Chanakya Neeti

[vadapav]

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.

[vadapav]

13. The brahmana is like tree; his prayers are the roots, his chanting of
the Vedas are the branches, and his religious act 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.

[vadapav]

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.

[vadapav]

15. (Through the night) a great many kinds of birds perch(Sit and rest) on
a tree but in the morning they fly in all the ten directions. Why should
we lament (Expression of sorrow) for that? (Similarly, we should not
grieve when we must inevitably part company from our dear ones).

[vadapav]

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).

[vadapav]

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.

[vadapav]

CHAPTER ELEVEN

[vadapav]

1. Generosity, pleasing address, courage and propriety of conduct are not
acquired, but are inbred qualities.

[vadapav]

2. He who forsakes his own community and joins another perishes as the
king who embraces an unrighteous path.

[vadapav]

3. The elephant has a huge body but is controlled by the ankusha (goad):
yet, is the goad as large as the elephant? A lighted candle banishes
darkness: is the candle as vast as the darkness. A mountain is broken
even by a thunderbolt: is the thunderbolt therefore as big as the
mountain? No, he whose power prevails is really mighty; what is there
in bulk?

[vadapav]

4. ...

[vadapav]

5. He who is engrossed in family life will never acquire knowledge; there
can be no mercy in the eater of flesh; the greedy man will not be
truthful; and purity will not be found in a woman and a hunter.

[vadapav]

6. The wicked man will not attain sanctity even if he is instructed in
different ways, and the nim tree will not become sweet even if it is
sprinkled from the top to the roots with milk and ghee.

[vadapav]

7. Mental dirt cannot be washed away even by one-hundred baths in the
sacred waters, just as a wine pot cannot be purified even by evaporating
all the wine by fire.

[vadapav]

8. It is not strange if a man reviles (Degrades) a thing of which he has no
knowledge, just as a wild hunter's wife throws away the pearl that is
found in the head of an elephant, and picks up a gunj(a type of seed
which poor tribals wear as ornaments).