The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c13.s3.t1.9

c13.s3.t1.9

Brihaspati has given us a bit of his mind in the following *sūtras*: "People are happy when relatives are in trouble" (10). Relatives, cruel in their hidden hearts, cause troubles or relatives (11). The most dangerous of all fears is that from relatives. *Sarvabhayeṣu jnātibhayam ghoram* (12). Friendship is like a drop of water on a leaf (14). The conception of such *Realpolitik* in human relations is not peculiar to Brihaspati among the social or political philosophers of Asia or Europe.