ചാണക്യ നീതി - ദശമോഽധ്യായഃ

A person who lacks wealth is not truly poor; he is considered truly wealthy if he possesses knowledge. However, one who lacks the jewel of knowledge is truly poor in every sense.

Place your feet only where your eyes have cleared the path; drink water that has been strained through a cloth; speak words that are purified by the scriptures; and perform only those actions that are purified by a clear conscience.

One who seeks comfort must abandon the pursuit of knowledge, and one who seeks knowledge must abandon the pursuit of comfort. How can one who clings to comfort attain knowledge, and how can one who seeks knowledge find comfort?

Is there anything a poet cannot perceive? Is there anything a crow will not eat? Is there any nonsense a drunkard will not utter? Is there anything a woman of loose character will not do?

Destiny has the power to turn a pauper into a king, a king into a pauper, a wealthy man into a beggar, and a beggar into a wealthy man.

To the greedy, a beggar is an enemy; to the foolish, one who offers wisdom is an enemy; to an unfaithful wife, her husband is an enemy; and to the thief, the moon is an enemy.

Those who possess no knowledge, no penance, no charity, no wisdom, no character, no good qualities, and no righteousness are merely burdens upon this earth; though they take the form of humans, they roam the world like animals.

Advice is wasted on those who lack substance within. Just as a bamboo does not turn into sandalwood even by growing on the Malaya mountain, so too does a worthless person remain unchanged by external influences.

Of what use are the scriptures to a person who lacks their own wisdom? What use is a mirror to a person who is blind?

There is no method on this earth to turn a wicked person into a virtuous one. Just as one cannot turn the organ of excretion into a sacred sensory organ no matter how many times it is washed, the nature of the wicked cannot be purified.

Enmity towards one’s own kin leads to death, enmity towards others leads to the loss of wealth, enmity towards a ruler leads to destruction, and enmity towards the learned (or the Brahmanical path) leads to the ruin of one’s entire lineage.

It is better to live in a forest inhabited by tigers and elephants, dwelling in trees and surviving on leaves, fruits, and water, sleeping on grass and wearing worn-out bark, than to live among relatives while being devoid of wealth.

The Brahmin is like a tree; his daily prayers (Sandhya) are the roots, the Vedas are the branches, and his virtuous deeds are the leaves. Therefore, one must carefully protect the roots; if the roots are severed, neither the branches nor the leaves can survive.

Goddess Lakshmi is my mother, and Lord Janardana (Vishnu) is my father. The devotees of Vishnu are my kinsmen, and the three worlds are my homeland.

Birds of various colors gather together on a single tree, but at dawn, they fly away in the ten directions; what sorrow is there in this (as it is the way of the world)?

He who possesses intelligence possesses strength; how can one without intelligence have any strength? Even a proud lion in the forest can be brought down by a mosquito.

Why should I worry about my livelihood when Lord Hari, the sustainer of the universe, is praised? If not for the sake of the child, how would the mother’s breast have produced milk? Reflecting upon this again and again, O Lord of Lakshmi, I spend my time constantly serving your lotus feet.

Though I possess excellent knowledge of the Sanskrit language, I am still drawn to other tongues, just as the gods, despite having the nectar of immortality, still crave the sweetness of the lips of the heavenly damsels.

Flour provides ten times the nutrition of raw grain, milk provides ten times that of flour, meat provides eight times that of milk, and clarified butter (ghee) provides ten times that of meat.

Sorrow causes diseases to grow, milk strengthens the body, clarified butter increases vitality, and meat promotes the growth of flesh.