Ans. The basic rules of Abhiyan Sadhana are given hereunder:- (a) The time of commencement: All days are considered auspicious for initiating a good work. However, for this purpose a Parva (religious auspicious period) would be the best choice. Amongst the auspicious festivals, one may choose days like Basant Panchami, Guru Poornima, Gayatri Jayanti etc. As regards of "Tithis", Panchami, Ekadashi and Poornima are considered auspicious and amongst the days, Ravivar, (Sunday) Guru var (Thursday) are the best suited. (b) Self control (Samyam): Involvement in Upasana should be a gradual process. In the beginning one attempts to adopt regularity in practice by doing a minimum number of Malas each day at a fixed convenient time. The same is true about other restrictions of self- control. In the beginning one may follow these on Thursdays. Later, if it is possible to adopt these self-controls for longer periods, greater benefits accrue. The basic rules of the Sadhana are the same as for any other Anusthan . Fasting (Half or full day), abstention from sex, self service , Titikcha (Tolerance of heat and cold of natural weather cycles with minimum necessities) are adopted at least on Thursdays. During any form of fasting, mentioned earlier, refraining from unnecessary chattering and abstention from sex are must. (c) Fasting : For food, liquid diets like milk, buttermilk, fruit juices etc. are the best. Otherwise, one may depend on vegetables. Even if this much is not possible only one meal may be taken each day. It should, however, be free of salt and sugar (Aswad vrat). (d) Keeping silent : One aspect of control on tongue is through the control on taste. The other is by balanced and cultured speech. To adopt it, one has to get rid of the old habits of intemperate utterances. Maintenance of silence creates the ground for the change in speech habits. For a working man, it is difficult to keep quiet throughout the day. Nevertheless, it should not be difficult to find out two hours in the morning or at any other convenient time during the day for keeping silent. During the duration of silence, one should do an introspection (Manan) to identify one's weaknesses, vices and bad habits and think of ways to get rid of them. The void thus created should be planned to be filled with good constructive habits (Chintan). Thus, refraining from speech does not simply mean keeping quiet anywhere. Seclusion is also necessary, where no communication is needed even through signs and gestures. (e) Sex abstinence : Amongst all physical activities of entertainment, overindulgence in sex has the most disastrous consequences. One has to pay heavily for the sexual acts during which vital life force is drained out of the human body, making one progressively weaker spiritually. On Thursdays, therefore, it is advised not only to refrain from sex but also avoid thoughts and actions arousing sexual impulse. The above five principles are adopted on Thursdays only symbolically. The objective is to train oneself in self-control in day to day living so that one may ultimately persevere to follow them throughout life .
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