Complete Chanakya Neeti

by R.P. Jain

Chanakya says that for Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya, fire is like their Guru. Since the Brahmin is superior amongst all the castes, so he is the Guru for all. Similarly, for a woman, her husband is her worship deity and Guru. But Chanakya has called the guest as most respectful and worshipable.

to test the purity of gold, it is heated at high temperature; it is tapped, hammered and cut. That gives it the glitter. Similarly, an honest person is tested for purity by his acts of donation, good deeds, virtuosity, sacrifice and behaviour. Any person, who possesses all these qualities, glitters like gold.

as long as he is free of difficulties, worries and crises, he should fear them. But once he is surrounded by them, then he should face them fearlessly, courageously and patiently. Only then can he defeat and escape from them.

berries and thorns growing on the same tree and branch have different characteristics. The consumption of berries gives a man sweetness and satisfaction, whereas the pricking of thorns gives him pain and irritation. Similarly, children born under the influence of the same planet or born at the same time from the same womb, have different characteristics. So a man should understand this fully, only then can he attain peace.

Chanakya says that a person, who demands his rights, is greedy. A person, who places importance on beauty and make-up, is lustful. Foolish people by nature are not soft-spoken. Contrarily, persons who are frank and truthful do not have even an iota of cunning, deceit and craftiness.

Chanakya says that no one is pleased to see anyone superior to him; rather he envies and hates him. Foolish people hate scholars due to envy; so they ill-treat them. On account of envy only, lazy and poor people develop enmity towards the affluent. Similarly, prostitutes envy loyal women and widows envy married

women. Even though such envious behaviour should be overlooked by scholars from fools, affluent from poor, loyal women from prostitutes and married women from widows, they also mutually find faults to prove their superiority under the influence of foolishness and envy.

laziness and irregular practice corrupts the intelligence of scholars and ruins their knowledge. Women under the influence of others are soon ruined. Lack or shortage of seeds results in lower crop output. Similarly, in the absence of the commander, the army can never win a war. Thus, in order to get superior results, the importance of regular practice must be understood.

only by constant practice, knowledge can be retained. Similarly, only by his acts, behaviour and nature, a man can attain honour, respect and glory for his family. For this, being born in an upper caste, having higher status and being rich is not material. Good people are recognised by their traits, whereas eyes show anger.

Chanakya says that wealth safeguards religion, meditation safeguards education, soft and gentle speech safeguards the king and loyal woman safeguards the household.

The person, who criticises knowledge of scriptures, the superiority of manuscripts and truthful persons, faces extreme hardships in this and other world. Such persons are neither able to gain respect/honour in society or reap benefits of their prayers after their death. The persons who keep their company, also meet the same fate, in the same measure.

Chanakya says that donation is an effective means of alleviating poverty. Modesty eliminates degradation and hardships. Knowledge ends a man's stupidity and ignorance, whereas courtesy destroys a man's fear. So, for living peacefully, a man should develop and imbibe all the four qualities.

Chanakya says that lust is a man's most powerful enemy. It is such an untreatable disease under the influence of which a man loses his wisdom, as well as his health deteriorates rapidly. Infatuation destroys a man like an enemy. It was infatuation for a son which caused the destructive war of Mahabharata. Similarly, anger is like a wild fire, whose flames repeatedly singe man. It affects man's mind/brain every moment. Chanakya says that knowledge is the best weapon for destroying these disorders.

Inspite of having so many relations, friends, wife, son, etc. in this world, a man is basically alone. He is born alone and has to depart alone from this world. He alone has to bear the consequences of all his good and bad deeds. He has no partner in this. Happiness and sorrow are only his; they will affect him only. He has to travel the life's journey towards heaven alone.

For a Brahmin, who gives importance to acts, even the pleasures of heaven are useless; whereas, for a Kshatriya, who takes pride and feels honoured in taking risks, he is least bothered about his life. Any man, who exercises control over all his senses, remains unmoved by the looks/beauty of a young woman. He is never affected by disorders like lust, anger, greed, liquor, infatuation,

Defining a true friend, Chanakya says that for a person going abroad, education is his true friend and for the family, a loyal wife is a true friend. For a sick person, his medicine is a true friend. Since after death only a person's acts and religious beliefs count, so religion is his true well-wisher. Therefore, a man should perform good deeds while living, so that he does not face hardships after death.

Chanakya says that like rain serves no purpose over a sea, a candle is useless in daylight, it is useless to feed a person who is not hungry and give alms to a rich person. Chanakya says that rain is required in fields and candle is required in darkness; food must be fed to a hungry person and alms must be given to the poor.

poor and poverty-stricken persons desire wealth; animals desire speech; ordinary persons are obsessed with the idea of going to heaven; God men and hermits only seek relinquishment.

Chanakya says that even though this world is destructible, religion can never be destroyed. Wealth, youth life can be destroyed one by one. However, religion is indestructible, immortal and eternal; nobody can destroy it. Even though in his lifetime, man amasses invaluable things/wealth and is surrounded by relations, after death, he loses everything except religion. So, he must follow the path of religion. The allurements of the worldly destructible things distract him and try to divert him from the path of religion, so he must sacrifice them. As the darkness is dispelled by Sun's rays, similarly, practice of religion dispels all the sorrows of man, in this as well as in the other world.