difficult to build, easy to erase

नित्यं कोपात्तपो रक्षेत् श्रियं रक्षेत् च मत्सरात्।

विद्यां मानावमानाभ्यां आत्मानं च प्रमादतः॥

सुभाषितसुधानिधि

nityaṁ kopāttapo rakṣet śriyaṁ rakṣet ca matsarāt|

vidyāṁ mānāvamānābhyāṁ ātmānaṁ ca pramādataḥ||

subhāṣitasudhānidhi

A very apt advice borrowed from Subhashita Sudhanidhi of Sayana

On should protect his penance, and avidly accumulated skills from anger.

One should protect his wealth from unhealthy competition

One should protect his knowledge from either accolades or insults.

One should ever protect himself from forgetfulness, shoddiness, carelessness that could happen inadvertently or even deliberately..

This is the prescription for a balanced life.. and social interaction..

We often dream of it, some even try to practice it with some success.. But the target is mostly elusive.

Our jealously accumulated penance, goodwill and standard of efficiency.. all these can vanish into thin air, if we are hit by a bout of anger..

However affluent we are, if we try to spend money just to show off in comparison to others, we would be losing our possession without any substantial gain in return.. What we spend for gambling too is under this category..

A person accumulates knowledge with great efforts and unrelenting toil.. He is indeed very proud of such knowledge.. And therefore he tends to start thinking that he is indeed someone special, someone better than others who are less educated, and a craving for acceptance by others takes roots in his psyche.. Up to a certain level such sense of self importance and self worth would prod him to acquire more knowledge.. at least to maintain his own status in a dynamic social flow. But if a person gets too much elated, and even gets addicted to praises and gets morbidly depressed when his knowledge and views are not accepted or appreciated, it is the sign of mental strife for him.. That is not worth it..

No one really cares much about others..

Even praises and pulling down are originating from prejudices, and often selfish concerns of the critics..

And to be inattentive, to be lazy, to be shoddy, to be disrespectful, these are invitations for personal downfall..

We have to be diligent.. more diligent.. more and more diligent..