1. In this world, whose
family is there without blemish? Who is free from
sickness and grief? Who
is forever happy?
2. A man's descent may
be discerned by his conduct, his country by his
pronunciation of
language, his friendship by his warmth and glow, and his
3. Give your daughter in
marriage to a good family, engage your son in
learning, see that your
enemy comes to grief, and engage your friends in
dharma. (Krsna
consciousness).
4. Of a rascal and a
serpent, the serpent is the better of the two, for he strikes
only at the time he is
destined to kill, while the former at every step.
5. Therefore kings
gather round themselves men of good families, for they
never forsake them
either at the beginning, the middle or the end.
6. At the time of the
pralaya (universal destruction) the oceans are to exceed
their limits and seek to
change, but a saintly man never changes.
7. Do not keep company
with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged
beast. Like an unseen
thorn he pierces the heart with his sharp words.
8. Though men be endowed
with beauty and youth and born in noble families,
yet without education
they are like the palasa flower, which is void of sweet
fragrance.
9. The beauty of a
cuckoo is in its notes, that of a woman in her unalloyed
devotion to her husband,
that of an ugly person in his scholarship, and that of
an ascetic in his
forgiveness.
10. Give up a member to
save a family, a family to save a village, a village to
save a country, and the
country to save yourself.
11. There is no poverty
for the industrious. Sin does not attach itself to the
person practicing japa
(chanting of the holy names of the Lord). Those who
are absorbed in maunam
(silent contemplation of the Lord) have no quarrel
with others. They are
fearless who remain always alert.
12.-13.
What is too heavy for
the strong and what place is too distant for those who
put forth effort? What
country is foreign to a man of true learning? Who can be
inimical to one who
speaks pleasingly?
14. As a whole forest
becomes fragrant by the existence of a single tree with
sweet-smelling blossoms
in it, so a family becomes famous by the birth of a
virtuous son.
15. As a single withered
tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so
does a rascal son
destroy a whole family.
16. As night looks
delightful when the moon shines, so is a family gladdened
by even one learned and
virtuous son.
17. What is the use of
having many sons if they cause grief and vexation? It is
better to have only one
son from whom the whole family can derive support
and peacefulness.
18. Fondle a son until
he is five years of age, and use the stick for another ten
years, but when he has
attained his sixteenth year treat him as a friend.
19. He who runs away
from a fearful calamity, a foreign invasion, a terrible
famine, and the
companionship of wicked men is safe.
20. He who has not
acquired one of the following: religious merit (dharma),
wealth (artha),
satisfaction of desires (kama), or liberation (moksa) is
repeatedly born to die
21. Lakshmi, the Goddess
of wealth, comes of Her own accord where fools
are not respected, grain
is well stored up, and the husband and wife do not
quarrel.
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