Chanakya Neeti

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

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1. The scholar who has acquired knowledge by studying innumerable
books without the blessings of a bonafide spiritual master does not
shine in an assembly of truly learned men just as an illegitimate child is
not honoured in society.

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2. We should repay the favours of others by acts of kindness; so also
should we return evil for evil in which there is no sin, for it is necessary
to pay a wicked man in his own coin.

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3. That thing which is distant, that thing which appears impossible, and
that which is far beyond our reach, can be easily attained through
tapasya (religious austerity), for nothing can surpass austerity.

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4. What vice could be worse than covetousness? What is more sinful than
slander? For one who is truthful, what need is there for austerity? For
one who has a clean heart, what is the need for pilgrimage? If one has a
good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what
is the value of other ornamentation? What need is there for wealth for
the man of practical knowledge? And if a man is dishonoured, what
could there be worse in death?

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5. Though the sea, which is the reservoir of all jewels, is the father of the
conch shell, and the Goddess of fortune Lakshmi is conch's sister, still
the conch must go from door to door for alms (in the hands of a
beggar). It is true, therefore, that one gains nothing without having
given in the past.

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6. When a man has no strength left in him he becomes a sadhu, one
without wealth acts like a brahmacari, a sick man behaves like a
devotee of the Lord, and when a woman grows old she becomes
devoted to her husband.

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7. ...
8. There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in
the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.

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9. The woman who fasts and observes religious vows without the
permission of her husband shortens his life, and goes to hell.

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10. A woman does not become holy by offering by charity, by observing
hundreds of fasts, or by sipping sacred water, as by sipping the water
used to wash her husbands feet.

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11 ...
12. The hand is not so well adorned by ornaments as by charitable
offerings; one does not become clean by smearing sandalwood paste
upon the body as by taking a bath; one does not become so much
satisfied by dinner as by having respect shown to him; and salvation is
not attained by self-adornment as by cultivation of spiritual knowledge.

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13. ...
14. The eating of tundi fruit deprives a man of his sense, while the vacha
root administered revives his reasoning immediately. A woman at once
robs a man of his vigour while milk at once restores it.

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15. He who nurtures benevolence for all creatures within his heart
overcomes all difficulties and will be the recipient of all types of riches
at every step.

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17. Men have eating, sleeping, fearing and mating in common with the
lower animals. That in which men excel the beasts is discretionary
knowledge; hence, indiscreet men who are without knowledge should
be regarded as beasts.

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18. If the bees which seek the liquid oozing from the head of a lust-
intoxicated elephant are driven away by the flapping of his ears, then
the elephant has lost only the ornament of his head. The bees are quite
happy in the lotus filled lake.