Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 5

 

[1]

 

You are now like a yellow leaf. Death's emissaries are around you, you are about to make the exit. And you have no pro­visions for the way.

 

[2]

 

So make an island of yourself, hasten and work hard and gain wisdom. When you have wiped off the blemishes, when you are free of taint, then will you reach the domain of Noble Ones.

 

Page 228

[3]

 

Now you have arrived at your term. You are in the presence of Death. You have no shelter on the way nor have you pro­visions.

 

[4]

 

So do you make of yourself an island, hasten, work hard and gain wisdom. When you have wiped off the blemishes, when you are freed of taint, then shall you come no more into birth and age.

 

[5]

 

The wise man must from moment to moment, little by little, continue to purify his impurities, even as a silversmith purifies his silver.

 

[6]

 

Rust rising out of iron eats up the iron out of which it rises. Even so one's own misdeeds lead one to his own perdition.

 

[7]

 

The sacred word rusts if it is never recited, a house rusts if it is never cleaned, the fair body rusts if it is slothful, a sentinel rusts if he is negligent.

 

[8]

 

The rust in a woman is bad conduct, the rust in a man of bounty is vanity: whether in this world or in the other wrong action is the rust.

 

[9]

 

But there is a worse rust than all these – the worst indeed is ignorance. Be pure of all rust, O Bhikkus!

 

[10]

 

Life is easy for one who is shameless, who is audacious as a crow, who is destructive, aggressive, presumptuous and cor­rupted.

 

[11]

 

Life is difficult for one who is modest, always seeking purity, who has no attachment, who is free from arrogance, who leads a pure life and has a clear vision.

 

Page 229

[12]

 

He who takes another's life, tells lies, seizes things that are not given to him, runs after another's wife.

 

[13]

 

He who is addicted to wines and drinks, such a man digs at the very roots of his being even in this life.

 

[14]

 

Know then, O man, it is sinful to be uncontrolled. May neither desire nor vice bind you to unending sufferings.

 

[15]

 

One gives according to one's faith or according to one's pleasure. If you object to what another eats or drinks, you can never, in the day or in the night, obtain concentration of mind.

 

[16]

 

He in whom such a movement has been pulled out totally from the very roots obtains concentration whether it be day or night.

 

[17]

 

There is no fire like lust, no gripping monster like hatred. There is no snare like delusion, there is no torrent like desire.

 

[18]

 

It is easy to see another's fault, but it is very difficult to see one's own. One scatters widely another's fault as though it was chaff; but one's own fault one covers up even as a crafty gambler hides his foul throw.

 

[19]

 

He who finds fault with others but is himself intolerant merely increases his own faults, remains far from eliminating them.

 

[20]

 

There is no track in the sky. There is no .disciple outside the way. Creatures take their delight in the creation, but for the Blessed Ones creation has ceased.

 

Page 230

[21]

 

There is no track in the sky. There is no disciple outside the Way. Things conditioned do not endure. The illumined ones remain ever immutable.

 

Page 231