1. These five: the life
span, the type of work, wealth, learning and the time of
one's death are
determined while one is in the womb.
2. Offspring, friends
and relatives flee from a devotee of the Lord: yet those
3. Fish, tortoises, and
birds bring up their young by means of sight, attention
and touch; so do saintly
men afford protection to their associates by the same
means.
4. As long as your body
is healthy and under control and death is distant, try
to save your soul; when
death is imminent what can you do?
5. Learning is like a
cow of desire. It, like her, yields in all seasons. Like a
mother, it feeds you on
your journey. Therefore learning is a hidden treasure.
6. A single son endowed
with good qualities is far better than a hundred
devoid of them. For the
moon, though one, dispels the darkness, which the
stars, though numerous,
cannot.
7. A stillborn son is
superior to a foolish son endowed with a long life. The first
causes grief for but a
moment while the latter like a blazing fire consumes his
parents in grief for
life.
8. Residing in a small
village devoid of proper living facilities, serving a person
born of a low family,
unwholesome food, a frowning wife, a foolish son, and a
widowed daughter burn
the body without fire.
9. What good is a cow
that neither gives milk nor conceives? Similarly, what is
the value of the birth
of a son if he becomes neither learned nor a pure
devotee of the Lord?
10. When one is consumed
by the sorrows of life, three things give him relief:
offspring, a wife, and
the company of the Lord's devotees.
11. Kings speak for
once, men of learning once, and the daughter is given in
marriage once. All these
things happen once and only once.
12. Religious
austerities should be practiced alone, study by two, and singing
by three. A journey
should be undertaken by four, agriculture by five, and war
by many together.
13. She is a true wife
who is clean (suci), expert, chaste, pleasing to the
husband, and truthful.
14. The house of a
childless person is a void, all directions are void to one
who has no relatives,
the heart of a fool is also void, but to a poverty-stricken
man all is void.
15. Scriptural lessons
not put into practice are poison; a meal is poison to him
who suffers from
indigestion; a social gathering is poison to a poverty-stricken
person; and a young wife
is poison to an aged man.
16. That man who is
without religion and mercy should be rejected. A guru
without spiritual
knowledge should be rejected. The wife with an offensive face
should be given up, and
so should relatives who are without affection.
17. Constant travel
brings old age upon a man; a horse becomes old by being
constantly tied up; lack
of sexual contact with her husband brings old age
upon a woman; and
garments become old through being left in the sun.
18. Consider again and
again the following: the right time, the right friends,
the right place, the
right means of income, the right ways of spending, and
from whom you derive
your power.
19. For the twice born
the fire (Agni) is a representative of God. The Supreme
Lord resides in the
heart of His devotees. Those of average intelligence (alpabuddhi
or kanista-adhikari) see
God only in His sri-murti, but those of broad
vision see the Supreme
Lord everywhere.
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