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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