A bot posting quotes by Acharya Chanakya from his books Chanakya Neeti and Arthashastra | Ancient 2000+ year old Indian Wisdom | Created by
@lifemathmoney
Death of wife in old age,
money under the control of relatives,
and dependence on others for food,
These three things cause great misery and grief in one's life.
One should always be satisfied with
- his wife,
- his diet
- his wealth;
but never with
- his studies,
- his austerity and penance,
- his donations and gifts to the deserving persons.
One should always be satisfied with
- his wife,
- his diet
- his wealth;
but never with
- his studies,
- his austerity and penance,
- his donations and gifts to the deserving persons.
A servant is tested when sent on an important mission, family in times of distress, a friend at the hour of need, and a wife at the loss of one’s wealth.
A king,
A prostitute,
Lord Yamaraja (the god of death),
Fire,
A thief,
A child,
A beggar
These cannot understand the suffering of others.
The eighth of this category is the tax collector.
He who loses his money is forsaken by his friends, his wife, his servants and his relatives;
yet when he regains his riches those who have forsaken him come back to him.
Hence money is the root/base of relationships.
[Without money there is nothing.]
Gold has no fragrance,
sugarcanes have no fruits and
sandalwood has no flowers.
A scholar is never wealthy and
a king never lives very long.
Why did not one advise Brahma (the creator) to correct these flaws?
[This shloka implies that nothing is perfect.]
Death of wife in old age,
money under the control of relatives,
and dependence on others for food,
These three things cause great misery and grief in one's life.
One should always be satisfied with
- his wife,
- his diet
- his wealth;
but never with
- his studies,
- his austerity and penance,
- his donations and gifts to the deserving persons.
A father habitual of taking loans,
a mother of loose character,
an extraordinary beautiful wife,
and a foolish son
- should be considered enemies (in one's own home).
The prostitute deserts a customer when he becomes poor.
The subjects desert a powerless king.
The bird deserts a tree when it becomes fruitless,
and the guest leave the house after having food.
It can be said that nobody cares for anyone without purpose.
A king,
A prostitute,
Lord Yamaraja (the god of death),
Fire,
A thief,
A child,
A beggar
These cannot understand the suffering of others.
The eighth of this category is the tax collector.
He who wear dirty clothes, have filthy teeth, are gluttons, speak harsh language, and continue to sleep even after the sun rise,
Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) leaves him.
Lord Vishnu shuns him too.
A king,
A prostitute,
Lord Yamaraja (the god of death),
Fire,
A thief,
A child,
A beggar
These cannot understand the suffering of others.
The eighth of this category is the tax collector.
He who wear dirty clothes, have filthy teeth, are gluttons, speak harsh language, and continue to sleep even after the sun rise,
Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) leaves him.
Lord Vishnu shuns him too.
When a man has no strength left in him he becomes a sadhu (ascetic),
one without wealth becomes a brahmacari (takes a vow of celibacy),
a sick man behaves like a devotee of God,
and when a woman grows old she becomes a pious wife devoted to her husband.
One should not stay at a place where there are no wealthy merchants, learned scholars, an able king, good doctors, and rivers to supply water even for a single day.
There things are necessary for the upliftment of a country and society.
A wise man should not hesitate to marry an ugly looking girl if she is of a reputed family.
But even if a girl is extraordinarily beautiful, he should not marry her if she is from a ill-reputed family.
A wicked wife, a deceitful friend, an impolite servant and a house infested with snakes can bring death.
The wise should always avoid such type of company at any cost.
A student who desires education must shun the following eight activities:
- Sexual intercourse
- Gratification of the tongue
- Showing anger
- Greed
- Caring for personal beautification
- Moving in fair for entertainment
- Excessive sleeping
- Indulging in anything excessively
No disease is so harmful and as deadly as lust,
no enemy is more dangerous than infatuation,
no fire is as injurious as the fire of wrath and anger,
and no happiness is better than self-study.
He who loses his money is forsaken by his friends, his wife, his servants and his relatives;
yet when he regains his riches those who have forsaken him come back to him.
Hence money is the root/base of relationships.
[Without money there is nothing.]
That man who fails to achieve even one of the four aims of life, viz.
Dharma (faith in his belief),
Artha (riches and wealth),
Kaama (fulfillment of desires),
and Moksha (satiation of all wants)
is verily born only for dying.
Such a life is a waste.
Where fools are not respected/honored, where food is available in abundance, and where the husband and wife do not quarrel among themselves - good luck remains there at all times.
Goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth) comes there on her own.
One must save money for his bad days.
The Goddess of wealth (Lakshmi) is unpredictable.
Even accumulated wealth can be destroyed in no time.
But that does not mean that one should not save money.
He should always be careful with money.
Marry your daughter into a noble family and employ your son into studies,
engage your friends in good deeds and involve your enemy in evil practices.
[All of these constitute a 'must' job.]
Nothing is too heavy for the strong,
no place is too far away for a trader,
no land is a foreign land for a scholar,
and no one is a stranger for a man with a sweet tongue.
[Nothing is impossible for a competent person. He can overcome all difficulties in way of his progress]
A student who desires education must shun the following eight activities:
- Sexual intercourse
- Gratification of the tongue
- Showing anger
- Greed
- Caring for personal beautification
- Moving in fair for entertainment
- Excessive sleeping
- Indulging in anything excessively
Bring up your son with affection till he is five years of age,
then be strict with him for the next ten years,
and when a son attains the age of sixteen, start treating him like a friend.
The prostitute deserts a customer when he becomes poor.
The subjects desert a powerless king.
The bird deserts a tree when it becomes fruitless,
and the guest leave the house after having food.
It can be said that nobody cares for anyone without purpose.
One should not disclose to anyone the following:
The loss of one’s wealth;
personal tragedy;
suspicion on wife’s conduct;
mean outpourings of a vile person;
and personal ignominy.
Revealing these will add to one's distress without providing any relief.
A man with a sweet tongue has no enemy.
Even the gods become happy with a prayer (or their praise).
Even the baseless foul remark remains long in one’s memory.
One’s tongue (or speech) can be the source of poison or nectar.
A man is born alone and dies alone;
experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone;
alone he suffers the tortures of hell,
and alone he attains his ultimate that is Moksha.
Never trust even your good friend, let alone the vile one.
In anger, your friend can expose your secrets out of vengeance.
[Certain secrets in one’s life which should never be discussed with anyone. Even your best friend might embarrass you by exposing them in a fit of rage.]
Excessive beauty caused Sita to be abducted,
excessive arrogance caused Ravan’s death
and excessive charitable disposition caused the king Bali to be duped.
Excess of everything is always harmful.
Flour gives ten times more strength than the ordinary cereal;
milk gives ten times more strength than flour;
meat gives ten times more strength than milk;
but ghee gives ten times more strength than even meat.
He who stands by you in festivities, when facing a grave crisis, famine, threat of an enemy, in the court of the king and during mourning is your real friend.
Control greedy by money,
the arrogant by submissiveness,
the fool by humoring him,
and the learned by telling the truth.
One should act according to the situation.
He who loses his money is forsaken by his friends, his wife, his servants and his relatives;
yet when he regains his riches those who have forsaken him come back to him.
Hence money is the root/base of relationships.
[Without money there is nothing.]
He who wear dirty clothes, have filthy teeth, are gluttons, speak harsh language, and continue to sleep even after the sun rise,
Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) leaves him.
Lord Vishnu shuns him too.
Excessive beauty caused Sita to be abducted,
excessive arrogance caused Ravan’s death
and excessive charitable disposition caused the king Bali to be duped.
Excess of everything is always harmful.
He who wear dirty clothes, have filthy teeth, are gluttons, speak harsh language, and continue to sleep even after the sun rise,
Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) leaves him.
Lord Vishnu shuns him too.
Control greedy by money,
the arrogant by submissiveness,
the fool by humoring him,
and the learned by telling the truth.
One should act according to the situation.
When sandalwood is cut, it does not lose fragrance;
The elephant does not stop being playful even when he grows old.
Sugarcane does not stop being sweet when squeezed in a mill;
Similarly, people of good birth do not discard their cultured behavior even when pinched by poverty.
Those who
treat their own with love,
others with kindness;
are ruthless to the wicked
frank with the the noble
indifferent to the fool
respectful to scholars;
take their enemies with bravery,
pay obeisance to the teacher,
are not infatuated with women;
are known as great men.
He who is aware of the future troubles and possesses sharp intelligence always remains happy.
In contrast, he who remains inactive, waiting for the good days to come, ruins his own life.
How are the times?
Who is a friend?
What type of land is this?
What is the income and what is the expenditure?
What am I and how much power I really possess?
All these questions one must keep asking oneself.
Fire,
water,
woman,
snake,
fool,
and members of royal family
should be dealt with very carefully
because they are very dangerous
and when the occasion presents itself,
they may cause one's death.
One should never touch (with your foot) the fire, the guru, the brahman, the cow, the maiden girl, the old people and the kids.
It is ill-mannerly to do so.
No amount of instruction can turn a wicked person into a noble person just as no amount of milk and ghee put on the roots of a neem treen can make it taste sweet.
A person's basic nature can not be changed.
One must save money for his bad days.
The Goddess of wealth (Lakshmi) is unpredictable.
Even accumulated wealth can be destroyed in no time.
But that does not mean that one should not save money.
He should always be careful with money.
A wise man should not hesitate to marry an ugly looking girl if she is of a reputed family.
But even if a girl is extraordinarily beautiful, he should not marry her if she is from a ill-reputed family.
Religious austerities should be practiced alone, study by two, and singing by three. A journey should be undertaken by four, agriculture by five, and war by many together.
He whose son is obedient to him,
whose wife's conduct is in accordance with his wishes,
and who is content with his riches,
has his heaven here on Earth.
Gold has no fragrance,
sugarcanes have no fruits and
sandalwood has no flowers.
A scholar is never wealthy and
a king never lives very long.
Why did not one advise Brahma (the creator) to correct these flaws?
[This shloka implies that nothing is perfect.]
Those who
treat their own with love,
others with kindness;
are ruthless to the wicked
frank with the the noble
indifferent to the fool
respectful to scholars;
take their enemies with bravery,
pay obeisance to the teacher,
are not infatuated with women;
are known as great men.
Men have eating, sleeping, fearing and mating in common with the lower animals.
That which separates men from animals is discretionary knowledge; hence, men who are without knowledge should be regarded as animals.
Separation from one's wife,
insults from one's own family/people,
an enemy saved in battle,
service to a wicked king,
poverty,
and a mismanaged assembly:
these six kinds of evils, if afflicting a person, burn him even without fire.
Whatever work, be it big or small, we must do it with our full capacity and power.
We must learn this quality from the lion - he never does any work half heartedly.
Never trust even your good friend, let alone the vile one.
In anger, your friend can expose your secrets out of vengeance.
[Certain secrets in one’s life which should never be discussed with anyone. Even your best friend might embarrass you by exposing them in a fit of rage.]
When sandalwood is cut, it does not lose fragrance;
The elephant does not stop being playful even when he grows old.
Sugarcane does not stop being sweet when squeezed in a mill;
Similarly, people of good birth do not discard their cultured behavior even when pinched by poverty.
Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should raise it's hood to the full to act poisonous in order to frighten people.
[One must show himself to be powerful even if he is not, otherwise others will cause difficulties for him.]
What good is a cow that neither gives milk nor conceives?
Similarly, what is the value of the birth of a son if he becomes neither learned nor devoted to God?
Both are useless.
Even a large elephant is controlled by the goad.
Is the goad as powerful as an elephant?
A lit lamp removes darkness.
Is a lamp as vast as darkness?
A thunderbolt breaks a mountain into pieces.
Is the thunder as big as a mountain?
No.
Brilliance matters, not physical size.