Chanakya

A person becomes great not be sitting on some high seat, but through higher qualities. Can a crow become an eagle by simply sitting on the top of a palatial building?

Chanakya (also known as Kautilya or Vishnu Gupta (c. 370–283 BC) was an Indian teacher, philosopher, and royal adviser. He was initially a professor of economics and political science at the ancient Takshashila University in Takshashila (in present day Pakistan. He managed the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta's rise to power at a young age. He played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire, which was the first empire in archaeologically recorded history to rule most of the Indian subcontinent. Chanakya served as the chief advisor to both Chandragupta and his son Bindusara (whose son was Emperor Ashoka. Chanakya is credited with authoring two treatises said to be the first of its genre in the world – the Arthasastra (Economics), the ancient Indian political treatise; the Nitishastra, the Chanakya Niti, a treatise on the ideal way of life and his policies. His works predate Niccolò Machiavelli's by about 1,800 years. He is compared to Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher who taught Alexander as both had identical views on the republican forms of governance. His works which were lost towards the end of the Gupta dynasty could be discovered only in 1915.

Quotes

A reckless king will easily fall into the hands of his enemies. Hence the king shall ever be wakeful.

Arthashastra

• Whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive to the people; while he who awards mild punishment becomes contemptible. But whoever imposes punishment as deserved becomes respectable. For punishment when awarded with due consideration, makes the people devoted to righteousness and to works productive of wealth and enjoyment; while punishment, when ill-awarded under the influence of greed and anger or owing to ignorance, excites fury even among hermits and ascetics dwelling in forests, not to speak of householders.
  • Book I : "Concerning Discipline" Chapter 4 "Determination of the Place of Varta and of Dandaniti"
• If a king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic. If he is reckless, they will not only be reckless likewise, but also eat into his works. Besides, a reckless king will easily fall into the hands of his enemies. Hence the king shall ever be wakeful.
  • Book I : "Concerning Discipline" Chapter 19 "The Duties of a King"

• All urgent calls he shall hear at once, but never put off; for when postponed, they will prove too hard or impossible to accomplish.
  • Book I : "Concerning Discipline" Chapter 19

Section II Chanakya Niti

Rule The World The Way I Did. Pustak Mahal. 1 January 2008. ISBN 978-81-223-1010-8. 

• Even a wise man comes to grief and feels depressions if he imparts instructions to a foolish disciple or when maintains a wicked wife or when comes in close contact with the miserable.
• A wicked wife, a foolish friend, an ill tongued servant and a house infested with serpents will undoubtedly bring death.
• One should save money against hard times, save his wife against spending or sacrificing the money and one should save self at the cost of the wife and the riches.
• Save your wealth against unforeseen calamities without thinking that a rich man has no fear of calamity. Wealth has supple legs. Even saved riches are destroyed.
• One should not inhabit a country where one gets no respect, no opportunity to earn once’s livelihood, where one has no friends or relatives, or from where one can not acquire knowledge.
• Test a servant while on his duty, and a relative in difficulty, test a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
• He is a true friend and sincere relative who cooperates and stands by in time of need, depression, misfortune, famine, a war, in a king’s court, or at he crematorium (the place of last rituals where the dead are put on a pyre).
• He who opts out for an uncertain thing leaving behind the certain things, loses that which is in possession and fails to get what is already perishable.
• If there is nectar in poison, it should be extracted; if gold is fallen in filth it should be taken out, washed and kept; if a low-born person possesses knowledge, he should be treated respectfully; in the same way a girl in the family of evil-doers be accepted, if she possess virtuous qualities.
• Women eat double than men. They have four times more wisdom than men, they have six times more courage, and eight times more sensual urge than men.
• Untruthfulness, rashness, guile, stupidity, avarice, unseemliness, and cruelty are a women’s natural flaws.
• It is a boon of extraordinary austerities to get healthy and delicious dishes, to eat them and to have a strong system to digest them, to have a beautiful socially accepted wife and to be virile in her company, and to have a longing and mental set up for charity in prosperity. All these are boons.

In Essays

Steven J. Rosen (June 2012). The Agni and the Ecstasy: Collected Essays of Steven J. Rosen. Arktos. pp. 201–. ISBN 978-1-907166-79-2. 

• Virtuous persons and fruit-laden trees bow, but fools and dry sticks break because they do not bend.
• A person becomes great not be sitting on some high seat, but through higher qualities. Can a crow become an eagle by simply sitting on the top of a palatial building? (page 201
• The sounding of the mridanga (drum) in the kirtana (Devotional singing) is proclaiming loudly that those who have no devotion to Lord Krishna are very shameful and reprehensible. This is so because the mridanga sound diktum diktum, which means Oh! great shame! Oh! great shame!

Best of quotes

Abhi Sharma (12 January 2013). The Great Book Of Best Quotes Of All Time.: A collection of 2000+ quotes with interactive & impressive design representation. Best quotation book of all time.. Abhi Sharma. pp. 46–. GGKEY:FQN21BYRHEG. , a collection of unsourced attributions.^{[specific citation needed]}

• A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.
• Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions — Why I am doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.
• A good wife is one who serves her husband in the morning like a mother does, loves him in the day like a sister does, and pleases him like a prostitute in the night.
• Once you start working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work are sincerely are the happiest.
• The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. If you can not keep secret with you, do not expect that others will keep it? It will destroy you.
• There is some self interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This a bitter truth.
• People’s fury is above all furies.
• God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.
• Education is the best friend. An Educated Person is Respected Everywhere. Education beats the Beauty and the Youth.
• The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool; these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.
• O! wise man Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea received by the clouds is always sweet.
• Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.
• Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendship will never give you any happiness.
• Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person.
• Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
• The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end nor protects it from the bite of insects.
• One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others can use neither knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.
• There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.
• He whose son is obedient to him, whose wife’s conduct is in accordance with his wishes and who is content with his riches has the heaven here on earth.
• Avoid him who tries to talk sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher full of poison with milk on top.
• As water collected in a tank gets pure by filtration, so accumulated wealth is preserved by being employed in charity.
• Time perfects men as well as destroys them.
• It is better to have only one son endowed with good quality than a hundred devoid of them. For the Moon though one, dispels the darkness, which the stars, though numerous, do not
• Do not put your trust in rivers, men who carry weapons, beasts with claws or horns, women and members of a royal family.
• Those parents who do not educate their sons are their enemies; for as is a crane among swans, so are ignorant sons in a public assembly.
• Trees on a river bank, a woman in another man’s house, and kings without counselors go without doubt to swift destruction.
• Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth comes of Her own accord where fools are not respected, grain is well stored up and the husband and wife do not quarrel.
• The goddess of wealth is unsteady, and so is the life breath. The duration of life is uncertain, and the place of habitation is uncertain, but in ll this uncertain world religious merit alone is immovable.
• A father who is chronic debtor, an adulterous mother, a beautiful wife, and an unlearned son are enemies in one’s own home.
• Beauty is spoiled by an immoral nature; noble birth by bad conduct; learning without being perfected; and wealth by not being properly utilized.
• There are three gems on this earth: food, water, and pleasing words – fools consider pieces of rocks as gems.

Other quotes

• Religious austerities should be practiced alone, study by two, and singing by three. A jouney should be undertaken by four, agriculture by five, and war by many together.
  • Attributed without citation in Hindi translation at Chanakya Quotes About Religious Austerities. हिंदी साहित्य मार्गदर्शन. Retrieved on 25 November 2013.^{[specific citation needed]}
• Learning is like a cow of desire. It, like her, yields in all seasons. Like a mother, it feeds you on your journey. Therefore learning is a hidden treasure.
  • Attributed without citation in Hindi translation at Chanakya Wisedom Quotes About Learning & Gaining Knowledge.. हिंदी साहित्य मार्गदर्शन. Retrieved on 25 November 2013.^{[specific citation needed]}
• What is the use of having many sons if they cause grief and vexation? It is better to have only one son from whom the whole family can derive support and peacefulness.
  • Attributed without citation in Hindi translation at Chanakya Wisdom Quote About Son.. हिंदी साहित्य मार्गदर्शन. Retrieved on 25 November 2013.^{[specific citation needed]}
• He who runs away from a fearful calamity, a foreign invasion, a terrible famine, and the companionship of wicked men is safe.
  • Attributed without citation in Hindi translation at Chankya Wisdom Quote About Being Safe.. हिंदी साहित्य मार्गदर्शन. Retrieved on 25 November2013.^{[specific citation needed]}
• Behavior alone it is that creates friends and foes
  • Attributed without citation in Pillai, Rajendra. The Pocket Book Of Quips & Quotes. St Pauls BYB. ISBN 978-81-7108-336-7. ^{[specific citation needed]}
• Just as a good tree with scented flowers makes the entire forest perfumed and pleasant, so a good son enhances the glory of hisfamily
  • Attributed without citation in Pillai, Rajendra. The Pocket Book Of Quips & Quotes. St Pauls BYB. ISBN 978-81-7108-336-7. ^{[specific citation needed]}
• All beings feel pleased by sweet speech, one should therefore talk sweet. What does it cost to do so?
• Never believe the wicked though they are sweet tongued. The honey is only in the tip of their tongue-the heart is full of venom
  • Above two attributed without citation in Pillai, Rajendra. The Pocket Book Of Quips & Quotes. St Pauls BYB. ISBN 978-81-7108-336-7. ^{[specific citation needed]}

External links

• Philosophy of Chanakya
• Chanakya Quotes In Hindi