danger signals...

अरिं मित्रमुदासीनं मध्यस्थं स्थविरं गुरुम्।

यो न बुद्ध्यति मन्दात्मा स च सर्वत्र नश्यति॥

ariṁ mitramudāsīnaṁ madhyasthaṁ sthaviraṁ gurum|

yo na buddhyati mandātmā sa ca sarvatra naśyati ||

A message found in a few compilations of Subhashitams without identifying the author..

The block-headed person who cannot identify with reasonable precision

An enemy

A friend who is not really close

A person who is neutral, neither friendly nor apparently hostile

An aged person

A respected teacher

would meet with failure and destruction everywhere..

An enmity.. should be erased at the beginning itself.. better to nip it in the bud.. the enmity can be destroyed by diligent negotiation.... and if it is not possible the enemy should be finished off.. the enmity would end there.

A person who has been very close and effusive as a friend, if he is showing some lack of interest in us, it is not at all a healthy sign.. If possible, the misunderstanding should be sorted out and the friendship should be restored.. If that is not practical, the fellow should be written off from the list of friends.. Demi.. or Semi.. friends are not of much value..

A person who is apparently neutral or is trying to pose as adopting the middle path or neither hostility nor of opposition is of little use when crunch situations arise.. Cats on the wall are always likely to jump of in the opposite side and would run away.. Such people should be dealt with great caution

An old man.. even if he is old just through the many autumns and summers he has survived, carried with him a lot of experience.. And if such an old person is having some knowledge too, he is a greater asset.. So it is not in our interest to ignore or ridicule the senior citizens.

And a teacher.. may be he has only taught us very little.. is still a teacher.. Without teachers, of many levels and magnitudes, we could never have survived.. So giving proper care and respect for the teacher.. is really very worthwhile and would bring only blessedness..

Of course, if we ignore any or all of these, we are ensuring our own fall..

But why should we do that?