Social Norms

Social Norms is the 8^th chapter of Ananda Marga Caryacarya Part 2 written by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar. In this chapter he instructed social norms and etiquettes one should follow in society.^[1]

Chapter synopsis

In this chapter Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar instructed 39 social norms.

No.	Topic	Description
1	Thanking someone	One should offer thanks to someone from whom he or she it taking service. He or she may do it by saying the words "Thank you".
2	Replying to Namaskara	One should quickly reply to someone’s namaskara in a similar way.
3	Mudra for recieving or offering something	One should receive or offer something with the following mudrá: extend the right hand, touching the right elbow with the left hand.
4	Standing up to show respect	One has to stand up if any respectable elderly person approaches him.
5	Yawning	While yawning, one has to cover his or her mouth, and at the same time make a snapping sound with his or her fingers.
6	Respectful words for absent person	While talking, one has to always use respectful words about someone who is absent.
7	Covering mouth before sneezing	One should cover his or her mouth properly before sneezing.
8	Washing hands	One should wash his or hands after Cleaning the nasal duct<br/While distributing food, if he or she coughs or sneezes
9	Body cleaning after passing stool	After passing stool, one has to wash his or her hands with soap, rubbing the soap in the right hand first, and then cleaning the left hand with the right.
10	Seeking permission	One should seek permission before entering a place where few people are talking.

No.	Topic	Description
11	Organizational talk in transport	One should not engage in private (organizational) talk in a train, bus or other public transportation.
12	Taking someone else's article	One should not take another’s article without his or her prior consent.
13	Using someone else's belonging	One should use anything that belongs to someone else.
14	Usage of pinching words	While talking one should not hit someone else with harsh or pinching word. It can be said indirectly.
15	Criticizing others	One should not indulge himself or herself criticising others' faults or defects.
16	Procedure of going to a meeting with office personnel	When someone is going to meet an office personnel, he or she should seek prior permission, or send his or her identity card, or get verbal permission.

No.	Topic	Description
21	Sitting in a zamindary posture	One should not sit in a zamindary posture, and dance his or feet in a silly way.
22	Respecting others' privacy	If someone one person is going to speak with is writing at the time, he should not look at his or her writing paper (or communications medium).
23	Putting fingers in mouth Cutting fingernails with teeth	One should not put his or her fingers in mouth. One should not cut nails with teeth
24	Unable to understand conversation	If during conversation someone fails to understand the conversation, he or she should humbly say "Excuse me!"
25	Inquiring about health	When someone is inquiring about health, the person asked, should thank the person cordially.
26	Going to someone's house after 9:00 pm	One should not go to someone else's house or call him or her after 9:00 pm
27	Conveying something negative	If someone wants to convey something negative, he or she should start with "Excuse me".
28	Washing hands and feet before meal	One should wash hands and feet before taking meal.
29	Taking honey	If someone wants to take honey, it should be taken with water.
30	Talk standing before eating person	One should not talk standing before a person who is eating.

No.	Topic	Description
31	Sneezing or coughing at the dining table	One should not sneeze or cough at the dining table.
32	Offering food dish with left hand	One should not offer someone else a food dish with his or her left hand.
33	Body position while taking drink shower or bath	One should not take drink, shower or bath from a standing position.
34	Body position while passing urine or stool	One should not pass urine or stool from a standing position.
35	Type of foods in relation to the activity of nostrils	When someone's left nostril is active, he or she should take liquid food and if right nostril is active he or she should take solid food

Preceded by Sixteen Points	Ananda Marga Caryacarya Part 2 With: Social Norms	Succeeded by Concluding Words