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If you want to overpower the entire world merely by just one action, then put restraint upon your tongue speaking ill of others.
He whose mind is not steady doesn’t get happiness either amongst the people or in the loneliness of the jungle. When lonely he longs for company and when in company he yearns for loneliness.
The brahmans leave their host after getting the honorarium; the disciple leave their teacher after receiving education; the beasts leave the jungle when fire breaks out there. [This is a pithy yet melancholic observation. Chanakya says that driven by the matter of fact and selfish consideration all stay with anyone till they receive some material benefit. This is the golden rule of a materialistic world. A brahman stays with the host till he receives his honorarium. Similarly, students desert their teacher after getting education. Even the wild beasts, who feed on the luscious bounty of the
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A powerless man takes to the saffron robes; a pauper takes the vow celibacy, a diseased man becomes an ardent devotee (of God) and an old woman adheres to the most pious wifely vows. [Meaning all seek these positions in their utter helplessness when they have no other alternative.]
The knowledge that remains confined to the books (and doesn’t get retained in the reader’s mind) and the money that has gone in other’s hand; neither there is any use of that knowledge nor there is any worth of that money. The inference is obvious. Knowledge must have its application to enhance its value like money must be in one’s control to be of any worth.
A work is completed if one is determined to do it. Then it becomes one’s sole aim.
The destruction in present is better than destruction in future. [Perish in what you know to be certain destruction than perish in a prolonged confusion. In other words, dying fighting in a battle field is better than accepting defeat and later dying at the scaffold!]
