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JULY, 1874.] MAXIMS RENDERED FREELY FROM THE MAHABHARATA, &c.
Udyogap. 1625. Knowledge of the Vedas does
not save the bad man.
No cherished store of holy texts has power
To save the man in craft and fraud expert. His lore forsakes him in his final hour,
As birds full-fledged their native nests desert.
Vanap. 13445. Austerities and rites unavailing without inward purity.
The triple staff, long matted hair, A squalid garb of skins or bark, A vow of silence, meagre fare,
All signs the devotee that mark, And all the round of rites, are vain, Unless the soul be pure from stain. Udyogap. 1028. Two inheritors of heaven. These two of heavenly bliss are sure:
The lordly man who rules the land
With mild and patient self-command; And he who freely gives, though poor. Âśvamedhikap. 2788. The most meritorious kind of liberality.
Rich presents, though profusely given, Are not so dear to righteous Heaven As gifts, by honest gains supplied, Though small, which faith has sanctified. Udyogap. 1248. Action with an eye to the future.
Let all thy acts by day be right,
That thou may'st sweetly rest at night. Let such good deeds thy youth engage That thou may'st spend a tranquil age. So act through life that not in vain Thou heavenly bliss may'st hope to gain. Udyogap. 1537. Condition of acquiring knowledge.
How can the man who ease pursues
The praise of knowledge ever earn? All those the path of toil must choose, Of ceaseless toil, who care to learn. Who knowledge seeks must ease refuse; Who ease prefers must knowledge lose. Adip. 3069. "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye ?" &c.: Matthew, vii. 2.
183
Thou mark'st the faults of other men, Although as mustard-seeds minute : Thine own escape thy partial ken, Though each is like a large Bel fruit. Mahabharata Adiparvan, 3074 f. Humility taught by self-knowledge.
Until the ugly man has scanned His form, as in a mirror shown, He deems, in fond conceit, his own The fairest face in all the land; But when the faithful glass reveals How every grace and charm it wants, At once are silenced all his vaunts: The galling truth he sadly feels.
Manu, iv. 170 ff. The ultimate ruin of the wicked (compare Psalm xxxvii.).
Not even here on earth are blest
Unrighteous men, who thrive by wrong, And guileful arts, who, bold and strong, With cruel spite the weak molest. Though goodness only bring distress,
Let none that hallowed path forsake. Mark what reverses overtake The wicked after brief success.
Not all at once the earth her fruits Produces; so unrighteousness But slowly works; yet not the less At length the sinner quite uproots.
At first through wrong he grows in strength;
He sees good days, and overthrows, In strife triumphant, all his foes;
But justice strikes him down at length. Yes, retribution comes, though slow,
For if the man himself go free, His sons shall then the victims be; If not, his grandsons feel the blow. Bhartrihari. Large-heartedness.
"Inform us, pray, belongs the man To our own caste, or class, or clan ?" So seek the narrow-souled to know, Before they any kindness show. But generous hearts in love embrace As brothers all the human race.
Edinburgh, April 23, 1874.
