pay only the right prize

न स्वल्पस्य कृते भूरि नाशयेत् मतिमान् नरः।

एतदेवातिपाण्डित्यं यत् स्वल्पाद् भुरिरक्षणम्॥

बल्लालदेवस्य भोजप्रभन्हे॥

na svalpasya kṛte bhūri nāśayet matimān naraḥ|

etadevātipāṇḍityaṁ yat svalpād bhurirakṣaṇam||

ballāladevasya bhojaprabhanhe||

Another gem from Sanskrit

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One should never attempt to destroy or apply something in large quantity or of huge value for getting some small or cheap thing in return.

The test of one’s bountiful intelligence and efficiency lies in his capacity to procure, maintain and preserve a huge quantum of resources by applying as little as possible of what he is already in possession.

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Looks a very straightforward and even trifling statement deserving hardly any elucidation.

However, in real life, hype, advertisement, comparison, jealousy et al., mislead us and we pay through our noses.

Not only our resources, we often apply or spend our emotions like anger, generosity, love and so on too in huge excess of what is required optimally.

(Of course, we need not consider spending things to help others in this category because the return we get by way of happiness and goodwill such expenditure generates always is in excess of what we spend.)

Moreover, not to say the least, we spend our thoughts and words too in disproportionate way due to lack of diligence.

We can think and save.

Anything saved is anything earned too.

Pranams k v ananthanarayanan.