Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 518

MORAL QUALITIES
478
garland of Mowers without incurring danger, than to
ignorant and obstinate person change his ideas.
XXXI. The miser acknowledges neither god nor guru,
He who suffers from hunger
neither parents nor friends.
pays no heed whether the viands be well or ill seasoned.
He who loves and cultivates knowledge has no taste for
The froward person has neither shame nor
idleness.
like a
make an
restraint.
XXXII. Temporal
water
;
youth passes
are like foam upon the
a shadow riches disappear like
Therefore to virtue alone should
blessings
like
clouds before the wind.
;
we hold fast.
XXXIII. Let us
realize well that death watches like
a tiger to seize us unawares, sickness pursues us like a
relentless enemy, earthly joys are like a leaky vessel from
which water trickles ceaselessly until it is empty.
XXXIV. Before the existence of earth, water, air, wind,
fire, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, sun, stars, and other objects,
God One and Eternal was in existence.
XXXV. Pride and arrogance suit no one constancy,
humanity, sweetness, compassion, truth, love for one's
neighbour, conjugal fidelity, goodness, amiability, cleanli-
ness, are all qualities that distinguish really virtuous people.
He who possesses all these ten qualities is a true guru.
XXXVI. Unhappy is the son whose father contracts
unhappy is the father whose son bears a bad
debts
character unhappy is the wife whose husband is unfaithful.
XXXVII. To show friendship to a man while he is
prosperous and to turn one's back upon him when he is
in distress, is to imitate the conduct of prostitutes, who
evince affection for their protectors only so long as they
are opulent and abandon them as soon as they are ruined.
XXXVIII. There are six things which almost invariably
the service of kings, robbery,
entail unhappy consequences
horsebreaking, the accumulation of wealth, sorcery, and
;
;
;
—
anger.
XXXIX. Never make known one's condition, one's
wealth, one's mistress, one's mantrams, one's remedies, the
place where one has hidden his money, the good works
which one does, the insults which one has received, or the
debts which one has contracted.