Chanakya Neeti

[vadapav]

 

7.  Indolent application ruins study; money is lost when entrusted to others;

a farmer who sows his seed sparsely is ruined; and an army is lost for

want of a commander. 

[vadapav]

 

8.  Learning is retained through putting into practice; family prestige is 

maintained through good behaviour; a respectable person is recognised

by his excellent qualities; and anger is seen in the eyes. 

[vadapav]

 

9.  Religion is preserved by wealth; knowledge by diligent practice; a king

by conciliatory words; and a home by a dutiful housewife. 

[vadapav]

 

10. Those who blaspheme Vedic wisdom, who ridicule the life style

recommended in the satras, and who deride men of peaceful

temperament, come to grief unnecessarily. 

[vadapav]

11.  Charity puts an end to poverty; righteous conduct to misery; discretion

to ignorance; and scrutiny to fear. 

[vadapav]

 

12.  There is no disease (so destructive) as lust; no enemy like infatuation;

no fire like wrath; and no happiness like spiritual knowledge. 

[vadapav]

 

13.  A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and

bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the

Supreme abode. 

[vadapav]

14. Heaven is but a straw to him who knows spiritual life (Krsna
consciousness); so is life to a valiant man; a woman to him who has
subdued his senses; and the universe to him who is without attachment
for the world.

[vadapav]

15. Learning is a friend on the journey; a wife in the house; medicine in
sickness; and religious merit is the only friend after death.

[vadapav]

16. Rain which falls upon the sea is useless; so is food for one who is
satiated; in vain is a gift for one who is wealthy; and a burning lamp
during the daytime is useless.

[vadapav]

17. There is no water like rainwater; no strength like one's own; no light
like that of the eyes; and no wealth more dear than food grain.

[vadapav]

18. The poor wish for wealth; animals for the faculty of speech; men wish
for heaven; and godly persons for liberation.

[vadapav]

19. The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that
makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon
truth.

[vadapav]

20. The Goddess of wealth is unsteady (chanchala), and so is the life
breath. The duration of life is uncertain, and the place of habitation is
uncertain; but in all this inconsistent world religious merit alone is
immovable.

[vadapav]

21. Among men the barber is cunning; among birds the crow; among beasts
the jackal; and among women, the malin (flower girl).