Chanakya Neeti - Chapter 14

Chanakya Neeti (The Book) - Chapter 14

In this world there are only three gems. They are water, food grains, and good language. On the other hand fools consider those stones to be precious gems.

Poverty, diseases, conflicts, and other problems in life are nothing, but the fruits from tree of ones own misdeeds.

You can earn money after losing it, you can make new friends, and also you can get another wife, but this is not the case with body. [take good care of your health]

Numerous straws reunite together to frame a thatch to provide protection against rain. In the same manner, when men unite together to form an army they can easily vanquish the enemy. In other words, “Unity possesses great strength”.

The following have great tendency to spread. They are oil on water, a secret with a man of unjust character, donation to a worthy man, and learning of a wise person. [Yep! oil spreads on surface of water, a wicked person will reveal your secret to everyone, donation to right kind of person will add to your glory, and a wise man keeps on learning]

One becomes enlightened and awaken on listening to the religious talks and sermons, on attending some funeral, and on falling sick severely. [... how many of us think about God only when in pain. It is not strange and very true fact]

Normally, a man regrets upon his act of sin after accomplishing it. If same wisdom be shown before doing the action then the man will definitely attain Nirvana.

There is no need to get satisfied with knowledge, act of charity, politeness, penance, and worldly wisdom. As this worlds is full of such gems and you cannot get enough of them. [i.e. always a chance for doing better.]

Is someone lives in heart of someone then distances don’t matter. On other hand a person who has no place in heart doesn’t matter, even upon being physically near.

It will be good for you to not get too close to a king, fire, and women. Also, don’t stay too far from them otherwise you will get deprived of the rewards. [... maintain the balance in life, of life and for life]

One must cautiously deal with fire, woman, fool, snake, and members of royalty. They may prove fatal.

Only a capable man who lives life as per principles of religion is alive in real senses . If not, then the person is living a life of no use.

A really wise man is well aware about the art of speaking, he talks as per situation, speak the words that add to his fame, and shows anger in accordance with the power he possesses.

The three views of three beings for a very beautiful woman were. She will be equivalent to a corpse for some Yogi. A lustful man will consider her as an object of desire. For a dog, she will be nothing, but a lump of meat. [... contains very deep meaning. Discretion advised]

A wise man will never reveal his secret to anyone. He won’t discuss formula of his secret medicine, his religious resolves, problem in family, consumption of bad food, and his sexual acts. Also, he will not indulge himself in such discussions. (specially the ill talks about others) [... I know you have a lot of important tasks to perform and care for time. Dont you!]

A cuckoo bird will not sing until arrival of spring i.e. there is a right time for different tasks.

O man! you must leave the company of wicked persons and must come closer to noble fellows. You must do good deeds all day and night with faith in God because this world will perish one day. [not on the dooms day, but with your end, your world will also end at that very instance]

Chanakya Neeti - Chapter 12

Chanakya Neeti (The Book) - Chapter 12

The lines stated below contains the ideas stated in 12th chapter of Chanakya Neeti. Have a look …

Such home is endowed with divine favor of God where sons & daughter obey orders , the housewife is sweet tongued, family members are hardworking, the money is earned with honesty and is sufficient to fulfill their needs, food is in surplus, servants are faithful, guests are welcomed, and is often visited by learned spiritual teachers.

O king, a person who donate a little of his earning to deserving Brahmins (full time involvement in spreading enlightenment in the society with charity as the only way of their livelihood) attracts multiple amount of his donation in different ways by the grace of almighty God.

The world is maintained by good people who are polite and helpful to their near ones, people who are compassionate to deserving fellows, who show no mercy to wicked, face powerful opponent with bravery, who show respect to learned scholars, show reverence to parent and guru, and who are good at tackling women in a wise manner instead of putting complete trust in them.

Chanakya compares such man to Jackal and calls him the lowliest; whose hands do not come forward for charity, ears do not listen the sermons in holy scriptures, eyes never focus on saints, legs do not move the path of pilgrimage, who earn money by unjust means, and who do not take care of their parent or guru.

Fate is a very strong component in life. Chanakya expresses this opinion by giving following examples:
You cannot blame spring for taking away the leaves from a Karel tree. (A rare leafless tree)
An owl cannot see in daylight and none can be blamed for this.
In same manner you cannot blame the cloud if the raindrop does not fall in the open beak of Chatak bird. (As per mythology Chatak bird only drinks the rain drops that fall at time of Swati Nakshatra. For this it opens its beak and waits for drop to fall in it.)

[Take note that those lines did not said that destiny is everything. ]

A good person can inculcate goodness in a bad person, but the badness of a bad is unlikely to be transferred in nature of a good person. The fragrance of a flower might leave its effect on soil beneath. but the flower never attains the murky smell from soil.

[In an other verse of Chanakya Neeti it has been said that you cannot turn a real wicked to some nice person. The thing to be noted is that both are correct in their own contexts]

Beholding a sadhu is like an instant pilgrimage for which you don’t even require visiting a holy place.


A traveler goes to a new city (a bad town) where he asks following questions to a wise man and receives following replies.
Who is greatest in your village? The man replied that the ‘Toody’ trees is greatest as all men fall on the ground after consuming its milky intoxicant.
Who performs greatest charity? … The Washerman takes clothes of men in morning and returns those in evening. [no charity]
Who is most clever? … all men consider themselves as clever and are engaged in cheating one other for money and women.

… And how do you survive at such place? The wise man says … I am just like an insect who is born in filth, lives in it and dies in filth.

* The passage above is a satire stating the condition of a state without law & order. Where people drink, cheat, do no charity, and have adapted themselves to such situation.

Once a divine saint was asked about his family. He replied that his mother is truth, knowledge is his master, religion is as brother, kindness as sister, peace as wife, and tolerance to be his son.

Festivals (very happy moments) for a:
cow is to find a green pasture.
Brahmin is to receive an invitation for meal.
a women is to see her husband recovering.
but… for me the festival is to have faith in God.

A person who considers women of others as mother, wealth of others as dirt, and one who sees his own soul in all living creatures; is the person who has really found the truth.

One who always abides by religion, is a polite speaker, is always interested in acts of charity, is/has a faithful friend, show respect to any good advice, respects guru, full of knowledge, and have faith in almighty is a noble soul for sure.

O lord Rama, there is no point in comparing you with anyone. [a simple explanation for a longer verse ]

One must learn decency from princes, speech from scholars, art of bluffing from gamblers, and cunningness from a woman.

One who overspends money without planning, who provokes the stronger opponent, and one who desires relationship with all kinds of women will definitely go for a quick destruction.

One must not worry about meals and must perform his duties. It is God who will arrange food for you. [Something closely related to Karma Theory of Bhagvad Gita. Action is supreme and person devoted to his duty is unlikely to face such trouble. The line has nothing to do with inaction]

A pitcher can be filled drop-by-drop and so is the case with your wealth.

A person with evil nature is unlikely to change even after gaining maturity. So is the case with a bitter pumpkin that does not taste sweet even upon ripening. [A class of such persons do exists.]

Chanakya Neeti - Chapter 10

Chanakya Neeti (The Book) - Chapter 10

A man without money is not poor in comparison to a man without knowledge.

A person must walk with his eyes open, must drink clean water, speak words with wisdom, and must perform an action only after thinking about pros & cons.

A crow can eat anything, a poet is capable of imagining anything, a woman can do anything, and a drunkard can say anything.

If you are looking for knowledge then give-up the hope for finding comfort. (Maybe, after getting Wisdom … lol )

Fate plays a significant role in life of a person. It can turn a king to beggar and vice-versa.

A greedy person consider beggars to be his enemy, a woman with loose character considers her husband as enemy and a thief considers moon to be his enemy. In same manner a fool treats the person who advice him.

Chanakya says … who don’t have knowledge, who don’t perform good deeds, don’t do charity, are not kind, lack in politeness, and are not merciful; are not humans, but beasts.

As per Chanakya Niti, it is a waste to advice some foolish person. Your words won’t change the person’s nature. Like the fragrant wind passing through forest of sandal wood does not make any impact on odor of a bamboo tree.

A foolish person cannot gain benefits from a books like a blind man with mirror.

Chanakya says that it better to live in forest with wild beasts, it is better to consume wild berries, it is better to sleep on bed of thorns than living in poverty with your kith and kins.

… One must protect the roots, If the root is destroyed then the tree will fall.

Different kinds of birds come together on a tree to spend night and then fly away in all directions when morning arrives. One most not regret about his or someone’s separation from family.

The power of brain is supreme and strength comes afterwards. You must be aware about the story of a lion who was killed by a rabbit.

The whole world is like a family and Lord Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi are like parents to all of us.