subhashithaani-Quotable quotes

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25.

guNini guNajnao ramathe

na gunheenasya guNini parithoshaH

aliH ethi vanaath kamalam

na dhardhuraH thu ekavaasopi

 

The

one who knows the value, guNajna, appreciates and enjoys, ramathe,

the virtue in others. But one who has no good quality, guNaheena, does

not appreciate the virtuous, guNee.. The honeybee, aliH, goes to

the lotus, kamalam ethi from the forest, vanaath, but the frog, dhardhuraH,

does not, even though living in the same

place, ekavaasaH api.

 

You

must also be good to appreciate the good in others. What is inside is reflected

outside like a mirror. Manthara, living in the palace was not able to know the

virtue of Rama because there was no virtue in her, gunaheenaa.. But Guha

who was living in the forest and a stranger to the ways of the nobles, could

understand the greatness of Rama because his heart was good and pure. Hence he

was a gunajna, knower of gunas ,of the guNee, virtuous Rama.

 

Similarly

one jnani understands another and one man of learning appreciates another. Vidhvaan

eva vijaanaathi vidhvajjana pariSramam.

 

This

idea is portrayed in the sloka with an analogy that a honeybee comes from afar,

from a forest to the pond where a lotus is, to drink the honey but a frog, who

lives nearby, does not care for the lotus.

 

 

There

is a Tamil verse by Avvaiyar to this effect.

 

nattRaamaraikkayatthil

nallannam SErndhaarpOl

 

kattRaaraikkattRaarE

kaamuRuvar

 

Like

the swan a which resorts to the lotus pond, the learned like each other.

 

So

it should be remembered that if one sees only the faults of others it means

that his own thoughts are superimposed on the other so that he fails to see the

good at all. Once Yudhidshtira and Duryodhana was sent out into the world to find out whether there was a majority of

good people or bad. Yudhishtira came back and said that there were no bad

people at all and all were good only whereas Duryodhana said the reverse. It

shows that the inner personality is reflected outside. So it shows that if you

think that all around you are bad something is bad with your mind.