हे हेमकार परदुःखविचारमूढ
किं मां मुहुः क्षिपसि वारशतानि वह्नौ ।
सन्दीप्यते मयि सुवर्णगुणातिरेको
लाभः परं तव मुखे खलु भस्मपातः ॥
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.”