Eternal vigil is the price we have to pay for our own safety

अलसस्य लब्धमपि रक्षितुं न शक्यते॥३९॥

चाणक्यसूत्राद्॥

alasasya labdhamapi rakṣituṁ na śakyate||39||

cāṇakyasūtrād||

Another hard-hitting pronouncement by the master statesman..

The lazy fellow cannot preserve or sustain whatever little he has achieved..

Life is a continuous process.. We have to remain active, enthusiastic and oriented to purposes as long as we are alive.. Usually we are enthusiastic in implementing our plans and projects at the start.. When things proceed fairly well we are lulled into false sense of security and  we tend to be lax or even lazy.. But disaster may be waiting round the corner and all that we thought at ours for ever could be shattered to nothingness at the most unexpected moment.. The only human action which  can reasonably prevent such accidents is alertness and a lazy fellow can never be alert.. and an alert person can never remain lazy..

To drive home the virtues of alertness and enthusiasm in one's chosen profession or avocation  the following subhashitam is quoted.

अलसो मन्दबुद्धिश्च सुखी च व्याधिपीडितः।

निद्रालुः कामुकश्चैव षडेते कर्मगर्हिताः॥

alaso mandabuddhiśca sukhī ca vyādhipīḍitaḥ|

nidrāluḥ kāmukaścaiva ṣaḍete karmagarhitāḥ||

Six categories of human beings are  treated as unfit for work and as deserving contempt.

They are

(1)  The lazy fellow 

(2) The fellow whose intellect is not developed properly, the idiot  

(3) The person who is always on the lookout for comforts and pleasures alone. 

(4) A person who is  always afflicted by diseases, real or imaginary  

(5) A person whose greatest love in life is sleep 

(6) A person who is avaricious and is addicted to carnal desires.

Eternal vigil is the price we have to  pay for our own safety.

--