Monday, April 25, 2011

benevolent master and tolerant poet

क्षमी दाता गुणग्राही स्वामी पुण्येन लभ्यते।
अनुकूलः शुचिर्दक्षः कविर्विद्वान् सुदुल्र्लभः॥
बल्ललदेवस्य भोजप्रबन्धात्
kṣamī dātā guṇagrāhī svāmī puṇyena labhyate|
anukūlaḥ śucirdakṣaḥ kavirvidvān sudulrlabhaḥ||
ballaladevasya bhojaprabandhāt

"One is blessed with a master who is patient,who is generous in payment, who understands the merits of the servant and encourages them only through great fortune accumulated through many past lives. Likewise, a poet who is favourably disposed to you, who is of blemishless character, who is very efficient and who is learned in depth is also very difficult to come across".

It is easy for anyone to praise somebody who is not directly involved with him in day to day affairs. But a servant will get praise from the master very rarely because (1) the master thinks whatever the servant does in the normal course of business for which he is paid (2) He is apprehensive that open praise will spoil the servant.
When it comes to financial help, the master, by his very nature, is reluctant. He may be feeling that if something is given to the servant without a lot of entreaty from the latter, the demands will become more frequent.
A master will rarely understand the good qualities of a good servant, and even if he does so, will usually turn a Nelson's eye towards such virtues.
But some rare one gets because of his great fortune a master who is not like this.

Usually, the tendency to find fault with everyone goes hand in hand with the dexterity in word craft. Every writer thinks that he is the best in his trade. Again, a clueless lifestyle is the affected quality of the writer. Moreover, the knowledge base of the writer may not be sufficiently deep in comparison to his capacity to juggle words.
But really great writers with all the other qualities also do exist.

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