Thus Spake Sri Rama

[Guest guest]

O Sadhu, only they are to be reverenced and only they deserve to be

called men, who have crossed the crisis of youth with ease.

 

To cross an ocean infested with crocodiles would be found easy when

compared with passing through the period of youth so full of evil and

welling currents of lust.

 

O Sage, the youth that is adorned with humility and brightened by

qualities like kindness, is youth beautiful. In this world, a youth of

that description is very rare to find indeed.

 

Like frost destroying the lotus, and the river destroying the trees on

its bank, decrepitude makes an end of youth. To what ugliness does age

redue the body of man, playing havoc with his limbs!