object:19.23 - Of the Elephant
book class:Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
subject class:Integral Yoga
class:chapter
Of Hell The Canto of Desire
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta DhammapadaPaliOf the Elephant
Of the Elephant
[1]
An elephant in battle endures arrows shot from a bow. Even so, shall it endure censures, for men in the mass are, by nature, prone to evil.
[2]
An elephant, when controlled, can be led to battle; him the king can ride. And among men the best is he who is controlled and endures censures.
[3]
Mules, when controlled, are excellent, so also are the pure bred horses of Sindh, so indeed are the mighty tuskers. But best of all is the man who has controlled himself.
[4]
With such conveyances you cannot go where none has gone. He who has controlled himself goes out as a controlled person on a controlled mount.
[5]
The elephant, by name Dhanapala, is hard to control when in heat. Not a morsel would he eat, if bound; he remembers only his free forest herd.
[6]
When one is slothful, when one is gluttonous, one grows in flesh, even like a sleepy pig rolling from side to sidethus the fool is called to birth time and again.
[7]
Till now this mind of mine has moved about doing whatever pleased it. Henceforth I shall thoroughly hold it under control even as the driver with his hook controls an elephant in heat.
[8]
Take delight in vigilance. Stand by your mind. Lift yourself out of evil, even like an elephant sunk in a bog.
[9]
If you have as your companion one who is intelligent and wise and of perfect conduct, then you will overcome all obstacles and go forward with him, contented and courageous.
[10]
If your do not have companion one who is intelligent and wise and of perfect conduct, then live alone, even like a vanquished king who has lost his kingdom or like an elephant alone in the midst of the forest.
[11]
Better to live alone, a fool is not a company. Live alone, do no evil, look not about, live like a lonely elephant.
[12]
A friend in need is a thing of joy, a more or less satisfaction here and there is a thing of joy, after death a good deed is a thing of joy; it is a joy indeed to have abandoned all griefs.
[13]
In the world, it is a joy to serve one's mother, it is a joy also to serve one's father. And it is a joy to follow the path of the Bhikkus, it is a joy to follow the path of the Brahmin.
[14]
It is a joy to lead a pure life till old age, it is a joy to possess a firmly established faith, it is a joy to acquire wisdom and it is a joy not to do evil.
***
Of Hell The Canto of Desire
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