Discipline

nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā

nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā |
na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 2.66)

“One who is uncontrolled [i.e., of uncontrolled mind and senses] has no discernment, and one who is uncontrolled has no meditation. One who has no meditation further has no peace [i.e., relief from desire for, and engagement with, the sense objects (viṣaya)], and how can one who has no [such] peace have [any experience of] happiness [i.e., the bliss of the self]?”

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anabhyāsena vidyānām asaṁsargeṇa dhīmatām

anabhyāsena vidyānām asaṁsargeṇa dhīmatām |
anigraheṇa cākṣāṇāṁ jāyate vyasanaṁ nṛṇām ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)

“The plight [alt., addictions, vices, depravity, misfortune, distress, etc.] of human beings arises from a lack of practice of knowledge [i.e., a lack of adherence to the education they receive], a lack of association with the wise, and a lack of restraint of the senses.”

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ātmā nadī saṁyama-puṇya-tīrthā

ātmā nadī saṁyama-puṇya-tīrthā
satyodakā śīla-taṭā dayormiḥ |
tatrābhiṣekaṁ kuru pāṇḍu-putra
na vāriṇā śuṣyati cāntarātmā ||
(Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 93)

“The self is a river: discipline is its auspicious bathing places, truth its water, character its banks, and compassion its waves. Bath there, O son of Pāṇḍu. The inner self is not purified by water.”

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vidyā dadāti vinayaṁ vinayād yāti pātratām

vidyā dadāti vinayaṁ vinayād yāti pātratām |
pātratvād dhanam āpnoti dhanād dharmaṁ tatas sukham ||
(Hitopadeśa: Maṅgalācaraṇam, 6)

“Knowledge gives one humility [alt., discipline]. Through humility one attains worthiness. Through worthiness one acquires wealth, and through wealth come dharma and thereafter happiness.”

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ṛṣer bhagavato bhūtvā

ṛṣer bhagavato bhūtvā śiṣyo’dhītya bahūni ca |
setihāsa-purāṇāni dharma-śāstrāṇi sarvaśaḥ ||
adāntasyāvinītasya vṛthā paṇḍita-māninaḥ |
na guṇāya bhavanti sma naṭasyevājitātmanaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.78.25–26)

“He [i.e., Romaharṣaṇa] became a disciple of the illustrious ṛṣi [i.e., the ṛṣi who is an avatāra of Bhagavān himself, Vyāsadeva] and studied numerous dharma-śāstras along with the Itihāsas and Purāṇas in full, but these [studies], like those of an actor, do not lead to [the development of] virtue for one who is unregulated, immodest, of vain conceit that one is a paṇḍita, and of uncontrolled mind [and rather function only as a means of livelihood].”

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