साधु

Sadhu simply means a good person, one who walks the right road. In everyday speech the word is often tied to a robe or a hermitage, but in the Gita it is about conduct and resolve, not clothing.

The word appears in a startling sentence (Gita 9.30). The Lord says that even a person of very bad conduct, if he worships Him with undivided devotion, is to be regarded as a sadhu, because he has resolved rightly. Here the ground for the name is not the past conduct but today's resolve. The next verse adds that he quickly becomes righteous. So being counted as a sadhu is the start, and the change of conduct follows it.

Two misunderstandings gather around the word. One is that a sadhu is someone made by birth or by dress. The other is that once a person is counted as a sadhu, his conduct no longer matters. The Gita accepts neither: it makes resolve the ground and becoming righteous the result.

These verses are taken up in Even the Worst Offender.