Saturday, March 16, 2013

uninhabitable terrain

यस्मिन् देशे न सम्मानो नवृत्तिर् न च बान्धवाः।
न च विद्यागमोऽप्यस्ति वासस्तत्र न कारयेत्॥
(चाणक्यनीत्यां)

yasmin deśe na sammano navṛttir na ca bāndhavāḥ|
na ca vidyāgamo'pyasti vāsastatra na kārayet||
cāṇakyanītyāṁ
 
another nugget  from Chanakya, the down-to-earth realist

His advise is that
"One should not venture  to reside in a place
where he gets no respect,
where he has no job opportunities,
where he has no relatives
and
where there are no avenues  to gain knowledge"


The urge to strive hard to gain  the approval and if possible respect  and even accolades from  people around is the distinctive trait that makes human beings  so different from other beasts.. 
Life for us  is not just a process of  eating and living..

For a human being with self respect, dexterity in some profession and the opportunity to apply such skill and gaining the means of livelihood from such exertion is the most noble and desirable way of life.. 
For this the opportunity to put to use one's own  skills is as important as the skills themselves.

A human being is never an island in himself
..He can never live alone..
 He yearns to be in the company of parents, siblings, wife, children, and other relatives and friends..
 Life for a human being will be dull and apparently purposeless if he cannot enjoy the company of  close  relatives or friends  with whom he can share his joys and sorrows, gains and losses.

And education for a decent human being is a continuous process.. A place without schools, colleges and libraries is worse than a desert.. Learned men who are capable of enriching our  knowledge could be found  only in places where there are universities and libraries .. An Alexandria or Nalanda or Takshasila was always a coveted place for all to live because learned men and temples of knowledge were located there..

One may ask. "What is so special in this statement of Chanakya?
The specialty lies in the very fact that Chanakya has put it so crisply.. he has enumerated all that is there for one's life to be of any meaning ..

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