13-01
मुहूर्तमपि जीवेच्च नरः शुक्लेन कर्मणा ।
न कल्पमपि कष्टेन लोकद्वयविरोधिना ॥ १३-०१ ॥
Let a man live but a single moment if it is done with pure, meritorious action, rather than live for an entire aeon with deeds that are painful and harmful to both worlds.
13-02
गते शोको न कर्तव्यो भविष्यं नैव चिन्तयेत् ।
वर्तमानेन कालेन वर्तयन्ति विचक्षणाः ॥ १३-०२ ॥
One should not grieve over what is past, nor should one be anxious about the future. The discerning conduct themselves by attending to the present moment.
13-03
स्वभावेन हि तुष्यन्ति देवाः सत्पुरुषाः पिता ।
ज्ञातयः स्नानपानाभ्यां वाक्यदानेन पण्डिताः ॥ १३-०३ ॥
The gods are pleased by one's innate nature; the virtuous and the ancestors by the offering of food and drink; but the wise are pleased by eloquence and generosity alone.
13-04
आयुः कर्म च वित्तं च विद्या निधनमेव च ।
पञ्चैतानि हि सृज्यन्ते गर्भस्थस्यैव देहिनः ॥ १३-०४ ॥
Lifespan, action, wealth, learning, and death — these five are indeed ordained for the embodied soul even while it is still in the womb.
13-05
अहो बत विचित्राणि चरितानि महात्मनाम् ।
लक्ष्मीं तृणाय मन्यन्ते तद्भारेण नमन्ति च ॥ १३-०५ ॥
Ah, how wonderful indeed and variegated are the ways of great-souled men! They regard the goddess of fortune herself as a mere blade of grass, yet they bend low under the burden of maintaining it.
13-06
यस्य स्नेहो भयं तस्य स्नेहो दुःखस्य भाजनम् ।
स्नेहमूलानि दुःखानि तानि त्यक्त्वा वसेत् सुखम् ॥ १३-०६ ॥
Where there is affection, there lies fear; affection is a vessel of sorrow. Sorrows are rooted in attachment; having abandoned them, one may dwell happily.
13-07
अनागतविधाता च प्रत्युत्पन्नमतिस्तथा ।
द्वावेतौ सुखमेधेते यद्भविष्यो विनश्यति ॥ १३-०७ ॥
He who provides for the future, and he who is possessed of presence of mind in the immediate present — these two live happily. But he who merely frets about what will be perishes.
13-08
राज्ञि धर्मिणि धर्मिष्ठाः पापे पापाः समे समाः ।
राजानमनुवर्तन्ते यथा राजा तथा प्रजाः ॥ १३-०८ ॥
When the king is righteous, the subjects follow righteousness; when the king is sinful, they follow sin; when he is indifferent, they are likewise. The subjects follow the king exactly; as the king is, so are the people.
13-09
जीवन्तं मृतवन्मन्ये देहिनं धर्मवर्जितम् ।
मृतो धर्मेण संयुक्तो दीर्घजीवी न संशयः ॥ १३-०९ ॥
A man who is alive but devoid of righteousness, I consider as one already dead. But a man who is dead yet endowed with righteousness is long-lived, of this there is no doubt.
13-10
धर्मार्थकाममोक्षाणां यस्यैकोऽपि न विद्यते ।
अजागलस्तनस्येव तस्य जन्म निरर्थकम् ॥ १३-१० ॥
He for whom not even one of the four aims of human life — righteousness, wealth, pleasure, and liberation — exists has a birth as useless as the teat on the neck of a goat.
13-11
मन एव मनुष्याणां कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः ।
बन्धाय विषयासङ्गो मुक्त्यै निर्विषयं मनः ॥ १३-११ ॥
The mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation for human beings. Attachment to sense objects leads to bondage; freedom from sense objects leads to liberation.
13-12
देहाभिमाने गलितं ज्ञानेन परमात्मनि ।
यत्र यत्र मनो याति तत्र तत्र समाधयः ॥ १३-१२ ॥
When the self-identification with the body has melted away through knowledge of the Supreme Self, wherever the mind goes, there, there, states of meditative absorption arise spontaneously.
13-13
ईप्सितं मनसः सर्वं कस्य सम्पद्यते सुखम् ।
दैवायत्तं यतः सर्वं तस्मात्सन्तोषमाश्रयेत् ॥ १३-१३ ॥
Whose every single wish of the mind reaches fulfilment and happiness? Everything is subject to fate. Therefore, one should take refuge in contentment.
13-14
यथा धेनुसहस्रेषु वत्सो गच्छति मातरम् ।
तथा यच्च कृतं कर्म कर्तारमनुगच्छति ॥ १३-१४ ॥
Just as a calf finds its mother among thousands of cows, so does the action previously performed seek out its doer.
13-15
अनवस्थितकार्यस्य न जने न वने सुखम् ।
जनो दहति संसर्गाद्वनं सङ्गविवर्जनात् ॥ १३-१५ ॥
For a man of unsteady actions, there is no happiness either among people or in the forest. Among people, he is burnt by social friction; in the forest, by the lack of social contact.
13-16
खनित्वा हि खनित्रेण भूतले वारि विन्दति ।
तथा गुरुगतां विद्यां शुश्रूषुरधिगच्छति ॥ १३-१६ ॥
Just as one finds water in the ground by digging with a spade, so does an attentive disciple attain the learning that lies within his preceptor.
13-17
कर्मायत्तं फलं पुंसां बुद्धिः कर्मानुसारिणी ।
तथापि सुधियश्चार्या सुविचार्यैव कुर्वते ॥ १३-१७ ॥
The fruit of men's actions is dependent on their effort; their intellect follows in the wake of their actions. Yet the wise, even so, act only after careful and thorough deliberation.
13-18
सन्तोषस्त्रिषु कर्तव्यः स्वदारे भोजने धने ।
त्रिषु चैव न कर्तव्योऽध्ययने जपदानयोः ॥ १३-१८ ॥
Contentment should be practiced in three things: in one's own wife, in food, and in wealth. However, contentment must never be practiced in these three: in study, in prayer, and in charity.
13-19
एकाक्षरप्रदातारं यो गुरुं नाभिवन्दते ।
श्वानयोनिशतं गत्वा चाण्डालेष्वभिजायते ॥ १३-१९ ॥
He who does not bow down in reverence to the teacher who has imparted to him even a single syllable is born among outcastes after passing through a hundred births in the wombs of dogs.
13-20
युगान्ते प्रचलेन्मेरुः कल्पान्ते सप्त सागराः ।
साधवः प्रतिपन्नार्थान्न चलन्ति कदाचन ॥ १३-२० ॥
At the end of an age, Mount Meru may tremble; at the end of a kalpa, the seven oceans may shift; but the good, having once undertaken a pledge, never swerve from it.