Sri Canakya-niti
Though he was an impoverished brāhmaṇa scholar, Cāṇakya Paṇḍita created one of the largest empires in ancient times. In the same era that Buddha walked the earth, this indomitable sage united many disjointed kingdoms from modern day Bihar to Iran using only his wit as his weapon. He is celebrated as the greatest king maker in history. During the days of Britain's East India Company, English officers were required to study Śrī Cāṇakya-nīti if they hoped to be successful in India. Now that same wisdom commented upon by the world's greatest authority on Cāṇakya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, is available for the first time in one volume. Cāṇakya's nīti-his ancient sense for modern success-is presented with the original Sanskrit, Latin transliterations, lucid translations, plus the commentaries of Śrīla Prabhupāda and much more. Practically every recorded statement that His Divine Grace ever made about the great Cāṇakya can be found here in this definitive edition. For the modern reader, the wisdom of Cāṇakya is nothing less than the key to a life that is in every way successful, happy and fulfilled.
| Full Title | Sri Canakya-niti |
|---|---|
| Binding | Hardcover |
| Pages | 464 |
| ISBN | 978-9382109259 |
| Table of Contents |
Foreword
Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Chapter One
Invocatory prayers to the Supreme Lord; benefits of studying nīti-śāstra; what makes even a learned paṇḍita suffer; causes of death; save your soul; put aside some wealth; where one should not reside; how one’s associates are tested; who is a true friend; do not lose the eternal; marriage between persons of equal status; whom to not trust; accept what is valuable disregarding its origin; women compared to men.
Chapter Two
The seven flaws of women; the fruits of austerities; heaven on earth; qualities expected of relatives and friends; reject a so-called friend; do not entrust secrets even to friends; keep plans to yourself; what is painful; the rarity of sādhus; how to educate and discipline one’s offspring; always study and memorize śāstric knowledge; six kinds of evil; swift destruction; strength of each varṇa; everyone in the world sees only one’s own benefit; quick ruination in the company of rogues; friendship between equals.
Chapter Three
No one is free of blemish and suffering; how to discern a person’s qualities; what to do with one’s children, friends and enemies; difference between a rascal and a snake; kings prefer good assistants; sādhus never change; do not associate with fools; persons devoid of learning; what is real beauty; renounce the world for your spiritual benefit; fruits of endeavor; avoid extremes; there are no impediments for the strong; on good and bad sons; how to discipline a son; how to protect one’s life; a worthless life; the residence of Lakṣmī.
Chapter Four
What is ordained by fate; follow the sādhu; saintly devotees look after their associates; advance spiritually while still healthy; learning is like the kāmadhenu; one moon is better than many stars; better a still-born son than a fool; six circumstances that burn one like fire; a son who is neither a scholar nor a devotee; shelter from the miseries of material life; what happens only once; what to do alone and what in the company of others; a true wife; all is void to a poor man; four kinds of poison; what should be abandoned; four kinds of weariness; constantly think about your circumstances; different visions of God.
Chapter Five
Four gurus; four ways of testing a person; how to get rid of fear; no two people are the same; one who is honest cannot deceive; envy; what becomes ruined; learning is retained through practice; what preserves what; blasphemers come to grief; what destroys what; no happiness is higher than spiritual knowledge; one is born alone and dies alone; Svarga is but a straw; dharma is the only friend; rain upon the sea; no wealth is dearer than stored food grains; the poor crave riches; all things rest upon truth; religious merit alone is steady; barber is cunning; five fathers; five mothers.
Chapter Six
The importance of hearing; who is a cāṇḍāla; what cleanses what; traveling; the man of means is respected; everything is controlled by Providence; time is insurmountable; who is blind; the soul is alone in saṁsāra; who accepts the sins of others; four enemies at home; how to appease different characters; better to have no kingdom than a worthless one; who is happy in the kingdom of a wicked king; lessons from animals; a lesson from a lion; a lesson from a crane; four lessons from a cock; five lessons from a crow; six lessons from a dog; three lessons from a donkey; applying these lessons makes one invincible.
Chapter Seven
A wise man does not reveal his embarrassment; when to renounce shyness; difference between satisfaction and greed; three things to be satisfied with and three not to; do not pass between two brāhmaṇas; do not touch fire with your foot; safe distance; how to control animals and fools; brāhmaṇas are satisfied by a fine meal; the art of conciliation; the power of kings, brāhmaṇas and women; do not be too upright; one should be steady; wealth is preserved by spending; only one who is wealthy is respected; four heavenly qualities; four hellish qualities; the lion’s den and the cave of a jackal; the uselessness of a dog’s tail; kinds of purity; how to perceive the soul.
Chapter Eight
Honor is the true wealth; what can be ingested before religious rituals; diet determines offspring; offer wealth only to the worthy; the yavana is the basest of men; one remains a cāṇḍāla until he bathes; water before and after the meal; knowledge is lost without practical application; who is unfortunate; devotional service is the basis of success; the Lord does not reveal Himself unless He is worshipped with devotion; no austerity is equal to a peaceful mind; anger is the god of death; good qualities are an ornament; beauty is spoiled by immorality; what is pure; four persons who are ruined; high birth destitute of scholarship; learning is universally honored; animals in the form of men; an improperly performed yajña consumes the kingdom.
Chapter Nine
Abandon the objects of sense desire; base men who gossip about the secrets of others; no one has advised Lord Brahmā; the best medicine; one who predicts eclipses must be a vidvān; the seven who should be awakened; the seven who should not be awakened; dvijas who are like serpents without poison; those who can neither control nor protect; the show of terror; what to discuss over the day; how to be blessed with Indra’s opulence; what becomes useful through exertion; how to overcome poverty.
Chapter Ten
Who is destitute; perform only deeds that are carefully considered; some value enjoyment and others knowledge; what slips past the observation of a poet; fate makes a beggar a king; who is whose enemy; beasts in the form of men; bamboo will never become sandalwood; a mirror to a blind man; there is no way to reform an evil man; the consequences of offenses; living among relatives when reduced to poverty; the brāhmaṇa is like a tree; who is at home in all the three worlds; birds fly off in the morning; one who possesses intelligence is strong; why be concerned for one’s maintenance; Sanskrit and other languages; gradations of nutrition; diseases are nourished by sorrow.
Chapter Eleven
Inbred qualities; one who abandons his community; elephants are controlled by an aṅkuśa; in Kali-yuga, Lord Hari and the Gaṅgā abandon the earth; those engrossed in family affairs cannot acquire knowledge; a neem tree will never become sweet; mental impurities cannot be washed away; an elephant pearl and a guñjā berry; eating meals in silence; students should renounce eight flaws; a vipra who is called a ṛṣi; a brāhmaṇa who is called a dvija; a brāhmaṇa who is actually a vaiśya; a brāhmaṇa who is actually a śūdra; a brāhmaṇa who is actually a cat; a brāhmaṇa who is actually a mleccha; a brāhmaṇa who is actually a cāṇḍāla; the fame of charitable personalities.
Chapter Twelve
The blessed gṛhastha; the glories of charity to a qualified brāhmaṇa; who is happy in this world; who pollutes even the jackal; the exclamation of the mṛdaṅga’s beat; who can erase what Lord Brahmā has ordained; wicked men become saintly in the company of devotees; devotees are holy places personified; as a worm survives in poison; a house which is like a funeral pyre; the kinsmen of a sādhu; immediately engage yourself in dharma; sources of joy; another’s wife as one’s mother; praise of Lord Rāma; who to learn from; who is swiftly ruined; the intelligent should be concerned about dharma; gradually accumulate knowledge, virtue and wealth; a wicked person never changes.
Chapter Thirteen
A life of only a moment is successful; deal only with the present; how to please others; the character of great souls; attachment is the root of all grief; the fatalist is ruined; subjects follow the king; dead though living; nipples on a goat’s neck; the hearts of base men burn; the mind alone is responsible for bondage or liberation; shed bodily identification; learn contentment; good or bad deeds follow us; he whose actions are disorganized; how the student acquires knowledge; the wise act after due circumspection; guru should be worshipped; a sādhu will never swerve from the spiritual path; three gems upon this earth.
Chapter Fourteen
Fruits of the tree of sins; the body can never be regained; overcome the enemy; what spreads according to one’s nature; the state of mind at the burning ghāṭa; intelligence before sinning and during repentance; do not feel proud; he who lives in our mind is near; speak pleasingly if in need of a favor; association from a proper distance; be cautious with six causes of death; he who is virtuous is living; the roaming cow of fifteen faces; who is a paṇḍita; a single object seen in three different ways; what the wise should not divulge; the song of the kokila; secure and keep these five; leave the wicked and associate with devotees.
Chapter Fifteen
If the heart melts with compassion; repaying the debt to the guru; two ways of dealing with evil-minded men; whom the goddess of fortune forsakes; there is no better relative than wealth; wealth acquired sinfully; powerful men who perform a wrongful deed; definitions of a true meal, friendship, wisdom and dharma; glass and gems; learn that which is essential; the host who disregards guests; a ladle does not taste the dish; he “boat” of the qualified brāhmaṇa; the moon in he abode of the sun; a bumblebee in a foreign land; Lakṣmī refuses to dwell in the houses of brāhmaṇas; the bond of affection; a noble man does not lose his qualities; fame is gained only by sufficient puṇya.
Chapter Sixteen
An old man’s lamentation; the affection of a woman is not onepointed; a śakunta bird tied to a string; who has not become haughty upon attaining riches; intelligence at the time of adversity; a crow cannot become Garuḍa; qualities make a man worthy of respect; he whose glories are sung by others; a gem in a golden ornament; every scholar needs patronage; undesirable kinds of wealth; money should be used; no one has ever been satisfied with these four; acts of charity never perish; the beggar; death preferable to dishonor; there is no poverty in pleasant words; two nectarean fruits; good habits from previous lives; knowledge sitting in books.
Chapter Seventeen
Studying innumerable books; repay the favors; nothing can defeat tapasya; no vice worse than covetousness; we cannot rely on what was given at birth; he who is devoid of virility becomes a sādhu; no offering is equal to food; the wicked are saturated with poison; how a woman becomes holy; water after washing the feet; realized knowledge is the key to salvation; how prosperity is lost; milk restores vigor; he who nurtures benevolence; what enjoyment is there in the world of Indra; men without knowledge are beasts; the bees and the elephant; eight persons who do not understand the suffering of others; searching for the pearl of youth; a single excellence.
Appendix I
Appendix II
Appendix III
Glossary
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