Garudapurana 1.109

The venerable Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 109
Sūta said:
One should preserve wealth for the sake of misfortune; one should preserve wives even with wealth;
one should always preserve oneself, even with wives and wealth.

One should abandon one [person] for the sake of a family; one should abandon a family for the sake of a village;
one should abandon a village for the sake of a country; one should abandon the earth for the sake of oneself.

Better indeed is dwelling in hell than in a household of bad conduct;
from hell, sin is diminished; from a bad household, it does not cease.

The wise person steps forward with one foot, and stands firm with the other;
without having examined another place, one should not abandon the former residence.

One should abandon a country of improper conduct; one should abandon a dwelling attended by distress;
one should abandon a miserly king; one should abandon a friend full of deceit.

What use is wealth that has fallen into the hands of a miser? / What use is knowledge confused by stubborn clinging to many rascals? / What use is beauty devoid of virtue and valour? / What use is a friend who turns his face away in times of misfortune?

Many companions never seen before become friends to one in high office; / but for one bereft of wealth and fallen from office, even his own kin becomes an enemy at the wrong time.

One should know a friend in times of distress, a warrior in battle, an honest man in secret, / a wife when wealth is exhausted, and a dear guest in famine.

Birds leave a tree whose fruit is exhausted, cranes a dry lake; courtesans leave a penniless man, ministers a fallen king; / bees leave a stale flower, deer a burnt forest. Indeed, everyone enjoys themselves only for their own purpose: who is beloved to anyone?

[One should win over] a greedy man by offering wealth, a praiseworthy man with joined palms, / a fool by indulging his wishes, and a wise man with the truth.

For the gods, good men, and the twice-born are pleased with sincerity; / others with food and drink, and the wise with respect and gifts.

One should manage a superior with prostration, a rogue with division, / a base man with a small gift, and an equal with equal prowess.

Speaking what is agreeable to whatever disposition each person has, / the intelligent man, having entered in, should swiftly bring him under his control.

Trust should never be placed in rivers, in clawed beasts, / in horned beasts, in those bearing weapons in hand, in women, and in royal families.

Loss of wealth, mental distress, misconduct in the household, / deceit, and humiliation—an intelligent man should not disclose these.

Association with base and wicked people, long separation, indulgence, / affection, and dwelling in another’s house cause the ruin of a woman’s good character.

In whose family is there no flaw? Who has not been afflicted by disease? / By whom has misfortune not been experienced? Whose fortunes are eternal?

What man on earth did not become proud upon gaining wealth? To whom have misfortunes not come? On earth, whose mind has not been broken by women? Who indeed is dear to kings? / Who has not fallen into the domain of death? What suppliant has attained dignity? Or what man, having fallen into the net of wicked men, has escaped safely?

He who has neither a friend, nor kinsman, nor relative, nor intelligence in himself, / [and who engages] in an action where even when accomplished no attainment of fruit is seen, / and where in failure there is great sorrow—how could a wise man undertake that?

A country where there is no respect, no affection, and no kinsmen, / and where there is no acquisition of knowledge—that country one should avoid.

The wealth from which there is no danger from the king or from thieves, / and which does not leave [one even when] dead—acquire that wealth!

What was acquired with life-draining toils, heirs divide when he is dead; / and whatever wickedness was committed out of longing for wealth, that alone is the dowry of the man afflicted by sin.

Wealth accumulated and buried, touched again and again— / like a rat's hoard, the miser's wealth leads only to sorrow.

Naked, distressed, rough, with skull-marked hands, / [beggars] show the world here such a fruit of non-giving.

Wretched people teach and beg, saying, “Give!”: / “This is the state caused by not giving; may you not become like this!”

Wealth accumulated is not employed in hundreds of sacrifices, nor given to a virtuous person when asked; / guarded by a miser, that wealth is squandered in the house of a thief or a king.

Neither to the gods, nor to the brāhmaṇas, nor to relatives, nor even to himself— / the wealth of a miser goes to fire, thieves, and kings.

Gains that come through extreme hardship, through transgression of dharma, / or by bowing down to an enemy—may those never be yours!

Lack of practice is the ruin of learning; dirty clothing is the ruin of women; / indigestion is [the food] of diseases; proliferation of affairs is the destruction of an enemy.

Execution is the punishment for a thief; speaking little is for a bad friend; / a separate bed is for women; and non-invitation is for a brāhmaṇa.

Wicked men, artisans, slaves, vicious [beasts], drums, and women— / when beaten, they become compliant; they are not worthy of honor.

One should know servants when sent on an errand, relatives when calamity comes, / a friend in a time of misfortune, and a wife when wealth is exhausted.

The food of women is twice as much, and their intellect fourfold; / their resolve is sixfold, and their desire is declared to be eightfold.

One cannot conquer sleep by sleeping, one cannot conquer a woman by lust, / one cannot conquer fire with fuel, and one cannot conquer thirst with liquor.

Through meals with meat, rich foods, liquor, fragrant ointments, / charming clothes, and garlands, desire flourishes in women.

Even during celibate studenthood, the action of Love that arises must be mentioned: / seeing a charming man, a woman's vulva moistens.

Seeing a well-dressed man, whether a brother or a son, / women's vulva moistens; truly, truly, O Śaunaka!

Rivers and women have the same nature in terms of independent movement and the like: / rivers wash away their banks with their waters, and women bring down families through their faults.

A river tears down a riverbank, a woman tears down a family lineage; / the gait of women and of rivers is capricious and graceful.

Fire is never satisfied with logs, nor the great ocean with rivers, / nor Death with all living beings, nor fair-eyed women with men.

There is no satiety of good men, dear ones, sweet-speakers, / pleasures, sons, life, and a boon.

A king is not satisfied with accumulation of wealth, nor is the ocean satisfied with water; / a scholar is not satisfied with speech, nor is the eye satisfied with beholding a king.

For those whose livelihood is earned through their own proper duty and dharma, who are ever devoted to the scriptures and their wives, / who have conquered their senses, and who love guests—liberation is attained even in the household for the best of men.

Pleasing, beautiful, well-adorned women / and dwelling on palace terraces—this would be heaven for one of virtuous deeds.

Neither by gifts, nor by honor, nor by honesty, nor by service, / nor by weapons, nor by scriptures—women are in every way unpredictable.

Slowly learning, slowly wealth, slowly one should climb a mountain, / slowly desire, and slowly dharma—these five [should be pursued] slowly and gradually.

Eternal is the worship of the gods and the like, and eternal is a gift to a Brahmin; / eternal is knowledge possessed of virtue, and eternal is a true-hearted friend.

Those who, out of childishness, do not study learning, [and] who, remaining in youth, are destitute of wealth and wives— / they are to be pitied here in the world of living beings; they roam about like beasts in human form.

A pursuer of learning should not set his mind on study [only] while eating; / one seeking knowledge should go even exceedingly far, having the speed of Garuḍa.

Those who do not study learning in childhood, [who are] afflicted by desire and have lost their wealth in youth— / they are despised in old age, withered away like a lotus in winter.

Argument is baseless; the scriptures are discordant; there is no sage whose opinion is not divided [from others']; / the truth of dharma is hidden in a cave; that which great men have traversed is the path.

By bodily expressions, by gestures, by gait, by movement, by speech, / and by the alterations of the eyes and face, the mind within is perceived.

A wise man infers even that which is unstated; for the fruits of intellects lie in discerning the intentions of others. / An explicit meaning is grasped even by a beast; horses and elephants carry [a burden] when directed.

One fallen from wealth should go on pilgrimage; one fallen from truth would go to Raurava hell; / one fallen from yoga would attain truth and fortitude; and one fallen from his kingdom should take to the hunt.

Thus ends the one hundred and ninth chapter, in the essence of ethics called the Bṛhannītisāra, in the section on conduct, the first part of the first section, in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.