1. One destitute of
wealth is not destitute, he is indeed rich (if he is learned);
2. We should carefully
scrutinise that place upon which we step (having it
ascertained to be free
from filth and living creatures like insects, etc.); we
should drink water,
which has been filtered (through a clean cloth); we should
speak only those words,
which have the sanction of the satras; and do that
act which we have
carefully considered.
3. He who desires sense
gratification must give up all thoughts of acquiring
knowledge; and he who
seeks knowledge must not hope for sense
gratification. How can
he who seeks sense gratification acquire knowledge,
and he who possesses
knowledge enjoy mundane sense pleasure?
4. What is it that
escapes the observation of poets? What is that act women
are incapable of doing?
What will drunken people not prate? What will not a
crow eat?
5. Fate makes a beggar a
king and a king a beggar. He makes a rich man
poor and a poor man rich
6. The beggar is a
miser's enemy; the wise counsellor is the fool's enemy; her
husband is an adulterous
wife's enemy; and the moon is the enemy of the
thief.
7. Those who are
destitute of learning, penance, knowledge, good disposition,
virtue and benevolence
are brutes wandering the earth in the form of men.
They are burdensome to
the earth.
8. Those that are
empty-minded cannot be benefited by instruction. Bamboo
does not acquire the
quality of sandalwood by being associated with the
Malaya Mountain.
9. What good can the
scriptures do to a man who has no sense of his own?
Of what use is as mirror
to a blind man?
10. Nothing can reform a
bad man, just as the posteriors cannot become a
superior part of the
body though washed one hundred times.
11. By offending a
kinsman, life is lost; by offending others, wealth is lost; by
offending the king,
everything is lost; and by offending a brahmana (Brahmin)
one's whole family is
ruined.
12. It is better to live
under a tree in a jungle inhabited by tigers and
elephants, to maintain
oneself in such a place with ripe fruits and spring water,
to lie down on grass and
to wear the ragged barks of trees than to live
amongst one's relations
when reduced to poverty.
13. The brahmana
(Brahmin) is like a tree; his prayers are the roots, his
chanting of the Vedas
are the branches, and his religious acts are the leaves.
Consequently effort
should be made to preserve his roots for if the roots are
destroyed there can be
no branches or leaves.
14. My mother is Kamala
devi (Lakshmi), my father is Lord Janardana
(Vishnu), my kinsmen are
the Vishnu-bhaktas (Vaisnavas) and, my homeland
is all the three worlds.
15. (Through the night)
a great many kinds of birds perch on a tree but in the
morning they fly in all
the ten directions. Why should we lament for that?
(Similarly, we should
not grieve when we must inevitably part company from
our dear ones)
16. He who possesses
intelligence is strong; how can the man that is
unintelligent be
powerful? The elephant of the forest having lost his senses by
intoxication was tricked
into a lake by a small rabbit. (This verse refers to a
famous story from the
niti-sastra called pancatantra compiled by the pandit
Vishnusharma 2500 years
ago).
17. Why should I be
concerned for my maintenance while absorbed in
praising the glories of
Lord Vishwambhara (Vishnu), the supporter of all?
Without the grace of
Lord Hari, how could milk flow from a mother's breast for
a child's nourishment?
Repeatedly thinking only in this way, O Lord of the
Yadus, O husband of
Lakshmi, all my time is spent in serving Your lotus feet.
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