beings. The Good people use this gift prudently by speaking pleasantly. They avoid false, deceiving words. Kind and sweet speaking is always better than giving good amount of gifts. The man’s goodness lies in sweet, kind and lovely speech. The poverty will not harm the person who speaks sweetly with kind heart. The humility, kindness and sweet words are the true jewels and all the other ornaments are useless. The sweet and useful words add value to the virtue, remove the evils and reduce the harmful nature. Fruitful, courteous and pleasant words gives happiness, brings prosperity and improves character. The sweet and useful words enlightens life on the earth and will bring glory even in the other worlds after death. After knowing the value of sweet words and its happiness, one should not misuse their speech by uttering bad words. Using bad words in place of sweet words is like choosing unripe, bitter fruits instead of good, sweet, ripened fruits.

Charity

The noble people will only be satisfied if they see happy face of a beggar while receiving donation. The power of relieving others from hunger is greater than the power which relieves one‘s own hunger. Relieving poor people from their hunger is the best way to store the wealth. The burning sensation of hunger never troubles the people who shared their food with others. The cruel people who hoard and lose wealth do not know the value of giving to the poor. Eating alone without sharing for the purpose of conserving wealth is inferior to the act of begging. Death is very painful, not giving alms to poor is more painful than the death. That state is most undesirable for human beings.

Duty to Society

When we are doing duty to society we should not expect anything in return, just as the rain gives water without any expectation from the world. The wealth earned by tireless efforts is to be fruitful, when it is utilized for the benefit of the deserved persons. There is no valuable deed other than doing duty to society, either on the earth or on the heaven. The man who lives for the benefit of the society is deemed to be alive, all others are considered as dead. The wealth of the people who serves society can be compared with a big water tank of a village which serves the water needs of the villagers. The richness of a man who is generous and kind is compared with a big tree in the middle of a town which gives honey filled fruits to all. That generous person can also be compared with an herbal plant which gives useful herbs for curing diseases. The service oriented people never give up their helping nature even in severe poverty. Those people only feel poor if they are unable to help others not because of material poverty. At any cost one should not give up doing service to society.

Impartiality

Equity or impartial justice is a virtue which gives an un-bias treatment to everyone. Equity means unbiased words and deeds, which come from firm and positive minded people. People can be judged as good or bad by their acts and deeds, but not by their wealth and means. The wealth of a person who possess the virtue of equal justice is a perpetual security for the future generations. One should immediately leave away the wealth earned by unfair means, even it gives good returns. Ups and downs are very natural in life, but a balanced mind in these fluctuations of life is like an ornament. One who takes the path of injustice and does harmful acts, ruins his life undoubtedly and becomes a sinner. The poverty of an impartial person cannot be treated as bad thing by humanity. Treating others’ goods as his own and safeguarding them is called impartiality too. This makes a merchant good trader.

Self-Control

Self-control i.e. controlling five sense organs, will place a human being among the divine beings. If there is no self-control, a person will be destroyed definitely. One should nourish and safeguard the treasure of self-control. No other virtue is as worthier as self-control. The self-control practiced with cautiousness brings imperishable name and fame even after death. A man who observes self-control is more stable than a mountain. Humbleness is a great virtue to all and it even adds value to wealthy people. Those who control their five senses like a tortoise in one birth are guarded in all their seven births. Of all the five senses, holding tongue is very important. A slip of tongue ruins the life and bring sufferings. Uttering a single false word will spoil all the goodness in a person. The scars caused by fire can be cured with the passage of time, but the scars happened because of tongue slip will never be cured or rectified. The God of virtue will always bless a man who is having self-control and who never speaks harmful words.

Discipline

Discipline leads a man to great heights and brings honor in life. Hence it should be given priority in life. One should cultivate, maintain and lead the life with discipline in all circumstances. One should not scared to take any pain to keep his good conduct. Discipline indicates the person’s good birth and the indiscipline indicates the sign of bad birth. The wise can regain their past forgotten knowledge, but if they lost their discipline, their life will be ruined. The envious people do not get prosperity, similarly the indiscipline people never attain the greatness and retain their dignity. By knowing the ill effects of indiscipline, the noble people never deviate from the conduct of discipline. The Good conduct always brings great respect and the bad conduct brings disrespect. Noble character is the root or base for virtuous living whereas the bad character generates distress and unrest. Virtuous people never talk about bad things and never utter a single word of evil causing. The people who live against the world’s harmony are idiots, though they may have abundant knowledge and good worth.