2023-02-17 20:22:11 by ambuda-bot
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MADHURAVIJAYAM
23
32. "Subjects are the wealth of kings. When that
is so, who could think of inflicting a reign of terror on
them by having recourse to brutal punishments?
Nobody would go up a tree and apply the axe to its
roots.
33. "An idiot who, in blind ignorance, throws
away wealth as gifts to the undeserving-wealth which
is indispensable for the upkeep of dharma-really
throws oblations that deserve to be used in holy sacri-
fices, into the fire that is consuming a dead body.
34. Ignorance-ridden monarchs overcome by
vices such as these-vices, which, like consumption, eat
into the body politic-become in course of time objects
of contempt to their enemies.
35. "Those fools that are not able to preserve by
their good qualities wealth begotten by them on account
of merit in previous birth are to be likened to monkeys
in whose hands a garland of flowers has been given.
The former, like the latter in their unbalanced state,
know only to destroy what they have been given.
36. "But youth like you who have their intelli-
gence duly shaped and purified by instruction received
from proper gurus know how to keep away from vices
and act always in the proper manner.
37. "It behoves you, therefore, to take courage in
both hands, consider the pros and cons of everything
deeply, and act in such a way that the goddess of pros-
perity, notorious for her fickle mind, does not turn
aside from you even for a moment.
23
32. "Subjects are the wealth of kings. When that
is so, who could think of inflicting a reign of terror on
them by having recourse to brutal punishments?
Nobody would go up a tree and apply the axe to its
roots.
33. "An idiot who, in blind ignorance, throws
away wealth as gifts to the undeserving-wealth which
is indispensable for the upkeep of dharma-really
throws oblations that deserve to be used in holy sacri-
fices, into the fire that is consuming a dead body.
34. Ignorance-ridden monarchs overcome by
vices such as these-vices, which, like consumption, eat
into the body politic-become in course of time objects
of contempt to their enemies.
35. "Those fools that are not able to preserve by
their good qualities wealth begotten by them on account
of merit in previous birth are to be likened to monkeys
in whose hands a garland of flowers has been given.
The former, like the latter in their unbalanced state,
know only to destroy what they have been given.
36. "But youth like you who have their intelli-
gence duly shaped and purified by instruction received
from proper gurus know how to keep away from vices
and act always in the proper manner.
37. "It behoves you, therefore, to take courage in
both hands, consider the pros and cons of everything
deeply, and act in such a way that the goddess of pros-
perity, notorious for her fickle mind, does not turn
aside from you even for a moment.