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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
-704]
78. THE SECTION ON THE PRAISE OF VIRTUES 373
1697) The earth is present everywhere (i. e. it is wide and extensive), and virtues too are (in themselves intrinsically) estimable (valuable). Why is it then that those endowed with virtues suffer disregard (disrespect) at the hands of the rich?
78. The Section on the Praise of Virtues
698) What is the good of the birth of that person, a destroyer of the youthful charm of his mother, whose virtues are not mentioned (with approval) by the good in the assemblies and by heroes in the battle?
699) What is the use of the birth of that person, incapable of even filling a lofty place (with) distinction, by whom with his reputation, as by a river (with its flood of water), the entire space of the world is not filled up (or pervaded)?
700) Fie upon him! What is the good of his being born (in this world), whose fame does not spread out in the country, in the village, in the city, in the royal path (highway or thoroughfare) and in the triangular and quadrangular junctions of streets (i. e. in public squares)?
701) Oh large-eyed one, what is the good of his being born or what is the loss resulting from his passing away, for whose sake (on whose account) there does not arise sorrow (uneasiness) in each and every house?
79. The Section on the Censure of Men
702) In the world people go up and down like the sprouts and the roots of trees (respectively)*.
703) People get a low or high position by their own actions. The builders of temples and the makers (diggers) of wells go about their job with their faces turned up and down (respectively).
704) Though two persons may have been born in one and the same family, in one and the same house and from one and the same maternal womb, still one of them becomes the master of a hundred men (or of hundreds of men), while the other is not able to exert his influence even on one man.
* The sense of the second half of the Gatha is obscure,
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