Garudapurana 1.108

English (machine translation) 1.108

Language: English

1.108.29 — 1 part

1.108.1

The venerable Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 108
Sūta said:
I shall speak the essence of statecraft, founded on the treatises on wealth and the like,
beneficial to kings and others, meritorious, bestowing longevity, heaven, and the rest.

1.108.2

A man desiring success should always keep company with the virtuous;
not with the unvirtuous, [which is] beneficial neither for this world nor the other world.

1.108.3

One should avoid conversation with the base, and sight of the wicked;
enmity with a friend, [and] friendship with one who serves an enemy.

1.108.4

By instructing a foolish pupil, and by supporting a wicked woman,
[and] by association with the wicked, even a learned person sinks down.

1.108.5

A childish brāhmaṇa, a non-warrior kṣatriya, a stupid vaiśya,
[and] a śūdra possessed of literacy—one should avoid from afar.

1.108.6

Peace with an enemy at the proper time, war with a friend at the proper time;
relying upon cause and effect, the wise person bides his time.

1.108.7

Time ripens all beings; Time destroys creatures;
Time keeps watch when they are asleep; Time is indeed insurmountable.

1.108.8

In time it takes away virility; in time it exists in the womb;
Time produces creation, and again Time destroys it.

1.108.9

Time is always of subtle movement, and is conceived here as twofold:
by gross movement through the signs [of the zodiac], and by the inner subtle course.

1.108.10

Bṛhaspati spoke this essence of statecraft to the lord of the gods,
by which Indra became omniscient, and, having slain the daityas, attained heaven.

1.108.11

Worship of the gods, brāhmaṇas, and others should be performed by royal sages and brāhmaṇas;
one should sacrifice with the horse-sacrifice, which destroys major sins.

1.108.12

Association with the excellent, virtuous discourse with the learned,
[and] friendship with the ungreedy—making these, one does not sink down.

1.108.13

Defamation, another's property, mockery, another's woman,
and living in another's house—one should never do these.

1.108.14

A stranger who speaks what is beneficial is a kinsman; a kinsman who is unbeneficial is a stranger.
A disease born in the body is unbeneficial; medicine from the forest is beneficial.

1.108.15

He is a kinsman who is engaged in one's welfare; he is a father who provides nurture;
that is a friend in whom there is trust; that is a land where a livelihood is made.

1.108.16

He is a servant who is obedient; that is a seed which sprouts;
she is a wife who speaks pleasantly; he is a son who lives [worthily].

1.108.17

He lives who has virtues; he lives who has dharma;
he who is devoid of virtues and dharma—his life is fruitless.

1.108.18

She is a wife who is clever in the home; she is a wife who speaks pleasantly;
she is a wife whose breath is her husband; she is a wife who is devoted to her husband.

1.108.19

Constantly bathed, fragrant, and always speaking pleasantly,
eating little, speaking little, and ever endowed with auspicious qualities,

1.108.20

always abundant in dharma, and always dear to her husband,
always of pleasant face, and always desiring [him] in the fertile period,

1.108.21

endowed with actions such as these, increasing all good fortune—
he whose wife is of such a kind is the lord of the gods, not a mortal.

1.108.22

He whose wife has deformed eyes, is filthy, fond of quarreling,
[and] would answer back—that is old age; old age is not old age.

1.108.23

He whose wife has turned to another, desires another's house,
is ill-behaved, and has abandoned shame—that is old age; old age is not old age.

1.108.24

He whose wife knows virtues, follows her husband,
and is satisfied with very little—she is a beloved, not [just any] beloved [is] a beloved.

1.108.25

A wicked wife, a deceitful friend, a servant who answers back,
and dwelling in a house with a snake—[these are] death itself, without a doubt.

1.108.26

Abandon association with wicked people; cultivate the company of the virtuous;
perform merit day and night; remember always the impermanence [of things].

1.108.27

She whose throat is like a serpent, who speaks like a hooded snake, who is terrible, dark, agitated in limb, with eyes agitated by blood, resembling a tigress,
who in anger has a ferocious face, like a flashing flame of fire, raven-tongued, frightful—a woman who is cunning, who goes to other cities, whose mind is wandering, [and who is] alienated, should not be consorted with.

Linked texts (1)

Garuḍapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit