Friday, June 22, 2012

Niti Shastra : Chapter Three



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
capacity to eat by his body.


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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