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].’”
laukikānāṁ hi sādhūnām arthaṁ vāg anuvartate |
ṛṣīṇāṁ punar ādyānāṁ vācam artho’nudhāvati ||
(Uttara-rāma-carita of Bhavabhūti; Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra)
“The speech of ordinary adepts [i.e., kavis] follows the object [they describe], whereas the object runs after the speech of the original ṛṣis.”
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.].”
darśane sparśane vāpi śravaṇe bhāṣaṇe’pi vā |
yatra dravaty antaraṅgaṁ sa sneha iti kathyate ||
(Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāram)
“That wherein the inner self melts upon seeing, touching, hearing, or conversing [with someone] is called sneha (affection).”
he hema-kāra para-duḥkha-vicāra-mūḍha
kiṁ māṁ muhuḥ kṣipasi vāra-śatāni vahnau |
sandīpyate mayi suvarṇa-guṇātireko
lābhaḥ paraṁ tava mukhe khalu bhasma-pātaḥ ||
(Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra, Suvarṇa-kāraḥ, 23)
[A golden ornament says to a goldsmith:] “O goldsmith incapable of understanding others’ suffering! Why do you repeatedly cast me into the fire hundreds of times? An abundance of golden hue is shining brightly in me, while you have attained the opposite: soot has fallen all over your face.”
