Page 41 - Sri Canakya Niti

1.8

In this all-too-short spot life we will be wise to sing in one voice with
the great King Kulaśekhara who prays in his Mukunda-mālā-stotra
(verse 24):

O Mādhava, please do not let me even glance at those whose pious
credits are so depleted that they have no devotion for Your lotus
feet. Please do not let me be distracted from listening to the worthy
narrations of Your pastimes and become interested in other topics.
Please, O Lord of the universe, let me pay no attention to those who
avoid thinking of You. And let me never be unable to serve You in
some menial way, birth after birth.

ŚLOKA 1.8

यि मन देशे न सम्मानो न वृित्तनर् च बान्धवाः ।
्
ं
न च िवद्यागमोऽप्यि त वास त न कारयेत् ॥८॥
yasmin deśe na sammāno
na vṛttir na ca bāndhavāḥ
na ca vidyāgamo ’py asti
vāsaṁ tatra na kārayet
Never live in that land where you are disrespected, cannot earn a
living, are friendless or there is nothing to be learned.

Commentary: Cāṇakya Paṇḍita advises not to dwell where vidyā
(knowledge) cannot be acquired. To sit at the feet of a self-realized soul
who can impart real knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness brings greater
profit than being tied to a string of postgraduate degrees from every

university on earth. Self-realization is the starting point for liberation,
whereas material education without a spiritual purpose is an endless
entanglement in the web of māyā. A paṇḍita who lives under the four
humiliating conditions outlined in this verse metaphorically resides in
a śmaśāna (crematorium). Genuine paṇḍitas thrive only where Vedic
wisdom is honored.

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