Chanakya Neeti: Chapter 17

The ideas & quotes from last chapter of Chanakya Neeti.

If a child is convinced by a woman from a man who is not her husband. Then such child is termed as bastard and not given respect & importance in society. Same is the case with bookish knowledge  gained without proper guidance of a qualified teacher.

There is hardly any sin in applying the strategy of tit-for-tat.  One must show gratefulness to grateful,  violence to violent, and evilness to counter evil. ( The lines are quite true, but must be implemented with an extra precaution)

If your objective appears to be too-far, too high, or too difficult to achieve. Still, you must not loose hope and march forward with devotion while maintaining the focus. God might appear too far, but is only at a distance of one-true-prayer.

A greedy man does not requires any extra vice  as greed alone is self-sufficient to do all kinds of damages. A back-biter is probably the greatest sinner. Does a truthful man of good character needs to say any prayers? Is there any requirement for a man with pious heart to go for pilgrimage? Is there any ornament required to beautify a man with fame? Does a knowledgeable person requires wealth to feel rich?

A conch shell comes from ocean and mendicants use it as an instrument for begging. Also, it is known to us that Goddess Laxmi did emerged from Ocean. From a point of view the conch shell happens to be brother of the Goddess. The moral is that not the origin of a person, but his deeds determine the fame or notoriety.

Many times it is the helplessness that forces people to act good. A weak person acquires friendly nature due to his inability to oppose the stronger. A poor fellow may position himself on peak-of-morality because he cannot afford to have luxuries and women. A sick turns into a highly religious person, and an old lady becomes very virtuous because she can no more act-naughty.

The charity of food and water is supreme to all sorts of charities. No date is comparable to 12th of month  in terms of piousness.  No mantra is greater than Gayatri mantra, and no deity cannot be considered greater than the Mother.

A snake stores venom in his fang, a bee in its sting, a scorpion in its tail, but everything of an evil person is poisonous.

Charity adds to beauty of hands and not the bangles. You need a bath to clean yourself, not just applying paste of sandalwood on forehead. The real satisfaction comes from getting honor, not just food. It is knowledge that matters, not the rituals.

A man with intention to help others, receives blessing at each step and his troubles get blown away.

Humans are very similar to animals when it comes about eating, sleeping, display of fear, and mating . The only thing that differentiates is religion. A man without religion is nothing better than a beast.

(I must quote that definition of religion according to Chanakya is not about just following the rituals. Perhaps he is first human  in history to quote humanity as the greatest religion)

 A old woman with bent back was going on her way. A young man sarcastically asked “Have you lost something, what are you looking on the ground ..?”.

She replied that the “Pearl of her youth is lost and she is trying to search for it.”

The moral is that one must make some worthy use of his life. Its short and the youth is even shorter.

O Pandunus tree! you have snakes all over you, you don’t bear any fruit, and infested with thorns.  There is no fragrance in you,  you grow in mud, and quite rare to find. How, come your peculiar smell attracts everyone. ( A man with quality is likely to get acceptance despite of being in bad condition)

* Here comes the end to all Chapters from Chanakya Neeti. Hopefully, you enjoyed and more importantly learned something out of it.