Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 5


Punishment

 

[I]

 

All tremble at punishment: all are afraid of death. See others as yourself and do not strike or cause to strike.

 

[2]

 

All tremble at punishment: to all life is dear. See others as yourself and do not strike or cause to strike.

 

[3]

 

Creatures long for happiness. He who inflicts pain for his own happiness never gains happiness.

 

[4]

 

Creatures long for happiness. He who does not inflict pain upon others for his own happiness gains happiness.

 

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[5]

 

Never utter harsh words; if you do, the same will be done to you in return. Words spoken in 'anger cause suffering, they strike back again.

 

[6]

 

If you fall silent even like a broken gong, then you have attained Nirvana. Violence no longer abides in you.

[7]

 

As the cowherd with his baton drives his herd out to the pasture, even so old age and death drive out the life of living creatures.

 

[8]

 

The fool knows not when he does an evil deed. One with a wrong mind is consumed by his own deeds as though by fire.

 

[9]

 

He who hurts one who does not hurt, he who blames one who does not blame enters forthwith into one of these ten domains:

 

[10]

 

He will undergo cruel pain, mutilation of the body, grave malady, mental breakdown;

 

[11]

 

Trouble from rulers, gross calumny, loss of relatives, loss of wealth;

 

[12]

 

Fire burns his whole habitation, and when his body dissolves, he is reborn in hell.

 

[13]

 

Not nakedness nor matted hair nor dirt nor fasting nor sleeping on the bare ground nor smearing the body with ashes nor any ascetic posture can purify a mortal who has not freed himself from doubt.

 

[14]

 

Even though richly attired, one moves about calm and tranquil,

 

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controlled and restrained, chaste and pure, sparing all creatures any harm, he indeed is a Brahmin, he indeed a sramana.

 

[15]

 

Is there in the world any man so irreproachable as not to deserve censure, even like a thoroughbred that needs no whip?

 

[16]

 

As a thoroughbred, flecked with the whip, gets energetic and speeds fast, even so a man who is perfect in knowledge and conduct, who is self-conscious and always remembering, through his faith and conduct and strength, concentration on and pursuit of truth, runs a way from the Great Suffering.

 

[17]

 

Engineers canalise the water, makers of arms mould the arrow, carpenters fashion the wood, even so the sages direct them selves.

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