avadhāraya dharmeṣu pradhānam avadhānataḥ |
nirbharānanda-kandāya govindāya mano’rpaya ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 3238)
“Attentively determine the foremost principle among all dharmas: offer the mind to Govinda, the source of immeasurable bliss.”
aśanaṁ me vasanaṁ me jāyā me bandhu-vargo me |
iti me me kurvāṇaṁ hanti kāla-vṛko puruṣājam ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“‘My food, my cloth, my wife, my relations’—saying, ‘my,’ ‘my’ [continuously], this goat of a man is devoured by the wolf of time.”
anavasthita-cittasya na jane na vane sukham ।
jane dahati saṁsargo vane saṅga-vivarjanam ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“A person of unsteady mind is happy neither among people nor in the forest [i.e., alone]. Among people, companionship torments [them], and in the forest, [their] abandonment of companionship torments [them].”
āpadāṁ kathitaḥ panthā indriyāṇām asaṁyamaḥ |
taj-jayaḥ sampadāṁ mārgo yeneṣṭaṁ tena gamyatām ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Lack of control over the senses is said to be the path to misfortune. Conquering the senses is [said to be] the path to good fortune. Go by that [path] which is so desired.”
uṣṭrāṇāṁ ca vivāheṣu gītaṁ gāyanti gardabhāḥ |
parasparaṁ praśaṁsanti aho rūpam aho dhvaniḥ ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“At the marriages of camels, donkeys sing songs, and they each praise one another, ‘What beauty! What tune! [i.e., the donkeys praise the “beauty” of the camels’ figures, and the camels praise the “tunes” in which the donkeys sing].’”
anartham arthataḥ paśyann arthaṁ caivāpy anarthataḥ |
indriyaiḥ prasṛto bālaḥ suduḥkhaṁ manyate sukham ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.34.59; Vidura-nīti: 213; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Seeing anartha within artha and artha within anartha [i.e., seeing nonsense within sense and even sense within nonsense, misfortune within fortune and even fortune within misfortune, evil within good and even good within evil, etc.], the fool, pulled by the senses, considers great suffering to be happiness.”
anartha-makarāgārād asmāt saṁsāra-sāgarāt ।
uḍḍīyate nirudvegaṁ sarva-tyāgena putraka ॥
(Yoga Vāsiṣṭha: 6.111.9; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“O son, through complete renunciation [i.e., by giving up all worldly interests, attachments, and engagements], one serenely flies up and away from this ocean of saṁsāra, the dwelling place of the sea monsters of anarthas [i.e., evils, vices, misfortunes, diversions, etc.].”
antaḥsāra-vihīnānām upadeśo na jāyate |
malayācala-saṁsargān na veṇuś candanāyate ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 1604; Cāṇakya-nīti-darpaṇa: 10.8)
“Instruction should not be given to those who lack inner substance. Bamboo does not become sandalwood [just] by proximity to the Malaya Mountains.”
antaḥsāra-vihīnānāṁ sahāyaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati |
malaye’pi sthito veṇur veṇur eva na candanaḥ ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 1603)
“What can a companion [alt., assistant] do for those who lack inner substance? Even bamboo situated in the Malayas is just bamboo and not sandalwood.”
