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BOOK REVIEW: CHANAKYA NITI

Chanakya was an Indian teacher, philosopher, and royal advisor.Originally a proffesor of economics and political science at the ancient Takshashila University, Chanakya managed the first Maurya emperorChandragupta‘s rise to power at a young age. He is widely credited for having 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.

Chanakya Niti is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakya’s deep study of the Indian way of life. Chanakya also developed Neeti-Sutras (aphorisms – pithy sentences) that tell people how they should behave. Of these well-known 455 sutras, about 216 refer to raja-neeti (the do’s and don’t’s of running a kingdom). Apparently, Chanakya used these sutras to groom Chandragupta and other selected disciples in the art of ruling a kingdom.

The book is enlightening and gives you really worthy advices for your life..do read it..here I have collected some of the verses that  touched me a lot..and here it goes..

Even a pandit comes to grief by giving instruction to a foolish disciple, by maintaining a wicked wife, and by excessive familiarity with the miserable.
(dats y u r always adviced 2 b wid good people n friends..:) )

A wicked wife, a false friend, a saucy servant and living in a house with a serpent in it are nothing but death.

Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.

Women have hunger two-fold, shyness four-fold, daring six-fold, and lust eight-fold as
compared to men.
(…schme kya??)

Untruthfulness, rashness, guile, stupidity, avarice, uncleanliness and cruelty are a women’s seven natural flaws.

Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher of poison with milk on top.
(cent percent true….)

Do not put your trust in a bad companion nor even trust an ordinary friend, for if he should get angry with you, he may bring all your secrets to light.

Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being
determined to carry it into execution.

Brahmans quit their patrons after receiving alms from them, scholars leave their teachers after receiving education from them, and animals desert a forest that has been burnt down.

A man’s descent may be discerned by his conduct, his country by his pronunciation of language, his friendship by his warmth and glow, and his capacity to eat by his body.

Of a rascal and a serpent, the serpent is the better of the two, for he strikes only at the time he is destined to kill, while the former at every step.(…good 1)

Do not keep company with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged beast. Like an unseen horn pierces the heart with his sharp words.
(felt it personally…very true man…)

Though men be endowed with beauty and youth and born in noble families, yet without
education they are like the palasa flower which is void of sweet fragrance..

As a whole forest becomes fragrant by the existence of a single tree with sweet-smelling
blossoms in it, so a family becomes famous by the birth of a virtuous son.

As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.

As night looks delightful when the moon shines, so is a family gladdened by even one learned
and virtuous son.

Fondle a son until he is five years of age, and use the stick for another ten years, but when he has attained his sixteenth year treat him as a friend.

A single son endowed with good qualities is far better than a hundred devoid of them. For the moon, though one, dispels the darkness, which the stars, though numerous, can not.

A still-born son is superior to a foolish son endowed with a long life. The first causes grief for but a moment while the latter like a blazing fire consumes his parents in grief for life.

Consider again and again the following: the right time, the right friends, the right place, the right means of income, the right ways of spending, and from whom you derive your power.

He whose hands are clean does not like to hold an office; he who desires nothing cares not for bodily decorations; he who is only partially educated cannot speak agreeably; and he who speaks out plainly cannot be a deceiver.

Learning is retained through putting into practice; family prestige is maintained through good behavior; a respectable person is recognised by his excellent qualities; and anger is seen in the Eyes.

Religion is preserved by wealth; knowledge by diligent practice; a king by conciliatory words; and a home by a dutiful housewife.

There is no disease (so destructive) as lust; no enemy like infatuation; no fire like wrath; and no happiness like spiritual knowledge

Time perfects all living beings as well as kills them; it alone is awake when all others are asleep. Time is insurmountable.

A wise man should not reveal his loss of wealth, the vexation of his mind, the misconduct of his own wife, base words spoken by others, and disgrace that has befallen him.

He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in
business, becomes happy.

One should feel satisfied with the following three things; his own wife, food given by Providence and wealth acquired by honest effort; but one should never feel satisfied with the following three; study, chanting the holy names of the Lord (japa) and charity.

An elephant is controlled by a goad (ankusha), a horse by a slap of the hand, a horned animal with the show of a stick, and a rascal with a sword.

Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.
(true man..)

Accumulated wealth is saved by spending just as incoming fresh water is saved by letting out
stagnant water.

The lamp eats up the darkness and therefore it produces lamp black; in the same way according to the nature of our diet (sattva, rajas, or tamas) we produce offspring in similar quality.

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. The rain water enlivens all living beings of the earth both movable (insects, animals, humans, etc.) and immovable (plants, trees, etc.), and then returns to the ocean it value multiplied a million fold.

Water is the medicine for indigestion; it is invigorating when the food that is eaten is well digested; it is like nectar when drunk in the middle of a dinner; and it is like poison when taken at the end of a meal.

Moral excellence is an ornament for personal beauty; righteous conduct, for high birth; success for learning; and proper spending for wealth.

Discontented brahmanas, contented kings, shy prostitutes, and immodest housewives are
ruined.

Of what avail is a high birth if a person is destitute of scholarship? A man who is of low
extraction is honored even y the demigods if he is learned.

those who are endowed with beauty and youth and who are born of noble families are
worthless if they have no learning. They are just like the kimshuka blossoms ( flowers of the palasa tree) which, though beautiful, have no fragrance.

Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others destroy themselves like serpents who stray onto anthills.

Perhaps nobody has advised Lord Brahma, the creator, to impart perfume to gold; fruit to the sugarcane; flowers to the sandalwood tree; wealth to the learned; and long life to the king.

The student, the servant, the traveler, the hungry person, the frightened man, the treasury
guard, and the steward: these seven ought to be awakened if they fall asleep.

He who neither rouses fear by his anger, nor confers a favor when he is pleased can neither
control nor protect. What can he do?

The serpent may, without being poisonous, raise high its hood, but the show of terror is enough to frighten people — whether he be venomous or not.

Poverty is set off by fortitude; shabby garments by keeping them clean; bad food by warming it and ugliness by good behavior.

It is better to live under a tree in a jungle inhabited by tigers and elephants, to maintain oneself in such a place with ripe fruits and spring water, to lie down on grass and to wear the ragged barks of trees than to live amongst one’s relations when reduced to poverty.

The brahmana is like tree; his prayers are the roots, his chanting of the Vedas are the branches,and his religious act are the leaves. Consequently effort should be made to preserve his roots for if the roots are destroyed there can be no branches or leaves.

(Through the night) a great many kinds of birds perch on a tree but in the morning they fly in all the ten directions. Why should we lament for that? (Similarly, we should not grieve when we must inevitably part company from our dear ones).

He who possesses intelligence is strong; how can the man that is unintelligent be powerful? The elephant of the forest having lost his senses by intoxication was tricked into a lake by a small rabbit.

The elephant has a huge body but is controlled by the ankusha (goad): yet, is the goad as large as the elephant? A lighted candle banishes darkness: is the candle as vast as the darkness. A mountain is broken even by a thunderbolt: is the thunderbolt therefore as big as the mountain? No, he whose power pevails is really mighty; what is there in bulk?

Courtesy should be learned from princes, the art of conversation from pandits, lying should be learned from gamblers and deceitful ways should be learned from women.

The man who remains a fool even in advanced age is really a fool, just as the Indra-Varuna fruit does not become sweet no matter how ripe it might become.

He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.

He who is prepared for the future and he who deals cleverly with any situation that may arise are both happy; but the fatalistic man who wholly depends on luck is ruined.

The hearts of base men burn before the fire of other’s fame, and they slander them being
themselves unable to rise to such a high position.

Excessive attachment to sense pleasures leads to bondage, and detachment from sense
pleasures leads to liberation; therefore it is the mind alone that is responsible for bondage or liberation.

As a calf follows its mother among a thousand cows, so the (good or bad) deeds of a man follow him.

As the man who digs obtains underground water by use of a shovel, so the student attains the
knowledge possessed by his preceptor through his service.

Even the man who has taught the spiritual significance of just one letter ought to be worshiped. He who does not give reverence to such a guru is born as a dog a hundred times, and at last takes birth as a chandala (dog-eater).

There are three gems upon this earth; food, water, and pleasing words — fools (mudhas)
consider pieces of rocks as gems.

The enemy can be overcome by the union of large numbers, just as grass through its
collectiveness wards off erosion caused by heavy rainfall.

It is ruinous to be familiar with the king, fire, the religious preceptor, and a woman. To be altogether indifferent of them is to be deprived of the opportunity to benefit ourselves, hence our association with them must be from a safe distance.

He is a pandit (man of knowledge) who speaks what is suitable to the occasion, who renders
loving service according to his ability, and who knows the limits of his anger.

A wise man should not divulge the formula of a medicine which he has well prepared; an act of charity which he has performed; domestic conflicts; private affairs with his wife; poorly prepared food he may have been offered; or slang he may have heard.

The cuckoos remain silent for a long time (for several seasons) until they are able to sing sweetly (in the Spring ) so as to give joy to all.

We should secure and keep the following: the blessings of meritorious deeds, wealth, grain, the words of the spiritual master, and rare medicines. Otherwise life becomes impossible.

Eschew wicked company and associate with saintly persons. Acquire virtue day and night, and always meditate on that which is eternal forgetting that which is temporary.
There is no treasure on earth the gift of which will cancel the debt a disciple owes his guru for having taught him even a single letter ( that leads to Krishna consciousness).

There are two ways to get rid of thorns and wicked persons; using footwear in the first case and in the second shaming them so that they cannot raise their faces again thus keeping them at a
distance.

He who loses his money is forsaken by his friends, his wife, his servants and his relations; yet when he regains his riches those who have forsaken him come back to him. Hence wealth is
certainly the best of relations.

Sinfully acquired wealth may remain for ten years; in the eleventh year it disappears with even the original stock.

A bad action committed by a great man is not censured (as there is none that can reproach him),and a good action performed by a low-class man comes to be condemned (because none respects him). Just see: the drinking of nectar is excellent, but it became the cause of Rahu’s demise; and the drinking of poison is harmful, but when Lord Shiva (who is exalted) drank it, it became an ornament to his neck (nila-kanta).

The sugarcane does not cease to be sweet though squeezed in a mill; so the man of noble extraction does not lose his lofty qualities, no matter how pinched he is by poverty.

The heart of a woman is not united; it is divided. While she is talking with one man, she looks lustfully at another and thinks fondly of a third in her heart.
(hahaha..)

The fool (mudha) who fancies that a charming young lady loves him, becomes her slave and he
dances like a shakuntal bird tied to a string.

A man attains greatness by his merits, not simply by occupying an exalted seat. Can we call a crow an eagle (garuda) simply because he sits on the top of a tall building.

The man who is praised by others as great is regarded as worthy though he may be really void of all merit. But the man who sings his own praises lowers himself in the estimation of others though he should be Indra (the possessor of all excellence).

If good qualities should characterise a man of discrimination, the brilliance of his qualities will be recognised just as a gem which is essentially bright really shines when fixed in an ornament of gold.

All the creatures are pleased by loving words; and therefore we should address words that are pleasing to all, for there is no lack of sweet words.

There are two nectarean fruits hanging from the tree of this world: one is the hearing of sweet words (such as Krishna-katha) and the other, the society of saintly men.

The good habits of charity, learning and austerity practised during many past lives continue to be cultivated in this birth by virtue of the link (yoga) of this present life to the previous ones.

One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.

The good habits of charity, learning and austerity practiced during many past lives continue to be cultivated in this birth by virtue of the link (yoga) of this present life to the previous ones.

We should repay the favours of others by acts of kindness; so also should we return evil for evil in which there is no sin, for it is necessary to pay a wicked man in his own coin.
(superb….)

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.

A king, a prostitute, Lord Yamaraja, fire, a thief, a young boy, and a beggar cannot understand the suffering of others. The eighth of this category is the tax collector.

• That’s all..these were mine favorites..discover yours by reading this masterpiece..

Commencement Speech by Jobs..

Here I would like to share with you the graduation commencement speech delivered by Steve Job at Stanford in 2005. Its a must read, you would really love it and feel it..
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Steve Jobs

            STEVE JOBS
          by WALTER ISAACSON



This is a book about the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose
passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies,
music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. You might even add a seventh, retail stores, which Jobs did not quite revolutionize but did reimagine. In addition, he opened the way for a new market for digital content based on apps rather than just websites.

His life unlike most of us is full of many ups and down believe me he was far more confused than most of us and
he tried new things a lot in his life. He made independent decisions in life which sometime even himself was not
very sure of. To discover about him read this wonderful masterpiece by WALTER ISAACSON.

I am going to site some of the remarkable incidences which would move you to go through the pages on such a
legendary creature.

He was abandoned.
His biological parents disowned him. Some another couple adopted him, and the very fact that he was
abandoned kept him hurting all his through life. At some beginning stage of his life he had made his mind to
make his biological parents feel sorry and regretful for this act.His nature showed a blend of sensitivity and insensitivity, bristliness and detachment.

He was college dropout.
That didn't mean that he was not good at studies or anything like that. He was very bright right from his school.
But, like most of the geniuses he too had some problem with the teaching style of school and all those
memorising and cramming things.
He was intellectually special, when he was in fifth the school made remarkable proposal that he skip two grades
and go right into seventh. Classes seemed boring to him, he would always plan some sort of pranks. His pranks
were very alarming. Once he posted on school notice board that students can bring their pets on annual day for
a competition and the school ground transformed into all disorder with dogs chasing cats , cats chasing
rats ,birds, tortoise and all. Later her teacher discovered that only way to handle him was to keep him busy with
maths problems of higher classes.
He didn't want to join college. But to his parents persistence he finally made his mind, but his decision to join REEDs college was strange. He did not consider state schools, such as Berkeley, nor did he look at Stanford, just
up the road and likely to offer a scholarship. His reasoned “The kids who went to Stanford, they already knew
what they wanted to do and they weren’t really artistic. I wanted something that was more artistic and
interesting.”
Instead he applied only to Reed College, a private liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon, that was one of the most
expensive in the nation and was known for its free-spirited hippie lifestyle, which combined somewhat uneasily
with its rigorous academic standards and core curriculum.
There he seldom attended classes , he was into drugs, marijuana, LSD and hash as well. One the other side he
would practice spiritualism, meditation and was deeply influenced by a variety of books on spirituality and
enlightenment, most notably By Here Now, a guide to meditation and the wonders of psychedelic drugs by Baba
Ram Dass. Other books including Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, Autobiography of a Yogi by
Paramahansa Yogananda, and Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chögyam Trungpa. During the
summer of 1973, he travelled to India to on spiritual journey meet Ram Dass’s Hindu guru, Neem Karoli Baba,
famously known to his many followers as Maharaj-ji.
He sometimes would follow unusual diets regime. Jobs clung to the belief that his fruit-heavy vegetarian diet
He sometimes would follow unusual diets regime. Jobs clung to the belief that his fruit-heavy vegetarian diet
would prevent not just mucus but also body odour, even if he didn’t use deodorant or shower regularly and
people would complain about it. There is a story about Steve turning orange from eating so many carrots his
friends remember him having, at times, a sunset-like orange hue. Job's compulsive search for self-awareness also
led him to undergo primal scream therapy. Later he admitted that through all these soul searching, meditations,primal scream and the mucusless diets, he was trying to cleanse himself and get deeper into his frustration about his birth. He also he was deeply angry and wounded about the fact that he had been given up.

He was great perfectionist.
But since he was so obsessive when it came to selecting furnishings, his apartment remained mostly empty,
lacking beds or chairs or couches. Instead his bedroom had a mattress in the centre, framed pictures of Einstein
and Maharaj-ji on the walls, and an Apple II on the floor.
You would discover his obsession for perfection especially at a point where his factory was to be designed and
When asked about his obsessive concern over the look of the factory, Jobs said it was a way to ensure a passion
for perfection...

Just read the book to discover more about the great innovator, perfectionist, confused, blunt and genius, intuitive guy who just rocked this world. He was an intersection of science and art.