XLIV. Men should think on their end.
Vriddha Chanakya, 14, 6.
Did men but always entertain
Those graver thoughts which sway the heart, When sickness comes, or friends depart, Who would not then redemption gain?
XLV. Men debont when in distress.
Subhashitärnava 163; Vriddha Chanakya, 176.
In trouble men the gods invoke ;
When sick, submit to virtue's yoke;
When lacking power to sin, are good;
When poor, are humble, meek, subdued.
XLVI. Men love the fruits of virtue, not virtue itself. Subhashitärnava 43.
In virtue men have small delight;
To them her fruits alone are dear;
The fruits of sin they hate and fear,
But sin pursue with all their might.
XLVII. Effects of habitual sin and virtue respectively.
Mahabharata v. 1242.
Sin practised oft,-experience shows,-
Men's understanding steals at length,
And understanding gone, the strength
Of sin unchecked, resistless grows.
But virtue ever practised, lends
The understanding firmer sway;
And understanding day by day
More widely virtue's rule extends.
XLVIII. A small part of the toil endured in gaining wealth would ensure final emancipation.
Panchatantra ii. 127 (117 Bombay Ed.)
Fools endless labour, care and moil,
In storing earthly wealth endure.
A hundredth part of all that toil
Would everlasting calm ensure.
XLIX. Action keeping in view the future.
Mahabharata v. 1248 f.
Let all thy acts by day be right,
That thou mayst sweetly rest at night;
Let such good deeds thy youth engage,
That thou mayst spend a tranquil age.
So act through life, that not in vain
Thou future bliss may'st hope to gain.
L. Daily self-examination.
Sarngadhara's Paddhati, Niti 2.
With daily scrutinizing ken
Let every man his actions try,
Enquiring "What with brutes have I
In common, what with noble men ?"
LL Emprovement of time.
Sarngadhara's Paddhati, p. 4.
The sage will ne'er allow a day
Unmarked by good to pass away;
But waking up, will often ask,
"Have I this day fulfilled my task?
With this, with each, day's setting sun,
A part of
my brief course is run."
LII. Dirtue difficult; bice easy.
Hitopadesa ii. 44.
As stones rolled up a hill with toil and pain,
Come quickly bounding backward o'er its side;
'Tis hard the top of virtue's steep to gain,
But easy down the slope of vice to glide.
LIII. “Gutta cabat lapidem," &c.; good slowly acquired. Vriddha Chanakya xii. 22.
As water-drops, which slowly fall,
A pitcher fill by ceaseless flow;
So learning, virtue, riches, all
By constant small accessions grow.
LIV. The condition of acquiring knowledge.
Mahabharata v. 1537.
How can the man who ease pursues,
The praise of knowledge ever earn?
All those the path of toil must choose-
Of ceaseless toil-who care to learn.
Who knowledge seeks must ease refuse;
Who ease prefers must knowledge lose.
LV. Knowledge a treasure which cannot be lost.
Chanakya 5.
With knowledge, say, what other wealth
Can vie, which neither thieves by stealth
Can take, nor kinsmen make their prey;
Which lavish'd, never wastes away.
LVI. Ars longa, vita brevis: The essence of
books to be got.
Vriddha Chanakya xv. 10.
The list of books is long; mishaps arise
To bar the student's progress; life is brief;
Whatever, then, in books is best and chief,
The essence, kernel,—that attracts the wise.
LVII. The Condition of Mortality.
Rāmāyaṇa (Bombay Edition) ii. 105. 16, (= MBh. xi. 48, 55; xii. 828; 5683; 8255 ff.; 12501; 12516 ff.).
In scatterings end collections all;
High towering piles at length must fall;
In parting every meeting ends;
To death all life of creatures tends.
The early fall to earth is sure,
Of fruits on trees that hang mature.
Of mortals here behold a type;
They, too, succumb, for death when ripe.
As houses fall when long decay
Has worn the posts which formed their stay,
So sink men's frames, when age's course
Has undermined their vital force.
The nights which once have passed away,
And mingled with the morning ray.
-as streams which blend
With ocean, there for ever end.
Revolving ceaseless, night and day,
The lives of mortals wear away;
As summer's torrid solar beams
Dry up the ever lessening streams.
In hours when men at home abide,
Death, too, reposes by their side;
When forth they issue, day by day,
Death walks companion of their way;
Death with them goes when far they roam;
Death with them stays, death brings them home.
Men hail the rising sun with glee,
They love his setting glow to see,
But fail to mark that every day
In fragments bears their life away.
All nature's face delight to view,
As changing seasons come anew;
Few see how each revolving year
Abridges swiftly man's career.
As logs that on the ocean float,
By chance are into contact brought,
But, tossed about by wind and tide,
Together cannot long abide ;—
So wives, sons, kinsmen, riches, all
Whate'er our own we fondly call,-
Obtained, possessed, enjoyed, to-day,
To-morrow all are snatched away.
As, standing on the road a man
Who sees a passing caravan,
Which slowly winds across the plain,
Cries, "I will follow in your train;"
So men the beaten path must tread
On which their sires of yore have led.
Since none can nature's course elude,
Why o'er thy doom in sorrow brood?
LVIII. The Mysteries of Destiny.
Mahābhārata xii. 846 f.; 854 ff.
How strange, to all her course who mark,
Must Fortune's ways appear, how dark!
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