night, sleep during the day, indulgence in
idleness, roguery, arrogance, excessive indulgence and total abstention
from all indulgence in objects of the senses, should be relinquished by
one desirous of achieving what is excellent.[1467] One should not seek
self-elevation by depreciating others. Indeed, one should, by one's
merits alone, seek distinction over persons that are distinguished but
never over those that are inferior. Men really destitute of merit and
filled with a sense of self-admiration depreciate men of real merit, by
asserting their own virtues and affluence. Swelling with a sense of their
own importance, these men, when none interferes with them (for bringing
them to a right sense of what they are), regard themselves to be superior
to men of real distinction. One possessed of real wisdom and endued with
real merits, acquires great fame by abstaining from speaking ill of
others and from indulging in self-praise. Flowers shed their pure and
sweet fragrance without trumpeting forth their own excellence. Similarly,
the effulgent Sun scatters his splendours in the firmament in perfect
silence. After the same manner those men blaze in the world with
celebrity who by the aid of their intelligence, cast off these and
similar other faults and who do not proclaim their own virtues. The fool
can never shine in the world by bruiting about his own praise. The man,
however, of real merit and learning obtains celebrity even if he be
concealed in a pit. Evil words, uttered with whatsoever vigour of voice
die out (in no time). Good words, uttered however softly, blaze forth in
the world. As the Sun shows his fiery form (in the gem called
Suryakanta), even so the multitude of words, of little sense, that fools
filled with vanity utter, display only (the meanness of) their hearts.
For these reasons, men seek the acquisition of wisdom of various kinds.
It seems to me that of all acquisitions that of wisdom is the most
valuable. One should not speak until one is asked; nor should one speak
when one is asked improperly. Even if possessed of intelligence and
knowledge, one should still sit in silence like an idiot (until one is
asked to speak and asked in proper form). One should seek to dwell among
honest men devoted to righteousness and liberality and the observance of
the duties of their own order. One desirous of achieving what is
excellent should never dwell in a place where a confusion occurs in the
duties of the several