SHOULD NOT REVEAL,ETC.

• SHOULD NOT REVEAL
• Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution. (CNS: 2.7).
• A wise man should not reveal his loss of wealth, the vexation of his mind, the misconduct of his own wife, base words spoken by others, and disgrace that has befallen him. (CNS: 7.1).
• A wise man should not divulge the formula of a medicine which he has well prepared; an act of charity which he has performed; domestic conflicts; private affairs with his wife; poorly prepared food he may have been offered; or slang he may have heard. (CNS: 14.16.).
  Thus, the biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. It may affect your prospects of execution adversely.
  ON HAPPINESS

Ø He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in business, becomes happy. (CNS: 7.2).
Ø Those men are happy in this world, who are generous towards their relatives, kind to strangers, indifferent to the wicked, loving to the good, shrewd in their dealings with the base, frank with the learned, courageous with enemies, humble with elders and stern with the wife. (CNS: 12.3).
Ø He, whose actions are disorganized, has no happiness either in the midst of men or in a jungle -- in the midst of men his heart burns by social contacts, and his helplessness burns him in the forest. (CNS: 13.16).

SATISFIED/NOT SATISFIED
Ø One should feel satisfied with the following three things; his own wife, food given by Providence and wealth acquired by honest effort; but one should never feel satisfied with the following three; study, chanting the holy names of the Lord (japa) and charity. (CNS: 7.4).

ON WICKED PERSON
Ø Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others destroy themselves like serpents who stray onto anthills. (CNS: 9.2).
Ø Those that are empty-minded cannot be benefited by instruction. Bamboo does not acquire the quality of sandalwood by being associated with the Malaya Mountain. (CNS: 10.8).
Ø Nothing can reform a bad man, just as the posteriors cannot become a superior part of the body though washed one hundred times. (CNS: 10.10).
Ø The wicked man will not attain sanctity even if he is instructed in different ways, and the nim tree will not become sweet even if it is sprinkled from the top to the roots with milk and ghee. (CNS: 11.6).
Ø A wicked man may develop saintly qualities in the company of a devotee, but a devotee does not become impious in the company of a wicked person. The earth is scented by a flower that falls upon it, but the flower does not contact the odour of the earth. (CNS: 12.7).
Ø The hearts of base men burn before the fire of other's fame, and they slander them being themselves unable to rise to such a high position. (CNS: 13.11).
Ø There are two ways to get rid of thorns and wicked persons; using footwear in the first case and in the second shaming them so that they cannot raise their faces again; thus, keep them at a distance. (CNS: 15.3).
Ø Who is there who, having become rich, has not become proud? What licentious man has put an end to his calamities? What man in this world has not been overcome by a woman? Who is always loved by the king? Who is there who has not been overcome by the ravages of time? What beggar has attained glory? Who has become happy by contracting the vices of the wicked? (CNS: 16.4).(None).
Ø 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. (CNS: 17.2).
Ø 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. (CNS: 17.8).

• ON DIETARY CODE OF CONDUCT
• According to the nature of our diet (sattva, rajas, or tamas) we produce offspring in similar quality. (CNS: 8.3).
• The earth is encumbered with the weight of the flesh-eaters, wine-bibblers, dolts and blockheads, who are beasts in the form of men. (CNS: 8.22).
• Nectar (amrita) is the best among medicines; eating good food is the best of all types of material happiness; the eye is the chief among all organs; and the head occupies the chief position among all parts of the body. (CNS: 9.4).
• Poverty is set off by fortitude; shabby garments by keeping them clean; bad food by warming it; and ugliness by good behaviour. (CNS: 9.14).
• ON PURITY/POLLUTED
• Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and of a compassionate heart, are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform. (CNS: 7.20)
• Water seeping into the earth is pure; and a devoted wife is pure; the king who is the benefactor of his people is pure; and pure is the brahmana who is contented. (CNS: 8.17).
• Mental dirt cannot be washed away even by one-hundred baths in the sacred waters, just as a wine pot cannot be purified even by evaporating all the wine by fire. (CNS: 11.7).

O jackal! leave aside the body of that man at once, whose hands have never given in charity, whose ears have not heard the voice of learning, whose eyes have not beheld a pure devotee of the Lord, whose feet have never traversed to holy places, whose belly is filled with things obtained by crooked practices, and whose head is held high in vanity. Do not eat it, O jackal, otherwise you will become polluted. (CNS:12.4)

• ON CONTENTMENT
• There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy. (CNS: 8.13).
• Anger is a personification of Yama (the demigod of death); thirst is like the hellish river Vaitarani; knowledge is like a kamadhenu (the cow of plenty); and contentment is like Nandanavana (the garden of Indra). (CNS: 8.14).

One should realize that all the happiness and everything one desires is in the hands of God. Therefore, one should learn contentment. (CNS: 13.14).
ON ORNAMENT

• Moral excellence is an ornament for personal beauty; righteous conduct, for high birth; success for learning; and proper spending for wealth. (CNS : 8.15).

The hand is not so well adorned by ornaments as by charitable offerings;… and salvation is not attained by self-adornment as by cultivation of spiritual knowledge. (CNS: 17.12).
SPOILED/ RUINED

• Beauty is spoiled by an immoral nature; noble birth by bad conduct; learning, without being perfected; and wealth by not being properly utilised. (CNS: 8.16).
• The unthinking spender, the homeless urchin, the quarrel monger, the man who neglects his wife and is heedless in his actions -- all these will soon come to ruination. (CNS: 12.19).
• He who is prepared for the future and he who deals cleverly with any situation that may arise are both happy; but the fatalistic man who wholly depends on luck is ruined. (CNS: 13.7).
• Indolent application ruins study; money is lost when entrusted to others; a farmer who sows his seed sparsely is ruined; and an army is lost for want of a commander. (CNS: 5.7).

Ved Prakash

February 05,09

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