āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko’pi sarva-ratnair na labhyate |
nīyate tad vṛthā yena pramādaḥ sumahān aho ||
(Unknown Source)
“Even one moment of life cannot be regained with all the riches [in the world]. Aho! That by which it is spent in vain is a very big mistake!”
vācyaṁ śraddhā-sametasya pṛcchateś ca viśeṣataḥ |
proktaṁ śraddhā-vihīnasya araṇya-ruditopamam ||
(Pañcatantra: 1.424)
“Advice should be given to one who has trust [in you] and who has asked in particular [for it]. Speaking to someone who has no trust is like crying in the forest [i.e., it is futile].”
upadeśo na dātavyo yādṛśe tādṛśe nare |
(Pañcatantra: 1.421)
“Advice should not be given to any sort of person [i.e., it should not be given to anyone indiscriminately without consideration regarding what is suitable for that person in particular].”
naiṣā tarkeṇa matir āpaneyā
proktānyenaiva sujñānāya preṣṭha |
(Kaṭha Upaniṣad: 1.2.9)
“O dear one, this understanding [i.e., knowledge of Brahman] is not to be sought with tarka. Only when taught by another [i.e., one who already knows Brahman] does one acquire true knowledge.”
tarke ihā nāhi māne yei durācāra |
kumbhīpāke pace, tāra nāhika nistāra ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.17.307)
“An ill-behaved person who because of argument does not accept this fries in Kumbhīpāka. There is no deliverance for them.”
avijñāta-tattve’rthe kāraṇopapattitas tattva-jñānārtham ūhas tarkaḥ |
(Nyāya-sūtra: 1.1.40)
“Tarka is [a type of] deliberation in the form of demonstration [i.e., proposition] of causes for the purpose of [attaining] knowledge of the nature (tattva) of an object the nature of which is unknown.”
svabhāvo nopadeśena śakyate kartum anyathā |
sutaptam api pānīyaṁ punar gacchati śītalam ||
yadi syac chītalo vahniḥ śītāṁśur dahanātmakaḥ |
na svabhāvo’tra martyānāṁ śakyate kartum anyathā ||
(Hitopadeśa: Mitra-bheda, 280–281)
“The svabhāva cannot be changed by instructions. Although [it may be made] very hot [for a certain period of time], water again [inevitably] goes cold. [Even] If fire were to become cold, and the moon [lit. ‘that which has cool rays’] were to become fiery, [still] the svabhāvas of mortal beings in this world could not be changed.”
sarvasya hi parīkṣyante svabhāvā netare guṇāḥ |
atītya hi guṇān sarvān svabhāvo mūrdhni vartate ||
(Hitopadeśa: Mitra-lābha, 20)
“The natures (svabhāvas) of all are to be examined, and not, on the contrary, the qualities, since the nature (svabhāva) [of a person], surpassing all qualities, abides at the head [i.e., the svabhāva predominates in the thinking and behavior of person].”
svabhāvo yādṛśo yasya na jahāti kadācana |
aṅgāraḥ śata-dhautena malinatvaṁ na muñcati ||
(Unknown source; cited in Śabda-kalpa-druma)
“Whatever one’s svabhāva [may be], one can never give it up. Charcoal does not give up its blackness [even] by washing it a hundred times.”
itthaṁ sma pṛṣṭaḥ sa tu bādarāyaṇis
tat-smāritānanta-hṛtākhilendriyaḥ |
kṛcchrāt punar labdha-bahir-dṛśiḥ śanaiḥ
pratyāha taṁ bhāgavatottamottama ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.12.44)
[Sūta Gosvāmī to Śaunaka Ṛṣi:] “O best of the best of the bhāgavatas, so questioned, that Bādrarāyaṇi [i.e., Śukadeva Gosvāmī], all his senses seized by Ananta [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] as he was reminded [of Ananta] thereby, with difficulty gradually regained external awareness and spoke to him [i.e., Parīkṣit Mahārāja].”
