neither near nor too far

अत्यासन्ना विनाशाय दूरस्था न फलप्रदाः।
सेव्यतां मध्यभवेन राजा वह्निर् गुरुः स्त्रियः॥
चाणक्य नीतिः
atyāsannā vināśāya dūrasthā na phalapradāḥ|
sevyatāṁ madhyabhavena rājā vahnir guruḥ striyaḥ||
cāṇakya nītiḥ

If one gets too close to a king, to fire, to a preceptor or a woman, it is doom for him.  But it will be equally disastrous to keep too much distance from them.  A sensible persons will do well to keep a balanced proximity with these people.
The favour of the king and men in power are essential for our existence.  But they wield the power to finish us in toto.  A lot of discretion is required to deal with them and also save our skin.  Similarly, without fire, survival for us is well nigh impossible. It is nice to cook our food but it may not be pleasant to cook ourselves.
 The preceptor is also of the same category. If we keep close to him he will be driving us crazy with his dicta all the time and can become a stone tied around our necks.  But without the preceptor's advise and guidance we will be nowhere. Here again discretion is the better part of valour. ( this would apply to mother in laws also.) 
The same discretion will save the day when we deal with women. They are like beautiful and fragrant flowers to watch from the correct distance. If you go near, the makeup will show.  If you are far off, you will see nothing,
Familiarity  breeds contempt.
--

।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
(kanfusion)
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|