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One must attempt with feeling of total devotion to get success in any venture.
यथा धेनु सहस्त्रोषु वत्सो गच्छति मातरम्। तथा यच्च कृतं कर्म कर्तारम नुगच्छति।।
स्वयं कर्म करोत्यात्मा स्वंय तत्पफलमश्नुते। स्वयं भ्रमति संसारे स्वंय तस्माद्विमुच्चते।।
ईपि्सतं मनस: सर्व कस्य सम्पद्यते सुखम्। दैवायतं यत: सर्व तस्मात् सन्तोषमाश्रयेत् ।।
Who gets all that one aspires for? Everything one gets is what is destined for one. Hence all must seek satisfaction in whatever they receive.
नास्ति काम समो व्याधिर्नासि्त मोहसमो रिपु:। नास्ति कोप समो वह्रि: नास्ति ज्ञानात्परें सुखम्।।
No disease is more deadly than (the sexual) desire, no enemy is more dangerous than infatuation, no fire is hotter than the fire of wrath and no happiness is better than the self-knowledge.
Truth stabilises the world, makes the sun shine and the wind blow. Truth establishes well everything in life. [Chanakya says that truth alone establishes the order in the Creation.]
तादृशी जायते बुद्धिव्र्यवसायोऽपि तादृश:। सहायास्तादृशा: एव यादृशी भवितव्यता ।।।
One gets everything according to ‘one’s destiny. One’s action, response, reaction–all are guided by the factors of destiny. [meaning the rule of destiny is supreme in human life. If one is destined to reap a good harvest one would get situation conductive to his receiving good result and vice versa.]
O dear, if you really seek liberation of your soul then shun all the sensual attractions as though they are poison and cultivate the spirit of forgiveness, the rectitude of conduct, compassion, piety truth and similar other qualities which are nectar for human life.
The communion with, and realisation of God, melts away the arrogance of the physical attributes. Achieving this stage, one is able to concentrate easily in meditation, wherever and whenever one wants.
Even if the destination or the desired object be far away or difficult to achieve one can reach it or get it if one is determined. Nothing is impossible for a determined person.
The wise man should put restraint on his sensual desires to control them and then only he should accomplish his work after assessing his strength in the context of time and space [i.e., after cutting off the distraction caused by the sensual deviations, the wise man should enhance his strength to the hilt and then he should assess his position vis-a-vis the place and time he has to accompish his work in.]
यदीच्छसि वशीकर्तु जगदेकेनकर्मणा। परापवादशास्त्रोभ्यो गां चरन्तीं निवरय।।
If you want to overpower the entire world merely by just one action, then put restraint upon your tongue speaking ill of others.
Anger is death (i.e., lord of death Yamraj Vaivaswat), lust is (the river of hell) Vaitarani, knowledge is the cow of plenty and satisfaction is (the divine orchard) Nandanvan.
शान्तितुल्यं तपो नास्ति त सनतोषात्परं सुखम्। न तृष्णया परो व्याधिर्न च धर्मो दयापर: ।।
No penance is greater than the one done for maintaining peace, no happiness is better than the one received from satisfaction, no disease is more damaging than greed and no Dharma is better than the one having compassion for all.
सन्तोषस्त्रिाषु कर्तव्य: स्वदारे भोजने घने। त्रिषुचैव नकर्तव्योऽध्ययने जपदानयो:
One should always be satisfied (i) with his wife, (ii) with his diet and (iii) with his wealth; but never with (i) his studies, (ii) his austerity and penance and (iii) with his donations and gifts to the deserving persons.
No gift is better than the gift of cereal and water, no date is better than the Dwadashi (the twelfth day of the lunar calendar); no Mantra is greater than the Gayatri-Mantra and no god is greater than mother.
Rear up your son affectionately till he is five year old then admonish him strictly for next ten years. When he turns sixteen, start treating him as your friend.
It is better for a foolish son to die early rather than survive long, because by dying he would give sorrow only once but by surviving he would cause grief and sorrow every moment of his survival by his repeated acts of foolishness. A worthless son is better dead than alive.
five qualities for an ideal wife: she ought to be pious, deft, faithful, loving and truthful to her husband.]
That wife who takes a resolve without seeking her husband’s permission for it verily shortens her husband’s life. Such women are consigned to hell when they die.
(In comparison to a man ) A woman is having two times more appetite, four times more shyness, six times more courage and eight times more the sexual desire.
A woman, by nature, is liar, courageous, deceitful, foolish, greedy, impious and cruel. These are the innate attributes of a woman.
A women doesn’t become as pious by giving alms, performing rigid austerities and fasts and visiting sacred places as by having the water she gets after washing her husband’s feet.
यो मोहयन्मन्यते मूढ़ो रक्तेयं मयि कामिनी। स तस्य वशगो भृत्वा नृत्येत् क्रीडा शकुन्तवत् ।।
The foolish man who, under the infatuation, believes that a particular beautiful woman has fallen for him verily dances to her tune as though he is her plaything!
Women have a knack of talking to one man, casting an askew glance at other and loving secretly a third man. They can’t devotedly love just one man.
वरयेत्कुलजां प्राज्ञो निरूपामापि कन्यकाम्। रूपशीलां न नीचस्यां विवाह: सदृशे कुले
A wiseman shouldn’t hesitate marrying an ugly girl, if she happens to belong to a reputed good family. But if a girl is extremely beautiful, the wiseman shouldn’t marry her if she is from a lowly, ill-reputed family. A matromonial alliance is best established between the families of equal status.
Do not hesitate in getting nectar even from poision if it be available and gold even from the filth. Accept good knowledge even from a pariah and good girl even from a low family. [Both these aphorisms state contradictory observations. While the above one says don’t marry a girl from a low family even if she be good and virtuous, the Shloka below asserts marrying a virtuous girl even if belonging to low caste or a low family].
Those parents who don’t take interest in their son’s education (or who don’t provide him with good education) are verily his enemies. An illiterate man among the literate ones looks as ugly as a crow among the swans.
ऋण्कर्ता पिता शत्रुर्माता च व्यभिचारिणी। भार्या रूपवती शत्रु: पुत्र शत्रु न पंडित: ।। 66
A father bequeathing the loan; a mother of loose morals; a wife extremely beautiful and a foolish son – all should be deemed as enemies.
He who talks with reference in the context, who knows how to influence people and express his love or anger according to his capacity is called a Pundit. He who knows when and where to speak, how to influence people and how to be wrathful or affectionate in what measure is really a wise man or a Pundit.
(The) fire (god) is the guru of the three social categories viz the brahmans, the kshatriya the warrior class, the vaishya the trader or (merchant class), the brahman is the guru of all the social categories except his own. The guru of woman is her husband and the guest is guru of all the inmates of the house. [The guru also means the most respectable person besides being the teacher or mentor or perceptor.]
Like gold is tested by rubbing, cutting, heating and beating so also a man is tested by his sacrifice, moral conduct, innate qualities and his actions.
उत्सवे व्यसने प्राप्ते दुर्भिक्षे शत्रुसंकटे। राजद्वारे श्मशाने च यस्तिष्ठति स बान्ध्व: ।।
He who is together with you in festivities, distress, drought, and in the crisis caused by an enemy attack, in the royal courts and in the crematorium is your real friend.
Away from home, in the foreign strand, one’s knowledge is one’s best friend, inside home one’s wife is one’s best friend. For a patient the first friend is efficacious medicine while after death one’s Dharma is one’s best friend. [It is believed that he who is adhered to his Dharma religiously and firmly gets the divine rewards after death.]
If one has obedient son, a pious wife following the Vedic path and if one is satisfied with his material possessions, one is living verily in the heaven.
Getting good food alongwith the power to digest it, getting beautiful woman alongwith the power to enjoy her, getting rich alongwith the capability to dole out elms--are the outcome of one’s no less arduous penance and austerities.
Uncontrollable sexual craving is the most deadly disease, ignorance and infatuation are the most deadly foes, wrath is the most deadly fire and knowledge of the self is the happiness supreme.
Separation from the beloved, insult by the close relations, unpaid debt, service to a wicked king poverty and association of the crooked persons incinerate the body even without fire.
Residence in the village of wicked persons, service to lowly family, unnourishing food, foul speaking wife, foolish sons, widowed daughter – all these incinerate the body even without fire.
Death of wife in the old age, money under brother’s control and the dependence on others for daily bread cause a great anamoly, hence grief in one’s life.
