Page 43 - Sri Canakya Niti

1.10

vast and prosperous kingdom centered in Magadha. As hinted at in
this verse, the king is also essential, not least because he maintains the
brāhmaṇas whose yajñas sustain society.

Śrīla Prabhupāda commented on this verse in a lecture on Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam (1.8.40) delivered on 20 October 1974 in Māyāpur:

Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that “Don’t go to a town and city where there
is no river and where there is no friend and there is no temple.”
Don’t go to that city. If there is no river, no friend and no temple,
then that great city is a great forest. So that is forbidden. So we
should be happy with these things. Cities and towns, this does not
mean big, big slaughterhouse, cinema, brothel, and factories and all
dirty things. Here it is not mentioned.

In that lecture Śrīla Prabhupāda especially drew attention to the purity
of the sacred Gaṅgā flowing not far from the temple. He was revealing

in part his vision for the spiritual city he was founding, one that has

become a reality since that lecture and which fulfills all the criteria
of this verse.

From rivers we derive the benefits of health, nourishment and
cleanliness, which is why those who contaminate waterways with
sewage were punished in Vedic culture. This verse has been taken
from the Bṛhaspati-nīti-sāra. (GP 1.110.26)

ŚLOKA 1.10

ं
लोकया ा भयं लज्जा दािक्षण्य त्यागशीलता ।
पञ्च य न िवद्यन्ते न कुयार्त् त सङ्गितम् ॥१०॥

loka-yātrā bhayaṁ lajjā
dākṣiṇyaṁ tyāga-śīlatā
pañca yatra na vidyante
na kuryāt tatra saṅgatim

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