Istopadesa The Golden Discourse

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp

Page 64

Verse 15
आयुर्वृद्धिक्षयोत्कर्षहेतुं कालस्य निर्गमम् । वाञ्छतां धनिनामिष्टं जीवितात्सुतरां धनम् ॥
(15)
The passage of time increases wealth due to the accrual of interest but draws nearer the end of life. Those who look forward to increasing wealth, therefore, have no love for their lives.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
It is in the nature of most worldly men to daydream and become restive thereby. When in school, how we wish to go to college and ‘enjoy life! When in college, we wish to finish our studies soon and become a doctor, an engineer, a bureaucrat, a businessman, or whatever. When we become what we had wished for, growth becomes the watchword. The concept of growth keeps us occupied for a major part of our working lives. As we climb the hierarchical ladder, a stage must arrive when we should feel contented in having everything that we had ever wished for but, ironically, that does not happen. Our passion to reach even higher rungs of the ladder, in fact, intensifies. To take examples from the higher echelons of society, a brigadier wishes to become a general, a secretary wishes to become a chief secretary, and a chief engineer wishes to become an engineer-in-chief. A businessman's yearning for expansion and increase in profits continues unabated. A politician's desire to do good to the people remains ever unfulfilled and in order to assume a bigger, more important role in ‘nation-building' he keeps on trying to improve his image and popularity. We all keep on working harder
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