Bhartruhari Sataka Trisati - Neeti Satakam - Sinhala

භර්තෘහරි is celebrated for the ශතක-ත්රිශති - three collections of roughly a hundred verses each: නීති ශතකම්, ශෘංගාර ශතකම්, and වෛරාග්ය ශතකම්. These are among the most quoted සුභාෂිතානි in Sanskrit literature because each ශ්ලෝක is compact, memorable, and rooted in lived observation.

Among them, නීති ශතකම් is a handbook of නීති: wise conduct, discernment, and ethical practicality. It does not speak in abstract ideals alone; it speaks to how people actually behave - how learning can swell into ego, how power attracts flattery, how money reshapes relationships, and how speech can either heal or burn. That realism makes it easy to recognize yourself, and therefore to correct yourself.

The work is timeless because the inner forces it describes are timeless: මත්සර (envy), ස්මය (pride), අබෝධ (confusion), තෘෂ්ණා (craving), and විවේක (discernment) operate the same in every age. Whether the arena is a royal court or a modern office, whether gossip travels by rumor or by group-chat, the same patterns repeat - and so the same remedies remain relevant.

Many verses have become everyday proverbs. People quote phrases like වාග්භූෂණං භූෂණං (speech as the true ornament), විද්යා නාම නරස්ය රූපං අධිකම් (knowledge as a person's greater beauty), මූර්ඛස්ය නාස්ත්යෞෂධිං (no medicine for the fool who refuses correction), and ප්රාරභ්යතේ න ඛලු විඝ්නභයේන (great work begins by moving past fear of obstacles). The imagery is vivid and the meter is musical, so the lines stay in memory and come up naturally when life presents the same situations again.

දික්කාලාද්යනවච්ඡින්නානංතචින්මාත්රමූර්තයේ ।
ස්වානුභූත්යේකමානාය නමඃ ශාංතාය තේජසේ ॥ 1.1 ॥

ඡංදඃ (අනුෂ්ටුභ්): This is in අනුෂ්ටුභ් (ශ්ලෝක) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 8 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද (32 total; commonly written/recited as two 16-syllable half-verses separated by `।`); පථ්යා cadence often ends as pAda 1/3 = `x x x x L G x G`, pAda 2/4 = `x x x x L G L G`; a common යති (pause) is after the 4th or 5th syllable in each පාද (separate from the natural pauses at `।` and `॥`). ලක්ෂණ ශ්ලෝක: ශ්ලෝකේ ෂෂ්ඨං ගුරු ජ්ඤේයං සර්වත්ර ලඝුපංචමම් । ද්විචතුෂ්පාදයෝඃ හ්රස්වං සප්තමං දීර්ඝමන්යයෝඃ ॥ - this mnemonic says the 6th syllable is ගුරු and the 5th is ලඝු in all පාදාඃ; the 7th is ලඝු in pAda 2/4 and ගුරු in pAda 1/3.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
දික් - direction; space
කාල - time
ආදි - "and so on"; etc.
අනවච්ඡින්න - unbroken; uninterrupted
අනංත - infinite
චින්මාත්ර - pure consciousness alone
මූර්තයේ - unto the embodiment/form
ස්වානුභූති - one's own direct experience
ඒක - one; single
මාන - measure; standard
නමඃ - salutations
ශාංතාය - unto the peaceful one
තේජසේ - unto the radiant splendor

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Salutations to the serene radiance - the embodiment of infinite pure consciousness, unbounded by space and time, and realized directly as the single standard through one's own experience.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
Before offering worldly counsel, භර්තෘහරි bows to ශාංති and ස්වානුභූති: calm awareness verified by direct experience, not by the noise of opinion. He invokes චින්මාත්ර (pure consciousness) rather than a particular දේවතා because නීති is meant to be universal and non-sectarian - the foundation needed is inner illumination, whichever form of worship one follows. This is similar in spirit to the ගායත්රී මංත්ර, which turns toward the light of සවිතෘ (the illumining Sun principle) and prays for awakening of understanding - ධියෝ යෝ නඃ ප්රචෝදයාත්. The Upanishadic vision also points to this formless basis with statements like සත්යං ජ්ඤානං අනංතං බ්රහ්ම and ප්රජ්ඤානං බ්රහ්ම; and ආදි ශංකරාචාර්ය repeatedly turns the seeker inward, for example in නිර්වාණ ෂට්කම්: චිදානංදරූපඃ ශිවෝऽහං ශිවෝऽහම්. In modern life, this looks like anchoring yourself in clarity before action: pausing before replying to a heated message, checking facts before forwarding a claim, or sleeping on a big purchase - so choices come from steady තේජස් (inner light) rather than agitation.

බෝද්ධාරෝ මත්සරග්රස්තාඃ ප්රභවඃ ස්මයදූෂිතාඃ ।
අබෝධෝපහතාඃ චාන්යේ ජීර්ණමංගේ සුභාෂිතම් ॥ 1.2 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
බෝද්ධාරඃ - the learned (shown in sandhi as බෝද්ධාරෝ)
මත්සර - jealousy/envy
ග්රස්තාඃ - seized by; afflicted (forming මත්සර-ග්රස්තාඃ)
ප්රභවඃ - the influential; the powerful
ස්මය - pride
දූෂිතාඃ - tainted/defiled (forming ස්මය-දූෂිතාඃ)
අබෝධ - ignorance
උපහතාඃ - struck/overpowered (forming අබෝධ-උපහතාඃ)
ච - and (forming චාන්යේ = ච + අන්යේ)
අන්යේ - others
ජීර්ණං - becomes worn out; gets wasted (in verse as ජීර්ණමංගේ = ජීර්ණං + අංගේ)
අංගේ - "O dear!" / alas (exclamation)
සුභාෂිතං - good counsel; wise saying

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The learned are often consumed by envy, the powerful are tainted by pride, and others are struck by ignorance; alas, wise counsel gets worn out and goes to waste.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a practical warning about communication: even a true සුභාෂිත may not land when the listener is dominated by මත්සර, ස්මය, or අබෝධ. The භගවද් ගීතා values learning done with ශ්රද්ධා (trustful openness) and without අසූයා (fault-finding envy), because only such a mind can receive instruction without twisting it. In daily life you may see this when a colleague rejects feedback because it threatens their status, when leadership dismisses a good idea out of ego, or when family advice is ignored simply because it came from the "wrong" person; the takeaway is to choose the right moment and medium, speak with kindness, and when the mind is not receptive, step back and focus on your own conduct instead of trying to win an argument.

අජ්ඤඃ සුඛං ආරාධ්යඃ
සුඛතරං ආරාධ්යතේ විශේෂජ්ඤඃ ।
ජ්ඤානලවදුර්විදග්ධං
බ්රහ්මාපි තං නරං න රංජයති ॥ 1.3 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ආර්යා): This is in ආර්යා Chandas/Meter: a මාත්රා-ඡංදඃ where ලඝු = 1 මාත්රා and ගුරු = 2 මාත්රාඃ; මාත්රා counts per පාද are 12 / 18 / 12 / 15; one common rule says odd-numbered මාත්රා-ගණාඃ are not ජ-ගණඃ (ලඝු-ගුරු-ලඝු), and the 6th ගණඃ is ජ-ගණඃ.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
අජ්ඤඃ - an ignorant person; one without knowledge
සුඛං - easily; pleasantly
ආරාධ්යඃ - can be pleased; can be won over
සුඛතරං - even more easily
ආරාධ්යතේ - is pleased/propitiated
විශේෂජ්ඤඃ - a true expert; one who knows the essence
ජ්ඤානලව - a drop of knowledge; a little learning
දුර්විදග්ධං - over-confident due to half-knowledge (literally, badly "cooked"/digested)
බ්රහ්මා - Brahma, the creator (sandhi in verse: බ්රහ්මාපි = බ්රහ්මා + අපි)
අපි - even
තං - that
නරං - person; man
න - not
රංජයති - pleases; satisfies; delights

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The ignorant are easy to please, the truly discerning are even easier to please; but a person made arrogant by a mere drop of knowledge cannot be satisfied even by Brahma.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි is not praising ignorance; he is pointing out that humility makes a person accessible. A beginner who admits "I do not know" can learn, and a genuine expert has no need to protect an ego - but the half-learned දුර්විදග්ධඃ turns every exchange into self-defense, so nothing satisfies them. In daily life this shows up when someone reads a few posts and then argues with every specialist, refuses review because it feels like insult, or treats feedback as an attack on identity; the antidote is විනය (humility) and ජිජ්ඤාසා (honest inquiry): ask, test, and learn. In the අද්වෛත spirit, knowledge that has truly ripened reduces අහංකාර (ego) rather than inflating it; when your self-worth is not tied to "being right", you can accept correction quickly and keep growing.

ප්රසහ්ය මණිං උද්ධරේන්මකරවක්ත්රදංෂ්ට්රාංතරාත්
සමුද්රං අපි සංතරේත්ප්රචලදූර්මිමාලාකුලම් ।
භුජංගං අපි කෝපිතං ශිරසි පුෂ්පවද්ධාරයේත්
න තු ප්රතිනිවිෂ්ටමූඍඛජනචිත්තං ආරාධයේථ් ॥ 1.4 ॥

ඡංදඃ (පෘථ්වී): This is in පෘථ්වී (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 17 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `LGLLLGLG LLLGLGGLG`; යති (pause) is after the 8th syllable in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ප්රසහ්ය - forcibly; boldly; with daring
මණිං - a jewel; gem
උද්ධරේත් - could extract/pull out (sandhi in verse: උද්ධරේන් = උද්ධරේත් + මකර...)
මකර - crocodile; fierce water-creature
වක්ත්ර - mouth
දංෂ්ට්රා - teeth/tusks
අංතර - between; inside (as in දංෂ්ට්රාංතරාත්)
සමුද්රං - ocean
අපි - even
සංතරේත් - could cross/ford
ප්රචල - moving; restless; turbulent
ඌර්මී - wave
මාලා - garland; series
ආකුලං - agitated; full of (as in ඌර්මිමාලාකුලං)
භුජංගං - serpent
කෝපිතං - enraged
ශිරසි - on the head
පුෂ්පවත් - like a flower (sandhi in verse: පුෂ්පවද්)
ධාරයේත් - could bear/carry/support (as in පුෂ්පවද්ධාරයේත්)
න - not
තු - but
ප්රතිනිවිෂ්ට - firmly fixed; stubbornly lodged
මූර්ඛ - foolish (verse has මූඍඛ්)
ජන - person/people
චිත්තං - mind
ආරාධයේත් - should try to please/conciliate (verse has ආරාධයේථ්)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
One may forcibly snatch a jewel from between the teeth of a crocodile, cross an ocean churned by waves, and even carry an enraged serpent on the head as if it were a flower; but one should not try to conciliate the mind of a stubborn fool.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The key word is ප්රතිනිවිෂ්ට: this is not about a person who is simply uninformed, but about a mind that has decided it will not budge. භර්තෘහරි is teaching විවේක (discernment) in where we invest our persuasion: courage can face danger, but stubbornness cannot be reasoned with. In daily life this looks like not feeding online trolls, not trying to "win" with someone who twists every fact, and not exhausting yourself trying to get approval from a person who withholds it by habit; instead, speak once with clarity and kindness, then place a boundary and move on. A related principle is echoed in the භගවද් ගීතා: න බුද්ධිභේදං ජනයේත් අජ්ඤානාං - do not agitate an unready mind; lead by example and choose a time when receptivity exists.

ලභේත සිකතාසු තෛලං අපි යත්නතඃ පීඩයන්
පිබේච්ච මෘගතෘෂ්ණිකාසු සලිලං පිපාසාර්දිතඃ ।
ක්වචිදපි පර්යටන්ශශවිෂාණං ආසාදයේත්
න තු ප්රතිනිවිෂ්ටමූර්ඛචිත්තං ආරාධයේථ් ॥ 1.5 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ලභේත - could obtain
සිකතාසු - in sand (in grains of sand)
තෛලං - oil
අපි - even
යත්නතඃ - with great effort
පීඩයන් - pressing/squeezing
පිබේත් - could drink (sandhi in verse: පිබේච්ච = පිබේත් + ච)
ච - and
මෘග - deer
තෘෂ්ණිකා - mirage (as in මෘගතෘෂ්ණිකාසු)
සලිලං - water
පිපාසා - thirst
අර්දිතඃ - afflicted/tormented (as in පිපාසාර්දිතඃ)
ක්වචිත් - somewhere (sandhi in verse: ක්වචිදපි = ක්වචිත් + අපි)
පර්යටන් - while wandering; roaming about
ශශ - hare
විෂාණං - horn (as in ශශවිෂාණං, "a hare's horn" - an impossibility)
ආසාදයේත් - could reach/find/attain
න - not
තු - but
ප්රතිනිවිෂ්ට - stubbornly fixed
මූර්ඛ - foolish
චිත්තං - mind
ආරාධයේත් - should try to please/conciliate (verse has ආරාධයේථ්)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
With great effort one might squeeze oil out of sand, drink water from a mirage when parched with thirst, or even find a hare's horn somewhere while wandering; but one should not try to conciliate the mind of a stubborn fool.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
Here භර්තෘහරි piles up near-impossible tasks - squeezing oil from sand, drinking water from a මෘගතෘෂ්ණිකා (a mirage: the illusion of water seen in heat), and finding a hare's horn - to say that pleasing a stubborn fool's mind belongs to the same category. The point is not pessimism; it is විවේක (discernment): do not pour your best effort into what cannot yield. In daily life this can mean not trying to "convert" someone who has already decided to misunderstand, not repeatedly justifying yourself to a chronically unfair critic, and not arguing with a person who enjoys conflict; communicate once with clarity, then disengage and keep your peace. The Upanishadic contrast of ප්රේයස් (the immediately tempting) and ශ්රේයස් (the truly beneficial) is a helpful lens here: choose actions that actually improve life, not those that endlessly drain you like chasing a mirage.

ව්යාලං බාලමෘණාලතංතුභිරසෞ රෝද්ධුං සමුජ්ජෘංභතේ
ඡේත්තුං වජ්රමණිං ශිරීෂකුසුමප්රාංතේන සන්නහ්යති ।
මාධුර්යං මධුබිංදුනා රචයිතුං ක්ෂාරාමුධේරීහතේ
නේතුං වාංඡංති යඃ ඛලාන්පථි සතාං සූක්තෛඃ සුධාස්යංදිභිඃ ॥ 1.6 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ශාර්දූලවික්රීඩිතම්): This is in ශාර්දූලවික්රීඩිතම් (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 19 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `GGGLLGL GLLLG GGLGGLG`; යති (pause) is after the 7th and 12th syllables in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ව්යාලං - a serpent
බාල - tender; soft
මෘණල - lotus-stalk
තංතුභිඃ - with fibres/threads
අසෞ - that person; he
රෝද්ධුං - to restrain/stop
සමුජ්ජෘංභතේ - strives; tries hard; rises up to do
ඡේත්තුං - to cut
වජ්රමණිං - a diamond (a "vajra-gem")
ශිරීශ - the Sirisha tree
කුසුම - flower
ප්රාංතේන - with the tip/end
සන්නහ්යති - prepares/equips himself
මාධුර්යං - sweetness
මධු - honey
බිංදුනා - with a drop
රචයිතුං - to create/produce
ක්ෂාර - salt; saline
අංබුධිඃ - ocean
ඊහතේ - strives/attempts
නේතුං - to lead
වාංඡති - wishes (the verse shows වාංඡංති, a common sandhi/variant form)
ඛලාන් - the wicked; the malicious
පථි - on the path
සතාං - of the good; of the noble
සූක්තෛඃ - with wise sayings; good counsel
සුධා - nectar
ස්යංදිභිඃ - dripping/flowing
සුධාස්යංදිභිඃ - with nectar-dripping (sweet) words

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
He tries to restrain a serpent with tender lotus fibres, to cut a diamond with the tip of a Sirisha flower, and to make an ocean of salt sweet with a drop of honey; likewise, the one who wishes to lead the wicked onto the path of the good using nectar-sweet counsel is attempting the impossible.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is not cynicism; it is a warning against mistaking words for transformation. Some habits are reinforced by pleasure, identity, and environment - so "nectar words" alone do not reform a person who is committed to being ඛලා (malicious). In daily life, this can mean not trying to negotiate with someone who lies as a strategy, not believing you can "fix" an abusive pattern with better arguments, and not repeatedly explaining to a person who enjoys misunderstanding; instead, protect yourself, change the boundary or the system, and seek සත්සංග (uplifting company) where good counsel can actually take root. When you do choose to advise, do it for the receptive - because even a drop of honey works only where there is not an ocean of salt.

ස්වායත්තං ඒකාංතගුණං විධාත්රා
විනිර්මිතං ඡාදනං අජ්ඤතායාඃ ।
විශේෂතඃ සර්වවිදාං සමාජේ
විභූෂණං මෞනං අපංඩිතානාම් ॥ 1.7 ॥

ඡංදඃ (උපජාති): This is in උපජාති Chandas/Meter: a mixture of ඉංද්රවජ්රා/උපේංද්රවජ්රා with 4 පාදාඃ, 11 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු patterns are ඉංද්රවජ්රා = `GGLGGLLGLGG` and උපේංද්රවජ්රා = `LGLGGLLGLGG` (a verse may mix these across පාදාඃ).

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ස්වායත්තං - under one's own control
ඒකාංත - exclusive; only; single-sided
ගුණං - quality/attribute
විධාත්රා - by the Creator; by Fate
විනිර්මිතං - made/constructed
ඡාදනං - a covering; concealment
අජ්ඤතායාඃ - of ignorance
විශේෂතඃ - especially; in particular
සර්වවිදාං - of the all-knowing; of the truly learned
සමාජේ - in the assembly/company
විභූෂණං - ornament/adornment
මෞනං - silence
අපංඩිතානාං - of the unlearned

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Silence, fully under one's control and of a single quality, is fashioned by the Creator as a covering for ignorance; therefore, in the assembly of the truly learned, silence is the ornament of the unlearned.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
මෞන is presented here as a practical "cover": if you speak carelessly in the company of experts, your gaps become obvious; if you stay quiet, you can listen and learn. In daily life, this is a reminder to avoid bluffing in meetings, to ask a clean question instead of performing certainty, and to pause before posting a confident opinion on something you have not verified. අද්වෛත also recognizes a higher, luminous form of silence - ආදි ශංකරාචාර්ය praises දක්ෂිණාමූර්ති as teaching through මෞනව්යාඛ්හ්යා - but the verse is pointing to an earlier step: use silence to stop needless noise, and then use that quiet to actually gain ජ්ඤාන (clear knowledge).

යදා කිංචිජ්ජ්ඤෝऽහං ද්විප ඉව මදාංධඃ සමභවං
තදා සර්වජ්ඤෝऽස්මීත්යභවදවලිප්තං මම මනඃ
යදා කිංචිත්කිංචිද්බුධජනසකාශාදවගතං
තදා මූර්ඛෝऽස්මීති ජ්වර ඉව මදෝ මේ ව්යපගතඃ ॥ 1.8 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ශිඛ්හරිනී): This is in ශිඛ්හරිනී (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 17 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `LGGGGG LLLLL GGLLLG`; යති (pause) is after the 6th and 11th syllables in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
යදා - when
කිංචිත් - a little; something
ජ්ඤඃ - a knower; knowledgeable (sandhi in verse: ජ්ඤෝऽහං = ජ්ඤඃ + අහම්)
අහම් - I
ද්විපඃ - elephant
ඉව - like
මද - intoxication; pride
අංධඃ - blind (as in මදාංධඃ)
සමභවං - I became
තදා - then
සර්වජ්ඤඃ - all-knowing (sandhi in verse: සර්වජ්ඤෝऽස්මීති)
අස්මි - I am
ඉති - thus
අභවත් - became
අවලිප්තං - arrogant; conceited
මම - my
මනඃ - mind
බුධ - wise
ජන - people
සකාශාත් - from the presence of; from near
අවගතං - learned/understood
මූර්ඛඃ - fool (sandhi in verse: මූර්ඛෝऽස්මීති = මූර්ඛඃ + අස්මි + ඉති)
ජ්වරඃ - fever
ඉව - like
මදඃ - pride
මේ - my
ව්යපගතඃ - departed; went away

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
When I knew a little, I became like an elephant blinded by pride, thinking "I am a knower"; then my mind became arrogant, thinking "I am omniscient". But when I learned something, little by little, from the wise, my pride left like a fever, and I thought, "I am a fool".

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a precise portrait of the learning-curve: early knowledge can intoxicate, while deeper knowledge sobers. The image of මද as a ජ්වර is practical - pride is a heat that clouds perception, and real learning cools it down. In daily life, you can use this as a self-check: when you feel the urge to speak with absolute certainty, ask whether you are in the "little knowledge" stage; actively seek a mentor, read primary sources, and invite critique. In අද්වෛත, the purpose of ජ්ඤාන (knowledge) is to dissolve අවිද්යා (ignorance) and its products like අහංකාර (ego); when the ego relaxes, the mind becomes teachable, and even correction feels like relief, not injury.

කෘමිකුලචිත්තං ලාලාක්ලින්නං විගංධිජුගුප්සිතං
නිරුපමරසං ප්රීත්යා ඛාදන්නරාස්ථි නිරාමිෂම් ।
සුරපතිං අපි ශ්වා පාර්ශ්වස්ථං විලෝක්ය න ශංකතේ
න හි ගණයති ක්ෂුද්රෝ ජංතුඃ පරිග්රහඵල්ගුතාම් ॥ 1.9 ॥

ඡංදඃ (හරිණී): This is in හරිණී (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 17 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `LLLLLG GGGG LGLLGLG`; යති (pause) is after the 6th and 10th syllables in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කෘමි - worm; maggot
කුල - group; swarm
චිත්තං - mind
ලාලා - saliva
ක්ලින්නං - drenched/wet
විගංධි - foul-smelling
ජුගුප්සිතං - disgusting; repulsive
නිරුපම - incomparable
රසං - taste/essence (as in නිරුපමරසං)
ප්රීත්යා - with delight
ඛාදන් - eating/gnawing
නර - human
අස්ථි - bone (as in නරාස්ථි)
නිරාමිෂං - without flesh/meat
සුරපතිං - Indra, lord of the gods (sandhi in verse: සුරපතිං අපි)
ශ්වා - dog
පාර්ශ්වස්ථං - standing nearby/at the side
විලෝක්ය - seeing
න ශංකතේ - is not afraid/suspicious
න හි - for indeed not
ගණයති - counts; considers; values
ක්ෂුද්රඃ - petty; base
ජංතුඃ - creature
පරිග්රහ - possession; grasping; what one clings to
ඵල්ගුතාං - triviality; worthlessness; insignificance

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The mind of worms finds delicious what is saliva-soaked, foul-smelling, and repulsive, happily gnawing a fleshless human bone; and a dog, standing by it, is not afraid even on seeing Indra nearby - for a petty creature does not reckon the worthlessness of what it clings to as its possession.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is less about insulting creatures and more about exposing the psychology of taste and attachment: we call something "delicious" or "valuable" largely because we are habituated to it. When standards are low, even a miserable "possession" feels like a kingdom, and it can make a person strangely fearless and arrogant. In daily life this is visible in addictions, in clinging to cheap validation, or in guarding a small position of power while missing bigger responsibilities; the remedy is to raise the inner standard through සත්සංග (uplifting company), clean habits, and better goals, so the mind learns to prefer what is truly nourishing over what is merely familiar.

ශිරඃ ශාර්වං ස්වර්ගාත්පශුපතිශිරස්තඃ ක්ෂිතිධරං
මහීධ්රාදුත්තුංගාදවනිං අවනේශ්චාපි ජලධිම් ।
අධෝऽධෝ ගංගේයං පදං උපගතා ස්තෝකම්
අථවාවිවේකභ්රෂ්ටානාං භවති විනිපාතඃ ශතමුඛඃ ॥ 1.10 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ශිරඃ - head
ශාර්වං - of ශර්ව (Siva); belonging to Siva
ස්වර්ගාත් - from heaven
පශුපති - lord of beings (Siva)
ශිරඃ - head (as in පශුපතිශිරස්තඃ, "from the head of පශුපති")
ක්ෂිතිධරං - mountain (literally, earth-bearer)
මහීධ්ර - mountain
උත්තුංග - lofty; very high
අවනිං - earth
අවනේඃ - from the earth (sandhi in verse: අවනේශ්චාපි = අවනේඃ + ච + අපි)
ච - and
අපි - also
ජලධිං - ocean
අධෝऽධෝ - lower and lower; downwards, again and again
ගංගේයං - this ගංගා
පදං - position; step
උපගතා - has reached; has gone to
ස්තෝකම් - little by little; step by step
අථ වා - or else
විවේක - discernment; discrimination
භ්රෂ්ටානාං - of those who have fallen away from/lost (as in විවේකභ්රෂ්ටානාං)
භවති - happens; becomes
විනිපාතඃ - downfall; fall
ශතමුඛඃ - "hundred-faced" - manyfold; in many ways

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
From heaven, the head of Siva came down to the mountain from the head of පශුපති; from the lofty mountain it came down to the earth, and from the earth also to the ocean. Thus even this ගංගා, descending step by step, has come lower and lower; likewise, for those who have lost discernment, downfall becomes manyfold.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
විවේක is the guardrail of life: once it breaks, the fall accelerates. The verse teaches the "cascade" pattern - first a small slip, then repeated descent අධෝऽධෝ, and then a ශතමුඛඃ (many-pronged) crash. In daily life this is how integrity erodes: one small lie to save face becomes a habit, one indulgence becomes dependence, one compromised principle becomes a new normal. අද්වෛත places විවේක first for a reason (the discrimination of නිත්ය (the lasting) and අනිත්ය (the changing)): when you renew that clarity daily, decisions stop being reactive, and your life does not slide step by step into avoidable suffering.

ශක්යෝ වාරයිතුං ජලේන හුතභුක්ච්ඡත්රේණ සූර්යාතපෝ
නාගේංද්රෝ නිශිතාංකුශේන සමදෝ දංඩේන ගෝගර්දභෞ ।
ව්යාධිර්භේෂජසංග්රහෛශ්ච විවිධෛර්මංත්රප්රයෝගෛර්විෂං
සර්වස්යෞෂධං අස්ති ශාස්ත්රවිහිතං මූර්ඛස්ය නාස්ත්යෞෂධිම් ॥ 1.11 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ශක්යඃ - is possible; can be done (in verse as ශක්යෝ)
වාරයිතුම් - to restrain; to prevent; to ward off
ජලේන - by water (instrumental of ජල)
හුතභුක් - fire (literally, "eater of oblations"; in verse as හුතභුක්)
ඡත්රේණ - by an umbrella (in verse as ච්ඡත්රේණ)
සූර්යාතපඃ - the heat/glare of the sun (in verse as සූර්යාතපෝ)
නාගේංද්රඃ - a mighty elephant; "lord of elephants" (also can mean "king of snakes"; context here is elephant-control; in verse as නාගේංද්රෝ)
නිශිත - sharp; pointed
අංකුශේන - with a goad (instrumental of අංකුශ)
සමදඃ - intoxicated; in rut (as in an elephant; in verse as සමදෝ)
දංඩේන - with a stick/staff
ගෞඃ - cow (in dual compound ගෝගර්දභෞ)
ගර්දභඃ - donkey (in dual compound ගෝගර්දභෞ)
ව්යාධිඃ - disease
භේෂජ - medicine
සංග්රහෛඃ - with collections/compounds/assemblages (in verse as සංග්රහෛශ්ච = සංග්රහෛඃ + ච)
විවිධෛඃ - by various; by many kinds of
මංත්ර - mantra; sacred formula
ප්රයෝගෛඃ - by applications/uses/practices (instrumental plural of ප්රයෝග)
විෂම් - poison
සර්වස්ය - for everything; of everything
ඖෂධම් - remedy; medicine
අස්ති - exists; is
ශාස්ත්ර - scripture; authoritative teaching
විහිතම් - prescribed; laid down
මූර්ඛස්ය - of a fool
න අස්ති - there is not (in sandhi: නාස්ත්යෞෂධිං = න අස්ති + ඖෂධිං)
ඖෂධිම් - a remedy (accusative; in verse as ඖෂධිං)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Water can restrain fire, an umbrella can ward off the sun's heat, a sharp goad can control a rutting elephant, and a stick can manage a cow or a donkey; disease has remedies in medicines, and poison has remedies in mantra-practices. For everything there is a remedy prescribed by ශාස්ත්ර - but for a fool there is no medicine.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි stacks up "problem -> remedy" pairs to make one point: tools work only when the person using them is willing to be corrected. A මූර්ක here is not simply someone who does not know; it is a mind closed by stubbornness and ego, where even the right උපදේශ (instruction) cannot enter. In daily life you see this when someone refuses feedback, repeats the same avoidable mistake, and then blames the world - whether at work (ignoring reviews), in health (rejecting basic habits), or in relationships (never listening). අද්වෛත also begins with fitness: ශ්රවණ (listening), මනන (reasoning), and නිදිධ්යාසන (deep contemplation) can remove අජ්ඤාන (ignorance) only when there is විනය (humility) and මුමුක්ෂුත්ව (desire to be free); without that openness, even the best medicine remains unopened.

සාහිත්යසංගීතකලාවිහීනඃ
සාක්ෂාත්පශුඃ පුච්ඡවිෂාණහීනඃ ।
තෘණං න ඛාදන්නපි ජීවමානස්
තද්භාගධේයං පරමං පශූනාම් ॥ 1.12 ॥

ඡංදඃ (උපජාති): This is in උපජාති Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 11 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; this meter commonly mixes ඉංද්රවජ්රා (`GGLGGLLGLGG`) and උපේංද්රවජ්රා (`LGLGGLLGLGG`) patterns across the පාදාඃ.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සාහිත්ය - literature; poetry
සංගීත - music
කලා - art; fine skill; aesthetic accomplishment
විහීනඃ - devoid of; lacking
සාක්ෂාත් - directly; plainly; truly
පශුඃ - an animal; a beast
පුච්ච - tail
විෂාණ - horn
හීනඃ - without (forming පුච්ච-විෂාණ-හීනඃ)
තෘණම් - grass; straw
න - not
ඛාදන් - eating (in verse as ඛාදන්නපි = ඛාදන් + අපි)
අපි - even; even though
ජීවමානඃ - living; staying alive
තත් - that; his condition (as in තද්භාගධේයං)
භාගධේයම් - share; lot; destiny; "portion"
පරමම් - highest; greatest
පශූනාම් - of animals

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
One who lacks literature, music, and the arts is plainly a beast - only without tail and horns. Though he does not even eat grass, he still lives; that is, indeed, a great "good fortune" for the animals.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse uses sharp humor to define what makes a human life human: refinement of mind. කලා is not "decoration"; it trains attention, empathy, and sensitivity to nuance - qualities that keep power and intelligence from turning crude. In modern life, a person can be technically skilled yet socially destructive: they speak harshly, cannot listen, and treat relationships like transactions. Regular contact with good books, music, and thoughtful discourse softens the inner edge and widens perspective; it is like adding "human interface" to raw capability. Even a simple habit - reading a few pages daily, learning a song with patience, or engaging in meaningful conversation rather than endless scrolling - can slowly replace animal-like reactivity with සංස්කාර (refining impressions).

යේෂාං න විද්යා න තපෝ න දානං
ජ්ඤානං න ශීලං න ගුණෝ න ධර්මඃ ।
තේ මර්ත්යලෝකේ භුවි භාරභූතා
මනුෂ්යරූපේණ මෘගාශ්චරංති ॥ 1.13 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
යේෂාං - of whom; for those who
න - not
විද්යා - learning; education
තපඃ - disciplined effort; austerity
දානම් - giving; charity
ජ්ඤානම් - knowledge; wisdom
ශීලම් - character; good conduct
ගුණඃ - virtue; good quality (in verse as ගුණෝ)
ධර්මඃ - righteousness; duty; ethical order
තේ - they
මර්ත්යලෝකේ - in the world of mortals
භුවි - on earth
භාරභූතාඃ - having become a burden; burdensome
මනුෂ්ය - human
රූපේණ - in the form of
මෘගාඃ - animals; beasts (in verse as මෘගාශ්)
චරංති - roam; move about

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Those who have neither learning, nor disciplined effort, nor charity; neither wisdom, nor good conduct, nor virtue, nor ධර්ම - they are a burden on earth, wandering like beasts in the outward form of human beings.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි lists seven supports of a meaningful life: learn (විද්යා), train yourself (තපස්), share (දාන), seek understanding (ජ්ඤාන), live decently (ශීල), develop virtues (ගුණ), and stand by ධර්ම. When none of these are present, a person may look human but lives by instinct alone - consuming, competing, and reacting. Modern examples are easy: using intelligence only for manipulation, chasing pleasures while neglecting responsibilities, or never giving back to family and society. ආදි ශංකරාචාර්ය often reminds that human birth is precious because it allows inquiry and self-mastery; in භජ ගෝවිංදම් he calls it දුර්ලභං මානුෂං ජන්ම (hard to attain). The verse is a wake-up call: add even one of these pillars sincerely, and the "burden" starts becoming a blessing to those around you.

වරං පර්වතදුර්ගේෂු
භ්රාංතං වනචරෛඃ සහ
න මූර්ඛජනසංපර්කඃ
සුරේංද්රභවනේෂ්වපි ॥ 1.14 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
වරම් - better; preferable
පර්වත - mountain
දුර්ගේෂු - in fortresses/strongholds (locative plural of දුර්ග)
භ්රාංතම් - wandering; roaming
වනචරෛඃ - with forest-dwellers; those who move in the woods
සහ - along with
න - not
මූර්ඛ - foolish
ජන - people
සංපර්කඃ - contact; association; company
සුරේංද්ර - Indra, lord of the gods
භවනේෂු - in palaces/abodes (locative plural of භවන)
අපි - even

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Better to wander with forest-dwellers in mountain strongholds than to have the company of foolish people - even in the palaces of Indra.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is not romanticizing hardship; it is ranking influences. A rough place with honest, simple people can still grow you, while a glamorous place with foolish or toxic company can steadily corrupt your judgment. In modern life this is the choice between status and sanity: taking a job for a flashy brand but living in constant politics, or choosing a quieter role with a healthier team; attending gatherings that pull you into gossip, or spending time with people who speak truth and encourage growth. ආදි ශංකරාචාර්ය captures the same principle in භජ ගෝවිංදම්: සත්සංගත්වේ නිස්සංගත්වං - by good company arises non-attachment; by non-attachment, clarity. If you protect your associations, many other problems solve themselves downstream.

ශාස්ත්රෝපස්කෘතශබ්දසුංදරගිරඃ ශිෂ්යප්රදේයාගමා
විඛ්යාතාඃ කවයෝ වසංති විෂයේ යස්ය ප්රභෝර්නිර්ධනාඃ ।
තජ්ජාඩ්යං වසුධාදිපස්ය කවයස්ත්වර්ථං විනාපීශ්වරාඃ
කුත්ස්යාඃ ස්යුඃ කුපරීක්ෂකා හි මණයෝ යෛරර්ඝතඃ පාතිතාඃ ॥ 1.15 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ශාස්ත්ර - scripture; learned tradition
උපස්කෘත - adorned; refined; polished
ශබ්ද - word; speech
සුංදර - beautiful
ගිරඃ - speech/utterances (plural; forming ශාස්ත්රෝපස්කෘතශබ්දසුංදරගිරඃ)
ශිෂ්ය - disciple/student
ප්රදේය - fit to be given; worthy to be taught
ආගමාඃ - authoritative teachings; learned texts (plural)
විඛ්යාතාඃ - renowned; well-known
කවයඃ - poets
වසංති - live
විෂයේ - in the realm/kingdom (locative of විෂය)
යස්ය - whose
ප්රභෝඃ - of the lord/ruler (genitive of ප්රභු)
නිර්ධනාඃ - poor; without wealth
තත් - that
ජාඩ්යම් - dullness; folly; stupidity
වසුධාදිපස්ය - of the lord of the earth; king
කවයඃ - poets
තු - but; indeed
අර්ථම් - wealth; money
විනා - without
අපි - even
ඊශ්වරාඃ - powerful; eminent; "lords" (in verse as පීශ්වරාඃ)
කුත්ස්යාඃ - despised; looked down upon
ස්යුඃ - might become; would be
කුපරීක්ෂකාඃ - bad examiners/appraisers
හි - for
මණයඃ - gems; jewels
යෛඃ - by whom (instrumental plural)
අර්ඝතඃ - from their worth/price (ablative of අර්ඝ)
පාතිතාඃ - made to fall; lowered; devalued

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Renowned poets, whose speech is beautiful and refined by ශාස්ත්ර and whose teachings are worthy to be passed to disciples, live in a certain ruler's domain - yet remain poor. That is the folly of that king: even a poet is great even without money, but gems become despised when bad appraisers devalue them.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a verse on leadership and valuation. When a ruler (or any institution) keeps true talent undernourished, the shame is not on the talent but on the judge who failed to recognize worth. කුපරීක්ෂක means a "bad appraiser" - someone who cannot see quality and therefore sets a low price; the verse warns that such blindness makes jewels look cheap in the marketplace. In modern life, this appears when organizations underpay their best teachers, engineers, artists, or caregivers while rewarding loud mediocrity; eventually the culture becomes hollow, and excellence either leaves or stops creating. The practical takeaway is two-sided: if you lead, learn to recognize and support real merit; if you are skilled, choose patrons and environments that can actually value you rather than begging approval from කුපරීක්ෂකාඃ.

හර්තුර්යාති න ගෝචරං කිං අපි ශං පුෂ්ණාති යත්සර්වදාऽප්ය්
අර්ථිභ්යඃ ප්රතිපාද්යමානං අනිශං ප්රාප්නෝති වෘද්ධිං පරාම් ।
කල්පාංතේෂ්වපි න ප්රයාති නිධනං විද්යාඛ්යං අංතර්ධනං
යේෂාං තාන්ප්රති මානං උජ්ඣත නෘපාඃ කස්තෛඃ සහ ස්පර්ධතේ ॥ 1.16 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
හර්තුඃ - of a thief/robber (genitive of හර්තෘ; in verse as හර්තුර්)
යාති - goes; comes
න - not
ගෝචරං - into the range/scope; as an object of reach
කිං අපි - some; any (emphatic: "at all")
ශම් - welfare; auspicious good; well-being
පුෂ්ණාති - nourishes; increases
යත් - which
සර්වදා - always
අපි - even (forming සර්වදාऽප්ය් = සර්වදා + අපි)
අර්ථිභ්යඃ - to seekers/supplicants (dative plural of අර්ථින්)
ප්රතිපාද්යමානම් - being given; being bestowed
අනිශම් - continually; without break
ප්රාප්නෝති - attains; reaches
වෘද්ධිං - growth; increase
පරාම් - supreme; great
කල්පාංතේෂු - even at the ends of world-cycles (කල්ප)
අපි - even
න - not
ප්රයාති - goes to; reaches
නිධනම් - destruction; death; perishing
විද්යා - knowledge; learning
ආඛ්යම් - named; called
අංතර්ධනම් - hidden treasure; inner wealth
යේෂාං - for those who have (this treasure)
තාන් - toward them
ප්රති - toward
මානම් - respect; honor
උජ්ඣත - offer; render (imperative; in verse as උජ්ඣත)
නෘපාඃ - O kings; rulers
කඃ - who
තෛඃ - with them
සහ - along with; against
ස්පර්ධතේ - competes; contends

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That hidden treasure called knowledge does not come into a thief's reach at all; it always nourishes well-being, and when it is continually given to seekers it grows all the more. It does not perish even at the ends of world-cycles. O kings, show respect to those who possess it - who can compete with them?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
Material wealth is zero-sum and fragile; විද්යා is the opposite. The verse highlights three qualities: it cannot be stolen (හර්තුඃ න ගෝචරඃ), it increases by sharing (ප්රතිපාද්යමානම් ... වෘද්ධිං ප්රාප්නෝති), and it survives disruptions (කල්පාංතේ even metaphorically "the end of a world"). In modern terms, skills, understanding, and good judgment are assets that layoffs, market shifts, and even relocation cannot fully take away - and teaching others often makes you clearer, not poorer. The අද්වෛත tradition values this highest: ජ්ඤාන is what removes අජ්ඤාන, and the "wealth" it gives is inner freedom; that is why teachers are honored not for possessions but for what they awaken in the student.

අධිගතපරමාර්ථාන්පංඩිතාන්මාවමංස්ථාස්
තෘණං ඉව ලඝු ලක්ෂ්මීර්නෛව තාන්සංරුණද්ධි ।
අභිනවමදලේඛාශ්යාමගංඩස්ථලානාං
න භවති බිසතංතුර්වාරණං වාරණානාම් ॥ 1.17 ॥

ඡංදඃ (මාලිනී): This is in මාලිනී (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 15 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `LLLLLLGG GLGGLGG`; යති (pause) is after the 8th syllable in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
අධිගත - attained; realized
පරම - highest; supreme
අර්ථඃ - meaning; truth; purpose
පංඩිතාන් - the learned; wise people (accusative plural of පංඩිත)
මා - do not
අවමංස්ථාඃ - despise; look down upon
තෘණම් - straw; grass
ඉව - like; as if
ලඝු - light; small; paltry
ලක්ෂ්මීඃ - wealth; prosperity (in verse as ලක්ෂ්මීර්)
න ඒව - not at all
තාන් - them
සංරුණද්ධි - binds; confines; restrains
අභිනව - fresh; new
මද - rut; intoxication (as of an elephant)
ලේඛා - streak/line (as in the dark streaks on cheeks in rut)
ශ්යාම - dark; blackish
ගංඩ - cheek/temple (of an elephant)
ස්ථලානාං - of those whose places/regions (forming ශ්යාමගංඩස්ථලානාං)
න භවති - does not become; is not
බිස - lotus-fiber; water-lily stalk
තංතුඃ - thread; fiber
වාරණම් - a restraint; a barrier; a cord (also reads as "elephant"; here used as "bond")
වාරණානාං - of elephants

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Do not look down upon the wise who have realized the highest truth; paltry wealth cannot bind them any more than a straw can. A lotus-fiber thread does not become a restraint for elephants whose temples are dark with fresh rut.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse warns against judging people by their bank balance. ලඝු ලක්ෂ්මීඃ (small wealth) can tempt or trap those who measure themselves by possessions, but it cannot hold a person who has tasted පරමාර්ථ (highest meaning). The elephant image is vivid: මද is the powerful energy of a mature elephant in rut; against that strength, a lotus thread is absurd. In modern life, this means: do not assume that someone is insignificant because they live simply, refuse a bribe, or won't flatter for promotion. Some people operate from principles and inner freedom, so "small incentives" do not move them; if you want to work with such people, appeal to purpose and truth, not to glitter. In the අද්වෛත spirit, once the mind sees the limitations of external gain, it naturally loosens පරිග්රහ (grasping), and dignity becomes independent of possessions.

අංභෝජිනීවනවිහාරවිලාසං ඒව
හංසස්ය හංති නිතරාං කුපිතෝ විධාතා ।
න ත්වස්ය දුග්ධජලභේදවිධෞ ප්රසිද්ධාං
වෛදග්ධීකීර්තිං අපහර්තුං අසෞ සමර්ථඃ ॥ 1.18 ॥

ඡංදඃ (වසංතතිලකා): This is in වසංතතිලකා (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 14 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `GGLGLLLGLLGLGG`. No obligatory යති (pause) is defined for this meter; pauses follow sense and natural දංඩ breaks.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
අංභෝජිනී - lotus pond; water with lotuses
වන - grove; forest (forming අංභෝජිනීවනම්)
විහාර - roaming; sport; play
විලාසම් - enjoyment; graceful play
ඒව - indeed; alone (emphatic)
හංසස්ය - of the swan
හංති - destroys; kills; takes away
නිතරාම් - completely; thoroughly
කුපිතඃ - enraged; angry
විධාතා - the creator; fate; dispenser of results
න තු - but not
තස්ය - of it/of him (the swan)
දුග්ධ - milk
ජල - water
භේදවිධිඃ - the method/skill of separating (forming දුග්ධ-ජල-භේද-විධි)
ප්රසිද්ධාම් - famous; well-known
වෛදග්ධී - skill; cleverness; refined ability
කීර්තිං - fame; reputation
අපහර්තුම් - to take away; to remove
අසෞ - that (creator/fate)
සමර්ථඃ - capable

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
An angry fate may entirely destroy the swan's joyous roaming in lotus-groves, but it cannot take away the swan's celebrated skill of separating milk from water.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The swan's famed discrimination - දුග්ධ-ජල-භේද (the ability to separate milk from water) - is a symbol for විවේක (discernment): the power to pick what is essential from what is mixed. Circumstances can destroy external "playgrounds" (a job, a position, a comfortable setting), but they cannot touch a cultivated inner faculty. In modern life, this is why building real competence and clarity matters more than building a fragile image: even if projects fail or roles change, your skill in thinking, communicating, and deciding remains. අද්වෛත often uses the හංස as the emblem of the discriminating seeker (පරමහංස): when විවේක is alive, you can keep choosing the real over the superficial even while life rearranges the outer scenery.

කේයූරාණි න භූෂයංති පුරුෂං හාරා න චංද්රෝජ්ජ්වලා
න ස්නානං න විලේපනං න කුසුමං නාලංකෘතා මූර්ධජාඃ ।
වාණ්යේකා සමලංකරෝති පුරුෂං යා සංස්කෘතා ධාර්යතේ
ක්ෂීයංතේ ඛලු භූෂණානි සතතං වාග්භූෂණං භූෂණම් ॥ 1.19 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කේයූරාණි - armlets
න - not
භූෂයංති - adorn; beautify
පුරුෂම් - a person
හාරාඃ - necklaces/garlands
න - not
චංද්ර - moon
උජ්ජ්වලාඃ - bright; shining (forming චංද්රෝජ්ජ්වලා = චංද්ර + උජ්ජ්වලාඃ)
න - not
ස්නානම් - bath
න - not
විලේපනම් - anointing; applying fragrance/ointment
න - not
කුසුමම් - flower
න - not
අලංකෘතාඃ - decorated; adorned
මූර්ධජාඃ - hair (literally, "born on the head")
වාණී - speech
ඒකා - alone
සමලංකරෝති - completely adorns; truly decorates
යා - which
සංස්කෘතා - refined; well-formed; cultured
ධාර්යතේ - is carried; is maintained
ක්ෂීයංතේ - wear out; diminish; perish
ඛලු - indeed
භූෂණානි - ornaments
සතතං - always; constantly
වාක් - speech
භූෂණම් - ornament (forming වාග්භූෂණම්)
භූෂණම් - the (true) ornament

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Armlets do not truly adorn a person, nor bright necklaces, nor the moon's splendor; not bathing, not perfumes, not flowers, and not decorated hair. Speech alone, when refined and well-kept, truly adorns a person. Ornaments constantly wear out; the ornament of speech is the real ornament.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is one of the most widely quoted සුභාෂිතානි from භර්තෘහරි's නීති ශතකම්. External polish is temporary; speech shapes your reputation every day. සංස්කෘතා වාණී means speech that is accurate, courteous, timely, and not needlessly hurtful - the kind of language that makes people feel safe with you. In modern life, you can see how quickly one careless message, a sarcastic tweet, or a harsh public remark can undo years of work; conversely, steady respectful communication builds trust across teams and families. The verse is also practical: unlike jewelry, speech improves with practice - read well, listen well, and speak with හිතම් (benefit) and මධුරම් (sweetness) together. When words carry both truth and kindness, they become the most durable "ornament" you can wear.

විද්යා නාම නරස්ය රූපං අධිකං ප්රච්ඡන්නගුප්තං ධනං
විද්යා භෝගකරී යශඃසුඛකරී විද්යා ගුරූණාං ගුරුඃ ।
විද්යා බංධුජනෝ විදේශගමනේ විද්යා පරා දේවතා
විද්යා රාජසු පූජ්යතේ න තු ධනං විද්යාවිහීනඃ පශුඃ ॥ 1.20 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
විද්යා - knowledge; learning
නාම - indeed; truly; "by name" (emphatic)
නරස්ය - of a person
රූපම් - form; beauty; splendor
අධිකම් - superior; greater
ප්රච්ඡන්න - hidden; covered
ගුප්තම් - protected; safe (forming ප්රච්ඡන්නගුප්තං)
ධනම් - wealth; treasure
භෝගකරී - maker of enjoyment; giver of comforts
යශඃ - fame; good name
සුඛ - happiness
කරී - maker of; giver of (forming යශඃසුඛකරී)
ගුරූණාම් - of teachers
ගුරුඃ - teacher; the teacher
බංධුජනඃ - kinsman; friend; supportive companion
විදේශ - foreign land
ගමනේ - in going/travel (locative; "when travelling")
පරා - supreme; highest
දේවතා - divinity; guiding deity
රාජසු - among kings/rulers; in royal courts
පූජ්යතේ - is honored; is worshipped/respected
න තු - but not
ධනම් - wealth
විද්යා - knowledge
විහීනඃ - devoid of
පශුඃ - animal; beast

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Knowledge is truly a person's greater beauty and a hidden, well-protected wealth. Knowledge brings enjoyment, brings fame and happiness; knowledge is the teacher of teachers. Knowledge is a friend when travelling in foreign lands; knowledge is the highest divinity. In the courts of kings it is knowledge that is honored, not mere money; one without knowledge is a beast.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse is a compact manifesto on why learning is never a waste. ප්රච්ඡන්නගුප්තං ධනං points to inner wealth: what you know and can do cannot be taken away as easily as possessions. බංධුජනඃ is a "supportive relative/friend": when you travel or change environments, your competence and understanding accompany you and help you rebuild. In modern life, this is visible in how a person with real skills can restart after setbacks, adapt to new technology, and earn trust quickly - while someone with only external symbols (title, clothes, money) can feel lost when context changes. And for those who seek deeper freedom, අද්වෛත sees විද්යා in its highest sense as බ්රහ්මජ්ඤාන (knowledge of the Self): the "supreme divinity" because it reveals what is already present as your own ස්වරූප (true nature).

ක්ෂාංතිශ්චේත්කවචේන කිං කිං අරිභිඃ ක්රෝධෝऽස්ති චේද්දේහිනාං
ජ්ඤාතිශ්චේදනලේන කිං යදි සුහෘද්දිව්යෞෂධං කිං ඵලම් ।
කිං සර්පෛර්යදි දුර්ජනාඃ කිං උ ධනෛර්විද්යාऽනවද්යා යදි
ව්රීඩා චේත්කිං උ භූෂණෛඃ සුකවිතා යද්යස්ති රාජ්යේන කිම් ॥ 1.21 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ක්ෂාංතිඃ - forbearance; patience
චේත් - if
කවචේන - by armor; with protective gear (instrumental of කවච)
කිම් - what (use)?
අරිභිඃ - by/with enemies (instrumental plural of අරි)
ක්රෝධඃ - anger
අස්ති - exists; is (in verse as ऽස්ති)
දේහිනාම් - of embodied beings; of people
ජ්ඤාතිඃ - knowledge; understanding (in verse as ජ්ඤාතිශ්චේත් = ජ්ඤාතිඃ + චේත්)
අනලේන - by fire (අනල)
යදි - if
සුහෘත් - a good friend
දිව්ය - divine; extraordinary
ඖෂධම් - medicine; remedy (forming දිව්යෞෂධම්)
කිම් - what (use)?
ඵලම් - benefit; fruit
කිම් - what (use)?
සර්පෛඃ - with snakes (instrumental plural of සර්ප)
යදි - if
දුර්ජනාඃ - wicked people; the malicious
කිං උ - what indeed?
ධනෛඃ - with wealth (instrumental plural of ධන)
විද්යා - knowledge; learning
අනවද්යා - blameless; flawless; free of fault
යදි - if
ව්රීඩා - modesty; a sense of propriety; "good shame"
චේත් - if
කිං උ - what indeed?
භූෂණෛඃ - with ornaments (instrumental plural of භූෂණ)
සුකවිතා - good poetry; poetic excellence
යදි - if
අස්ති - exists; is
රාජ්යේන - with a kingdom; with sovereignty
කිම් - what (use)?

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
If one has patience, what need is there for armor? If people have anger, what need is there for enemies? If one has knowledge, what need is there for fire? If one has a true friend, what benefit is there in "divine medicines"? If there are wicked people, what need is there for snakes? If there is flawless learning, what need is there for wealth? If there is modesty, what need is there for ornaments? If there is poetic excellence, what need is there for a kingdom?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a reminder that inner qualities outclass external supports. ක්ෂාංති (forbearance) is real armor because it prevents rash retaliation; ක්රෝධ (anger) is a self-made enemy that damages you even without opponents. ජ්ඤාති (understanding) is "fire" in the sense that it burns confusion and lights the way; and a good සුහෘත් (friend) is medicine because they heal your blind spots with honest care. In modern life, you can buy gadgets, titles, and insurance, but if you lack patience and clarity you will still create unnecessary fires at work and at home; and if you have modesty and skill, you do not need constant external decoration to be respected. The practical application is to invest first in the inner "capital" - calm, learning, friendships, and character - because these protect you in contexts where money and status cannot.

දාක්ෂිණ්යං ස්වජනේ දයා පරිජනේ ශාඨ්යං සදා දුර්ජනේ
ප්රීතිඃ සාධුජනේ නයෝ නෘපජනේ විද්වජ්ජනේ චාර්ජවම් ।
ශෞර්යං ශත්රුජනේ ක්ෂමා ගුරුජනේ කාංතාජනේ ධෘෂ්ටතා
යේ චෛවං පුරුෂාඃ කලාසු කුශලාස්තේෂ්වේව ලෝකස්ථිතිඃ ॥ 1.22 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
දාක්ෂිණ්යම් - kindness; generosity; tact
ස්වජනේ - toward one's own people/relatives (locative of ස්වජන)
දයා - compassion; mercy
පරිජනේ - toward dependents/attendants/household (locative of පරිජන)
ශාඨ්යම් - strategic caution/guile; dealing with deceit by guardedness
සදා - always
දුර්ජනේ - toward the wicked (locative of දුර්ජන)
ප්රීතිඃ - affection; warm friendliness
සාධුජනේ - toward the good (locative of සාධුජන)
නයඃ - policy; political wisdom; tactful conduct
නෘපජනේ - toward kings/rulers/officials (locative of නෘපජන)
විද්වජ්ජනේ - toward the learned (locative of විද්වජ්ජන)
චාර්ජවම් - straightforwardness; honesty
ශෞර්යම් - valor; courageous strength
ශත්රුජනේ - toward enemies (locative of ශත්රුජන)
ක්ෂමා - forgiveness; forbearance
ගුරුජනේ - toward elders/teachers (locative of ගුරුජන)
කාංතාජනේ - toward one's beloved (locative of කාංතාජන)
ධෘෂ්ටතා - boldness; confident frankness; playful daring
යේ - those who
ච - and
ඒවං - thus; in this manner
පුරුෂාඃ - people
කලාසු - in these arts/skills (locative plural of කලා)
කුශලාඃ - skilled; competent
තේෂු - in them
ඒව - indeed
ලෝකස්ථිතිඃ - the stability/order of the world

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Kindness toward your own, compassion toward dependents, guarded strategy toward the wicked; affection toward the good, diplomacy toward rulers, straightforwardness toward the learned; valor toward enemies, forgiveness toward elders, and confident boldness toward one's beloved - those who are skilled in such arts are the ones in whom the world's order stands.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a lesson in contextual intelligence: the same behavior is not wise in every relationship. Compassion without boundaries can become enabling; blunt honesty with the malicious can become self-harm; and the lack of diplomacy with power can become avoidable trouble. භර්තෘහරි is not endorsing dishonesty as a lifestyle; he is saying that with a දුර්ජන (wicked person) you must protect yourself through caution and strategy, while with the විද්වත් (learned) you should be transparent and direct. In modern life, this is the art of adjusting your "settings": warmth at home, professionalism at work, clear boundaries with manipulators, courage when defending what is right, and patience with elders. People who can do this without losing their core values become stabilizers in families, teams, and communities.

ජාඩ්යං ධියෝ හරති සිංචති වාචි සත්යං
මානෝන්නතිං දිශති පාපං අපාකරෝති ।
චේතඃ ප්රසාදයති දික්ෂු තනෝති කීර්තිං
සත්සංගතිඃ කථය කිං න කරෝති පුංසාම් ॥ 1.23 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ජාඩ්යම් - dullness; stupidity; inertia
ධියඃ - of the intellect (ධි)
හරති - removes
සිංචති - sprinkles; infuses
වාචි - in speech
සත්යම් - truth
මාන - honor; self-respect
උන්නතිම් - upliftment; elevation
දිශති - grants; points to; bestows
පාපම් - sin; wrongdoing
අපාකරෝති - removes; drives away
චේතඃ - mind; heart
ප්රසාදයති - makes clear/serene; pleases
දික්ෂු - in all directions
තනෝති - spreads; extends
කීර්තිම් - fame; good reputation
සත්සංගතිඃ - good company; association with the good
කථය - tell (imperative: "tell me")
කිම් - what
න - not
කරෝති - does
පුංසාම් - for people

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Good company removes dullness from the intellect, infuses truth into speech, grants uplifted honor, removes wrongdoing, pleases and clears the mind, and spreads fame in every direction. Tell me - what does සත්සංගති not do for people?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
If you want to change a habit or raise a standard, change your environment. සත්සංගති is not only about "holy people"; it is any consistent contact that pulls you upward - mentors, friends who live by values, books that challenge you, and communities where truth is normal. In modern life this is why a focused team can transform your work ethic, why a supportive friend group can help you quit an addiction, and why a culture of integrity makes honesty easier. ආදි ශංකරාචාර්ය states the causal chain succinctly: සත්සංගත්වේ නිස්සංගත්වං - by good company arises non-attachment; by that, clarity deepens. The verse is practical advice: choose your "inputs" carefully, because they quietly edit your character.

ජයංති තේ සුකෘතිනෝ
රසසිද්ධාඃ කවීශ්වරාඃ ।
නාස්ති යේෂාං යශඃකායේ
ජරාමරණජං භයම් ॥ 1.24 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ජයංති - are victorious; triumph
තේ - those
සුකෘතිනාඃ - of good deeds; meritorious; fortunate
රස - aesthetic essence; poetic sentiment
සිද්ධාඃ - perfected; accomplished
කවීශ්වරාඃ - lordly poets; great poets
න අස්ති - there is not (in verse as නාස්ති)
යේෂාං - of whom
යශඃ - fame; good name
කායේ - in the body (locative of කාය), forming යශඃ-කායේ ("in the body of fame")
ජරා - old age
මරණ - death
ජම් - born from; produced by (forming ජරාමරණජං)
භයම් - fear

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Victorious are those meritorious poet-lords who have mastered රස; in the "body" of their fame there is no fear born of old age and death.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse points to a human way of "defeating" time: create something that outlives you. යශඃ (good fame) here is not shallow popularity; it is the durable remembrance that comes from real contribution. In modern life, this can be writing that helps people, teaching that changes a student's trajectory, building something useful, or living with integrity so your family inherits strength rather than trauma. Physical ජරා (ageing) and මරණ (death) are inevitable, but the fear around them softens when you live in a way that leaves meaningful traces. The practical application is simple: invest time in work that has value beyond instant applause, and your life naturally gains a larger horizon.

සූනුඃ සච්චරිතඃ සතී ප්රියතමා ස්වාමී ප්රසාදෝන්මුඛඃ
ස්නිග්ධං මිත්රං අවංචකඃ පරිජනෝ නිඃක්ලේශලේශං මනඃ ।
ආකාරෝ රුචිරඃ ස්ථිරශ්ච විභවෝ විද්යාවදාතං මුඛං
තුෂ්ටේ විෂ්ටපකෂ්ටහාරිණි හරෞ සංප්රාප්යතේ දේහිනා ॥ 1.25 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සූනුඃ - son
සත් - good; noble
චරිතඃ - conduct; character (forming සච්චරිතඃ)
සතී - a virtuous/chaste woman
ප්රියතමා - most beloved; dear wife
ස්වාමී - master; husband; lord
ප්රසාද - grace; favor; goodwill
උන්මුඛඃ - turned toward; favorable (forming ප්රසාදෝන්මුඛඃ = ප්රසාද + උන්මුඛඃ)
ස්නිග්ධම් - affectionate; warm
මිත්රම් - friend
අවංචකඃ - non-deceiving; honest
පරිජනඃ - one's household/attendants
නිඃ - without
ක්ලේශ - trouble; affliction
ලේශම් - trace; even a little bit
මනඃ - mind
ආකාරඃ - form; appearance
රුචිරඃ - pleasing; beautiful
ස්ථිරඃ - steady; stable
ච - and
විභවඃ - prosperity; resources; wealth
විද්යා - knowledge; learning
අවදාතම් - bright; pure; splendid
මුඛම් - face; mouth
තුෂ්ටේ - when pleased (locative absolute sense)
විෂ්ටප - heaven; the celestial world
කෂ්ට - hardship; suffering
හාරිණි - in the remover/taker-away (locative; forming විෂ්ටපකෂ්ටහාරිණි)
හරෞ - in හරි (Vishnu)
සංප්රාප්යතේ - is obtained; is attained
දේහිනා - by the embodied person

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
When හරි - the remover of hardships - is pleased, an embodied person obtains: a virtuous son, a chaste beloved wife, a gracious master, an affectionate friend, an honest household, a mind without even a trace of distress, a pleasing form, steady prosperity, and a face brightened by learning.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse lists "life's basics" in an ideal order: family harmony, trustworthy relationships, inner peace, health and appearance, stable resources, and learning. It frames these as the fruit of aligning with හරි - meaning, in a broad sense, aligning with what sustains and uplifts. In modern terms, devotion and values work as a compass: when your actions are anchored in ධර්ම (right order), you naturally make choices that protect mind, relationships, and reputation. Even in අද්වෛත, ඊශ්වර-භක්ති (devotion to the Lord) is valued as a purifier of the mind; a calmer, cleaner mind makes better choices, and those choices ripple outward as the blessings described here.

ප්රාණාඝාතාන්නිවෘත්තිඃ පරධනහරණේ සංයමඃ සත්යවාක්යං
කාලේ ශක්ත්යා ප්රදානං යුවතිජනකථාමූකභාවඃ පරේෂාම් ।
තෘෂ්ණාස්රෝතෝ විභංගෝ ගුරුෂු ච විනයඃ සර්වභූතානුකංපා
සාමාන්යඃ සර්වශාස්ත්රේෂ්වනුපහතවිධිඃ ශ්රේයසාං ඒෂ පංථාඃ ॥ 1.26 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ස්රග්ධරා): This is in ස්රග්ධරා (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 21 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `GGGGLGG LLLLLLG GLGGLGG`; යති (pause) is after the 7th and 14th syllables in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ප්රාණ - living being; life-breath; life
ආඝාත - striking; injury; violence
නිවෘත්තිඃ - refraining; turning away (forming ප්රාණාඝාතාත්-නිවෘත්තිඃ - refraining from harming life)
පර - another's
ධන - wealth
හරණේ - in taking/stealing (locative; "in the act of taking"; forming පරධන-හරණේ)
සංයමඃ - restraint; self-control
සත්ය - truth
වාක්යම් - speech; statement (forming සත්යවාක්යම්)
කාලේ - at the right time
ශක්ත්යා - according to one's ability/capacity
ප්රදානම් - giving; charity
යුවති - young woman
ජන - person/people (forming යුවතිජන)
කථා - talk; discussion
මූක - mute
භාවඃ - state/attitude; becoming
පරේෂාං - regarding others; "of others" (i.e., about others' women)
තෘෂ්ණා - craving; thirst
ස්රෝතඃ - stream; current
විභංගඃ - breaking; cutting off (forming තෘෂ්ණාස්රෝතෝ-විභංගෝ)
ගුරුෂු - toward teachers/elders (locative of ගුරු)
ච - and
විනයඃ - humility; respectful conduct
සර්ව - all
භූත - beings
අනුකංපා - compassion (forming සර්වභූතානුකංපා)
සාමාන්යඃ - common; universal
සර්වශාස්ත්රේෂු - in all scriptures/teachings (locative plural)
අනුපහත - unbroken; not violated
විධිඃ - rule; ordinance
ශ්රේයසාං - of welfare; of what is truly good
ඒෂඃ - this
පංථාඃ - path

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Refraining from harming life, self-restraint in taking another's wealth, truthful speech, giving at the right time according to one's capacity, being "mute" when it comes to speaking about others' women; cutting off the stream of craving, humility toward teachers, and compassion toward all beings - this is a universal, unbroken rule found across all ශාස්ත්ර. This is the path to true well-being.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse is a concise ethics charter, and it is strikingly pan-traditional: the same themes appear as යම/නියම in යෝග, as ධර්ම in ස්මෘති, and as preparation for clarity in වේදාංත. The key phrases are practical: ප්රාණාඝාත (violence) and පරධන-හරණ (stealing) are obvious harms; සත්යවාක්ය (truthful speech) keeps life from collapsing into mistrust; and තෘෂ්ණාස්රෝතඃ (the stream of craving) is the inner engine behind many wrong actions. The line about being මූක (mute) regarding others' women is a call to stop objectifying talk and gossip - in modern life, that means respecting boundaries, not consuming or spreading degrading content, and keeping speech clean. අද්වෛත treats such disciplines as සාධන (preparation): without විනය (humility) and අනුකංපා (compassion), higher inquiry stays theoretical; with them, the mind becomes steady enough for real understanding.

ප්රාරභ්යතේ න ඛලු විඝ්නභයේන නීචෛඃ
ප්රාරභ්ය විඝ්නවිහතා විරමංති මධ්යාඃ ।
විඝ්නෛඃ පුනඃ පුනරපි ප්රතිහන්යමානාඃ
ප්රාරබ්ධං උත්තමජනා න පරිත්යජංති ॥ 1.27 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ප්රාරභ්යතේ - is begun; is undertaken
න - not
ඛලු - indeed
විඝ්න - obstacle; hindrance
භයේන - due to fear (instrumental of භය)
නීචෛඃ - by the low; by the base-minded
ප්රාරභ්ය - having begun
විඝ්න - obstacle
විහතාඃ - struck down; obstructed
විරමංති - stop; desist
මධ්යාඃ - the middling; average people
විඝ්නෛඃ - by obstacles
පුනඃ පුනර් - again and again
අපි - even
ප්රතිහන්යමානාඃ - being repeatedly struck/hindered
ප්රාරබ්ධම් - what has been started/undertaken
උත්තමජනාඃ - the best people; excellent persons
න - not
පරිත්යජංති - abandon; give up

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Out of fear of obstacles, the low-minded do not even begin. Having begun, the average stop when obstacles strike. But the best people, though obstructed again and again, do not abandon what they have undertaken.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse is a simple model of perseverance: fear stops you at the gate, discouragement stops you mid-way, but commitment carries you through repetition. In modern life, this is the difference between "ideas" and execution: many never start because they imagine every possible failure; some start a course, a fitness plan, or a project but quit after the first setback; and a few keep adjusting and continuing until the thing is done. The practical tool here is to expect විඝ්න (obstacles) as part of the path, not as proof you chose the wrong path. Even in spiritual practice, අද්වෛත emphasizes steady අභ්යාස (practice): repeated return to the essential is what turns insight into stability.

අසංතෝ නාභ්යර්ථ්යාඃ සුහෘදපි න යාච්යඃ කෘශධනඃ
ප්රියා න්යාය්යා වෘත්තිර්මලිනං අසුභංගේऽප්යසුකරම් ।
විපද්යුච්චෛඃ ස්ථේයං පදං අනුවිධේයං ච මහතාං
සතාං කේනෝද්දිෂ්ටං විෂමං අසිධාරාව්රතං ඉදම් ॥ 1.28 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
අසංතාඃ - the wicked; bad people (in verse as අසංතෝ)
න - not
අභ්යර්ථ්යාඃ - to be begged from; to be entreated (in verse as නාභ්යර්ථ්යාඃ = න + අභ්යර්ථ්යාඃ)
සුහෘත් - a friend
අපි - even
න - not
යාච්යඃ - should be begged/asked for help
කෘශ - lean; small
ධනඃ - wealth; means (forming කෘශධනඃ - one with little wealth)
ප්රියා - dear; desirable
න්යාය්යා - righteous; proper; just
වෘත්තිඃ - livelihood; conduct
මලිනම් - stained; tainted
අශුභංගේ - in misfortune; in an adverse situation (in verse as අසුභංගේ)
අපි - even (forming අශුභංගේऽප්ය් = අශුභංගේ + අපි)
අසුකරම් - difficult
විපදි - in adversity; in calamity (in verse as විපද්ය්)
උච්චෛඃ - high; elevated
ස්ථේයම් - should be stood/maintained; should remain
පදම් - position; station
අනුවිධේයම් - should be followed/imitated
ච - and
මහතාම් - of the great
සතාම් - for the good; of good people
කේන - by whom?
උද්දිෂ්ටම් - prescribed; pointed out; enjoined
විෂමම් - difficult; uneven; hard
අසිධාරා - sword-edge; razor-edge
ව්රතම් - vow; disciplined path
ඉදම් - this

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The good should not beg from the wicked; even a friend should not be asked when they are poor. A righteous livelihood is dear, yet keeping it unstained is difficult even in adverse times. In calamity one must remain elevated, and one should follow the path of the great. Who has prescribed for the good this difficult "razor's-edge vow"?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
අසිධාරාව්රත is an unforgettable image: a life of integrity feels like walking on a sword-edge because the easy shortcuts are always available. The verse is not saying "never accept help"; it is saying: do not compromise yourself by seeking favors from the wicked, and do not burden a friend who lacks means. It also points out the real test: when times are tight (අශුභංග) and when crisis hits (විපද්), keeping livelihood clean and standards high becomes hardest. In modern life this shows up as refusing corruption even when you "need it", not manipulating relationships for money, and not lowering your ethics to match a bad environment. අද්වෛත values this steadiness as වෛරාග්ය (dispassion) and සමාධාන (collectedness): without these, the mind is too compromised to see truth clearly.

ක්ෂුත්ක්ෂාමෝऽපි ජරාකෘශෝऽපි ශිථිලප්රාණෝऽපි කෂ්ටාං දශාම්
ආපන්නෝऽපි විපන්නදීධිතිරිති ප්රාණේෂු නශ්යත්ස්වපි ।
මත්තේභේංද්රවිභින්නකුංභපිශිතග්රාසෛකබද්ධස්පෘහඃ
කිං ජීර්ණං තෘණං අත්ති මානමහතාං අග්රේසරඃ කේසරී ॥ 1.29 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ක්ෂුත් - hunger
ක්ෂාමඃ - emaciated; weakened (forming ක්ෂුත්ක්ෂාමඃ)
අපි - even
ජරා - old age
කෘශඃ - thin; wasted (forming ජරාකෘශඃ)
අපි - even
ශිථිල - slackened; loosened
ප්රාණඃ - life-breath; vitality (forming ශිථිලප්රාණඃ)
අපි - even
කෂ්ටාම් - grievous; difficult
දශාම් - condition/state
ආපන්නඃ - fallen into; reached
අපි - even
විපන්න - ruined; impaired
දීධිතිඃ - splendor; radiance
ඉති - thus (in the sense "even if...")
ප්රාණේෂු - when the life-breaths are
නශ්යත්සු - perishing; failing (locative absolute; in verse as නශ්යත්ස්වපි)
අපි - even
මත්ත - intoxicated; in rut
ඉභ - elephant
ඉංද්ර - lord/king (forming මත්තේභේංද්ර - king of rutting elephants)
විභින්න - split; broken; pierced
කුංභ - temple/forehead of an elephant
පිශිත - flesh
ග්රාස - mouthful
ඒක - only; single
බද්ධ - fixed; bound
ස්පෘහා - desire; longing (forming ග්රාසෛකබද්ධස්පෘහඃ)
කිම් - why; what (need)?
ජීර්ණම් - stale; old
තෘණම් - grass
අත්ති - eats
මාන - honor; self-respect
මහතාම් - of the great
අග්රේසරඃ - leader; foremost
කේසරී - lion

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even when weakened by hunger, emaciated by age, with breath grown slack, fallen into a hard state, and with radiance diminished - even when life itself is fading - the lion, leader among the noble, longs only for a single mouthful of flesh from the temples of a rutting elephant. Why would he eat stale grass?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The lion here stands for a person of high standards. The verse is not glorifying aggression; it is showing that greatness does not train itself to be satisfied with scraps. Even in hardship, the මාන (self-respect) of the great keeps them from degrading choices. In modern life, this is the difference between taking a short-term unethical gain and holding out for clean work; between doing low-quality work "to get it done" and maintaining craftsmanship; between seeking cheap attention and building real competence. The caution is also implied: if you feed your mind stale "grass" long enough, it forgets what it is capable of; so keep aiming for goals worthy of your nature.

ස්වල්පස්නායුවසාවශේෂමලිනං නිර්මාංසං අප්යස්ථි ගෝඃ
ශ්වා ලබ්ධ්වා පරිතෝෂං ඒති න තු තත්තස්ය ක්ෂුධාශාංතයේ ।
සිංහෝ ජංබුකං අංකං ආගතං අපි ත්යක්ත්වා නිහංති ද්විපං
සර්වඃ කෘච්ඡ්රගතෝऽපි වාංඡංති ජනඃ සත්ත්වානුරූපං ඵලම් ॥ 1.30 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ස්වල්ප - little; small
ස්නායු - tendon; sinew
වසා - fat
අවශේශ - residue; remnant
මලිනම් - dirty; stained (forming ස්වල්පස්නායුවසාවශේෂමලිනං)
නිර්මාංසම් - without flesh
අපි - even
අස්ථි - bone
ගෝඃ - of a cow
ශ්වා - dog
ලබ්ධ්වා - having obtained
පරිතෝෂම් - satisfaction; contentment
ඒති - attains; reaches
න තු - but not
තත් - that (bone)
තස්ය - its
ක්ෂුධා - hunger
ශාංතයේ - for the pacification/quelling (dative of ශාංති)
සිංහඃ - lion
ජංබුකම් - jackal
අංකම් - lap
ආගතම් - come to; arrived
අපි - even
ත්යක්ත්වා - having left; abandoning
නිහංති - strikes down; kills
ද්විපම් - elephant
සර්වඃ - every; everyone
කෘච්ඡ්ර - hardship; distress
ගතඃ - gone into; fallen into (forming කෘච්ඡ්රගතඃ)
අපි - even
වාංඡංති - desire; seek
ජනඃ - people
සත්ත්ව - nature; inner quality/temperament
අනුරූපම් - according to; in keeping with
ඵලම් - fruit; result

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
A dog, having obtained even a cow's bone that is fleshless and dirty with a little remnant of sinew and fat, feels satisfied - though it does not truly quell its hunger. A lion, even if a jackal has come into its lap, leaves it and strikes an elephant. Everyone, even when fallen into hardship, seeks results according to their nature.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse contrasts two kinds of aspiration. Some minds are trained to be satisfied with "bones" - small, low-quality gains that create the illusion of progress but do not really nourish. Other minds, like the lion, stay oriented to worthy goals even when easier options present themselves. In modern life this is the difference between chasing quick distractions versus building something substantial: taking a tiny shortcut that keeps you stuck, versus doing the harder work that actually changes your situation. The key word is සත්ත්ව (inner nature/quality): whatever you repeatedly consume - media, habits, friendships - slowly reshapes your සත්ත්ව, and then your desires follow. If you want lion-like outcomes, feed the mind with lion-like inputs.

ලාංගූලචාලනං අධශ්චරණාවපාතං
භූමෞ නිපත්ය වදනෝදරදර්ශනං ච ।
ශ්වා පිංඩදස්ය කුරුතේ ගජපුංගවස්තු
ධීරං විලෝකයති චාටුශතෛශ්ච භුංක්තේ ॥ 1.31 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ලාංගූල - tail
චාලනම් - wagging; moving (forming ලාංගූලචාලනං)
අධඃ - downwards
චරණ - feet/legs
අවපාතම් - lowering; dropping; prostrating (forming අධශ්චරණාවපාතං)
භූමෞ - on the ground
නිපත්ය - having fallen
වදන - face; mouth
උදර - belly
දර්ශනම් - showing; displaying
ච - and
ශ්වා - dog
පිංඩ - lump; morsel (as in alms/food)
දඃ - giving (forming පිංඩද - "giver of a morsel")
තස්ය - for/to him; of him (in verse as පිංඩදස්ය - "for the morsel-giver")
කුරුතේ - does; performs
ගජ - elephant
පුංගවඃ - chief/bull; excellent one ("elephant-bull" as a metaphor for a great person; in verse as ගජපුංගවස්තු = ගජපුංගවඃ + තු)
තු - but
ධීරම් - steady; bold; composed
විලෝකයති - looks; gazes
චාටු - flattery; coaxing praise
ශතෛඃ - by hundreds (instrumental plural of ශත)
ච - and
භුංක්තේ - eats; enjoys; partakes

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For a morsel-giver a dog performs tail-wagging, lowering of the legs, falling to the ground, and showing its face and belly; but an "elephant-bull" (a great person) stares steadily and then partakes through hundreds of flatteries.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is satire on dependence and flattery. The dog begs visibly through body language; the "great man" begs more subtly through චාටු (flattering speech) - but the motive is the same: food and favor. In modern life this appears as sycophancy in workplaces and politics: exaggerated praise to get access, opportunities, or protection. භර්තෘහරි is nudging us toward self-respect: earn what you can by skill, ask plainly when you must, and avoid turning your dignity into a performance. A good test is simple - if you would feel ashamed reading your own words aloud tomorrow, you are probably selling yourself too cheaply today.

පරිවර්තිනි සංසාරේ
මෘතඃ කෝ වා න ජායතේ ।
ස ජාතෝ යේන ජාතේන
යාති වංශඃ සමුන්නතිම් ॥ 1.32 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
පරිවර්තිනි - in the ever-turning; in the changing (locative)
සංසාරේ - in worldly life; in the cycle of birth and death
මෘතඃ - having died; dead
කඃ - who
වා - indeed; or
න - not
ජායතේ - is born
සඃ - he
ජාතඃ - born
යේන - by whom
ජාතේන - by whose birth (instrumental of ජාත)
යාති - goes; attains
වංශඃ - family line; lineage
සමුන්නතිම් - upliftment; rise; prosperity

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
In this ever-turning සංසාර, who is there that is not born again after death? Truly born is that person by whose birth the lineage rises to greater upliftment.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි distinguishes biological birth from meaningful birth. Everyone is "born" in the ordinary sense, but a life becomes significant when it raises the standard of the family - through character, responsibility, and contribution. In modern life, this can mean breaking harmful cycles (addiction, anger, debt), becoming the first to educate yourself, caring for parents with steadiness, or creating a culture of honesty and kindness at home. The verse is also a gentle reminder that legacy is not only about wealth; it is about සංස්කාර (refining impressions) passed to the next generation. When your presence makes your family more mature and more compassionate, the lineage has truly "risen".

කුසුමස්තවකස්යේව
ද්වයී වෘත්තිර්මනස්විනඃ ।
මූර්ධ්නි වා සර්වලෝකස්ය
ශීර්යතේ වන ඒව වා ॥ 1.33 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කුසුම - flower
ස්තවකඃ - cluster; bunch
ඉව - like
ද්වයී - twofold; having two ways
වෘත්තිඃ - conduct; course; mode of being
මනස්විනඃ - of the high-minded; of the spirited person (මනස්වින්)
මූර්ධ්නි - on the head (locative of මූර්ධන්)
වා - either; or
සර්වලෝකස්ය - of the whole world
ශීර්යතේ - withers; decays; falls apart
වනේ - in the forest
ඒව - indeed; only
වා - or

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Like a bunch of flowers, the course of a high-minded person is twofold: either they are placed on the head of the world, or they wither away in the forest.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse points to a pattern in exceptional lives: they often do not settle for "average." A මනස්වින් (high-minded person) either rises to visible influence where many recognize their worth, or they withdraw to solitude and remain uncelebrated - like flowers that either become a garland on someone's head or wither unseen in the woods. In modern life, this can look like an innovator who either finds the right platform and scales impact, or chooses a quiet path of integrity without playing status games. The practical takeaway is not to chase fame, but to choose your environment wisely: a good setting can "place you on the head" by giving your talents the right soil; a poor setting can make the same talent fade unnoticed.

සංත්යන්යේऽපි බෘහස්පතිප්රභෘතයඃ සංභාවිතාඃ පංචෂාස්
තාන්ප්රත්යේෂ විශේෂවික්රමරුචී රාහුර්න වෛරායතේ ।
ද්වාවේව ග්රසතේ දිවාකරනිශාප්රාණේශ්වරෞ භාස්කරෞ
භ්රාතඃ පර්වණි පශ්ය දානවපතිඃ ශීර්ෂාවශේෂාකෘතිඃ ॥ 1.34 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සංති - there are
අන්යේ - others
අපි - also (in verse as අන්යේऽපි)
බෘහස්පති - BRIhaspati (Jupiter; the teacher of the gods)
ප්රභෘතයඃ - beginning with; such as; and the rest
සංභාවිතාඃ - honored; esteemed
පංච - five
ෂට් - six (forming පංචෂාස්)
තාන් - them
ප්රති - toward
ඒශඃ - this
විශේෂ - special; extraordinary
වික්රම - prowess; power
රුචිඃ - inclination; taste (forming විශේෂවික්රමරුචී)
රාහුඃ - Rahu
න - not
වෛරායතේ - bears enmity; is hostile
ද්වෞ - two
ඒව - only
ග්රසතේ - swallows
දිවාකර - maker of day; the sun
නිශා - night
ප්රාණේශ්වරෞ - the lords of life (dvandva used here for sun and moon; in verse as නිශාප්රාණේශ්වරෞ)
භාස්කරෞ - the two luminaries (dual of භාස්කර)
භ්රාතඃ - O brother!
පර්වණි - on the eclipse day; at the (eclipse) occasion
පශ්ය - see!
දානවපතිඃ - lord of the demons
ශීර්ෂ - head
අවශේෂ - remaining; only remainder
ආකෘතිඃ - form; shape (forming ශීර්ෂාවශේෂාකෘතිඃ)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
There are other honored ones too - five or six such as BRIhaspati - but this Rahu, with a special appetite for prowess, does not show hostility toward them. He swallows only the two luminaries, the sun and the moon, the lords of day and night. Brother, look on the eclipse day: the demon-chief is a form that is nothing but a head.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse has two layers. First, it explains a mythic fact: රාහු is a "head-only" being, seen at පර්ව (eclipse), and he targets the sun and moon. Second, it points to a social reality: jealousy and rivalry often go toward the brightest. Average achievements do not attract intense opposition, but excellence does - it becomes a visible target. In modern life, if you do important work, expect scrutiny, criticism, and sometimes unfair attacks; do not take that as proof you are wrong, but as proof you are visible. The practical response is to keep your work and conduct clean so that even when "Rahu" bites, only the shadow falls, not your integrity.

වහති භුවනශ්රේණිං ශේෂඃ ඵණාඵලකස්ථිතාං
කමඨපතිනා මධ්යේපෘෂ්ඨං සදා ස ච ධාර්යතේ ।
තං අපි කුරුතේ ක්රෝඩාධීනං පයෝධිරනාදරාද්
අහහ මහතාං නිඃසීමානශ්චරිත්රවිභූතයඃ ॥ 1.35 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
වහති - carries; bears
භුවන - worlds; the cosmos
ශ්රේණිම් - a series/row (forming භුවනශ්රේණිං)
ශේෂඃ - ශේෂ (the cosmic serpent)
ඵණා - hood (of a serpent)
ඵලක - plate; surface (forming ඵණාඵලක)
ස්ථිතාම් - placed; resting (i.e., "resting on the hood-plates")
කමඨ - tortoise
පති - lord (forming කමඨපති - කූර්ම)
මධ්යේ - in the middle
පෘෂ්ඨම් - back (in verse as මධ්යේපෘෂ්ඨං = මධ්යේ + පෘෂ්ඨම්)
සදා - always
සඃ - he
ච - and
ධාර්යතේ - is supported; is borne
තම් - him (the tortoise)
අපි - even
කුරුතේ - makes
ක්රෝඩ - lap; bosom
අධීනම් - dependent; subject to (forming ක්රෝඩාධීනම්)
පයෝධිඃ - ocean
අනාදරාත් - out of indifference; without effort; as if casually
අහහ - alas! (exclamation of wonder)
මහතාම් - of the great
නිඃසීමානාඃ - limitless; boundless (in verse as නිඃසීමානශ්)
චරිත්ර - deeds; exploits; conduct
විභූතයඃ - glories; manifestations; powers

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
ශේෂ bears the series of worlds resting on the plates of his hoods; and he is always supported on his back by the lord of tortoises. Even that tortoise the ocean, as if casually, makes dependent on its lap. Alas - boundless are the wondrous powers of the great.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The imagery is cosmic, but the lesson is practical: even the mighty are held within a chain of support. ශේෂ supports worlds, yet is supported; the tortoise supports, yet is "held" by the ocean. In modern life, we forget this interdependence and start believing we are self-made; but your strength depends on unseen foundations - family effort, teachers, infrastructure, team members, and even nature itself. The verse gently dissolves arrogance: greatness does not mean "I need nobody"; it means you carry your responsibility well while acknowledging the supports that carry you. That awareness naturally produces විනය (humility) and gratitude, which are also forms of strength.

වරං පක්ෂච්ඡේදඃ සමදමඝවන්මුක්තකුලිශප්රහාරෛර්
උද්ගච්ඡද්බහුලදහනෝද්ගාරගුරුභිඃ ।
තුෂාරාද්රේඃ සූනෝරහහ පිතරි ක්ලේශවිවශේ
න චාසෞ සංපාතඃ පයසි පයසාං පත්යුරුචිතඃ ॥ 1.36 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
වරම් - better; preferable
පක්ෂ - wing
ච්ඡේදඃ - cutting; severing (forming පක්ෂච්ඡේදඃ)
සමද - proud; intoxicated; swollen with power
මඝවන් - Indra (in verse as මඝවන්)
මුක්ත - released; hurled
කුලිශ - thunderbolt
ප්රහාරෛඃ - with strikes/blows (forming මඝවන්මුක්තකුලිශප්රහාරෛඃ)
උද්ගච්ඡත් - rising up; flashing forth
බහුල - abundant; intense
දහන - fire
උද්ගාර - outburst; emission
ගුරුභිඃ - heavy; powerful; intense (forming උද්ගච්ඡද්බහුලදහනෝද්ගාරගුරුභිඃ)
තුෂාරාද්රේඃ - of the snowy mountain (Himalaya)
සූනෝඃ - of the son (genitive of සූනු)
අහහ - alas! (exclamation)
පිතරි - when the father (locative of පිතෘ)
ක්ලේශ - distress; suffering
විවශේ - overwhelmed; powerless (forming ක්ලේශවිවශේ)
න - not
ච - and
අසෞ - that
සංපාතඃ - plunge; leap; fall
පයසි - into water; into the ocean (locative of පයඃ)
පයසාම් - of waters
පත්යුඃ - of the lord (forming පයසාං පත්යුඃ - "lord of waters", the ocean)
උචිතඃ - proper; fitting

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Better the cutting off of wings by the thunderbolt-strikes hurled by proud Indra, fierce with blazing fire - for the son of the snowy mountain, alas, when his father was overwhelmed by distress. That plunge into the ocean was not fitting for the lord of waters.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse praises courage and responsibility over escape. පක්ෂච්ඡේද (wing-cutting) is painful, but it is an open encounter; සංපාත (a plunge into hiding/refuge) can look like survival, yet it may also be a flight from duty when elders or foundations are in crisis. In modern life, this appears when someone abandons a hard situation - family responsibility, a failing project, or a commitment - not because it is impossible, but because it is uncomfortable. The verse suggests a higher standard: face the storm honestly, accept loss if needed, but do not save your comfort at the cost of abandoning what you owe. That steadiness is also a form of ධෛර්ය (courage), without which neither worldly success nor inner growth becomes stable.

සිංහඃ ශිශුරපි නිපතති
මදමලිනකපෝලභිත්තිෂු ගජේෂු ।
ප්රකෘතිරියං සත්ත්වවතාං
න ඛලු වයස්තේජසෝ හේතුඃ ॥ 1.37 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ආර්යා): This is in ආර්යා Chandas/Meter: a මාත්රා-චංදස් counted by මාත්රාඃ (1 for ලඝු, 2 for ගුරු) rather than a fixed syllable count; the usual scheme is 12+18 මාත්රාඃ in the first half (30 total) and 12+15 මාත්රාඃ in the second half (27 total), often written as four lines; a natural යති (pause) occurs at the 12-මාත්රා split within each half.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සිංහඃ - lion
ශිශුඃ - child; cub
අපි - even
නිපතති - leaps upon; pounces
මද - rut; intoxication (as of an elephant)
මලින - stained; dirty
කපෝල - cheek/temple (of an elephant)
බිත්තිෂු - on the walls/sides/surfaces (forming කපෝලභිත්තිෂු - "on the broad cheek-sides")
ගජේෂු - on elephants (locative plural of ගජ)
ප්රකෘතිඃ - nature; innate disposition
ඉයම් - this
සත්ත්වවතාං - of those who have සත්ත්ව (inner strength; courage; steadiness)
න ඛලු - not indeed
වයඃ - age
තේජසහ් - of vigor; of brilliance; of valor
හේතුඃ - cause

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even a lion, though still a cub, pounces on elephants whose cheek-sides are stained with rut. Such is the nature of the courageous; age is not the true cause of valor.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse breaks a common assumption: that strength is primarily a function of age. තේජස් (vigor/valor) arises from inner සත්ත්ව (steadiness and courage), which can appear early when the mind is clear and focused. In modern life, you see this in young people who take responsibility quickly - a student who speaks truth in a difficult room, a young engineer who tackles a hard problem without hiding, or a new leader who refuses unethical shortcuts. The verse is also a reminder to elders: do not dismiss someone just because they are new or young; look for their ප්රකෘති (nature) and train it well. When courage is guided by wisdom, it becomes a lifelong asset.

ජාතිර්යාතු රසාතලං ගුණගණෛස්තත්රාප්යධෝ ගම්යතාං
ශීලං ශෛලතටාත්පතත්වභිජනඃ සංදහ්යතාං වහ්නිනා ।
ශෞර්යේ වෛරිණි වජ්රං ආශු නිපතත්වර්ථෝऽස්තු නඃ කේවලං
යේනෛකේන විනා ගුණස්තෘණලවප්රායාඃ සමස්තා ඉමේ ॥ 1.38 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ජාතිඃ - birth; lineage; caste
යාතු - let it go
රසාතලම් - to the netherworld
ගුණ - virtues; qualities
ගණෛඃ - with groups/multitudes (forming ගුණගණෛඃ)
තත්ර - there
අපි - also (forming තත්රාප්ය් = තත්ර + අපි)
අධඃ - downward; below
ගම්යතාම් - let it be gone; let it proceed
ශීලම් - character; good conduct
ශෛල - mountain
තටාත් - from a cliff/precipice
පතත්ව - falling; after falling (as in ශෛලතටාත්පතත්ව...)
භ්හිජනඃ - breaking; shattering (as in ...පතත්වභිජනඃ)
සංදහ්යතාම් - let it be burned
වහ්නිනා - by fire
ශෞර්යේ - in valor; in heroism
වෛරිණි - on the enemy
වජ්රම් - thunderbolt
ආශු - quickly
නිපතත් - falling (imperative sense: "let it fall")
අර්ථඃ - wealth; money; means
අස්තු - let it be
නඃ - for us; ours
කේවලම් - only
යේන - by which
ඒන - this (forming යේනෛකේන = යේන + ඒකේන)
ඒකේන - by the one (instrumental singular of ඒක)
විනා - without
ගුණාඃ - qualities/virtues
තෘණ - grass; straw
ලව - a small piece/fragment (forming තෘණලව)
ප්රායාඃ - almost like; comparable to (forming තෘණලවප්රායාඃ)
සමස්තාඃ - all
ඉමේ - these

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Let birth and lineage go to the netherworld; let all virtues go even lower there; let character fall from a mountain cliff, shatter, and be burned by fire; let a thunderbolt quickly strike the enemy in the matter of valor - let our one and only aim be wealth, because without that one thing all these "qualities" are as good as a blade of grass.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is intentionally shocking and is best read as biting social commentary. It exposes a harsh truth: when society worships අර්ථ (wealth) above everything, then ජාති, ගුණ, and ශීල are treated as worthless unless backed by money. In modern life, this appears when a person's respect changes overnight after a promotion or job loss, or when ethics are praised in speech but ignored in hiring and rewards. The verse does not have to be your value system; it is a mirror. The mature response is to acknowledge that money affects practical power, while refusing to let it become your only measure: build competence and financial stability, but keep ශීල (character) as the foundation so that success does not cost your soul.

ධනං අර්ජය කාකුත්ස්ථ
ධනමූලං ඉදං ජගත් ।
අංතරං නාභිජානාමි
නිර්ධනස්ය මෘතස්ය ච ॥ 1.39 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ධනම් - wealth; means
අර්ජය - earn; acquire
කාකුත්ස්ථ - descendant of Kakutstha; (address to) Rama
ධනමූලම් - having wealth as the root; based on wealth
ඉදම් - this
ජගත් - world
අංතරම් - difference; distinction
න - not
අභිජානාමි - I know; I recognize (in verse as නාභිජානාමි = න + අභිජානාමි)
නිර්ධනස්ය - of the poor; of one without wealth
මෘතස්ය - of the dead
ච - and

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Earn wealth, O කාකුත්ස්ථ; this world is rooted in wealth. I see no difference between one who is poor and one who is dead.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse states an uncomfortable worldly reality: without resources, a person is often treated as invisible. භර්තෘහරි is not asking you to worship money; he is warning you not to ignore the practical role of අර්ථ (means). In modern life, financial stability buys time, health choices, education, and the ability to serve others without desperation; lacking it can trap a person in constant crisis where even good intentions cannot act. The balanced takeaway is: earn ethically, budget wisely, and avoid avoidable dependence - and at the same time, remember that human worth is not money. When you can hold both truths, you protect yourself from poverty without becoming a slave of greed.

තානීංද්රියාණ්යවිකලානි තදේව නාම
සා බුද්ධිරප්රතිහතා වචනං තදේව ।
අර්ථෝෂ්මණා විරහිතඃ පුරුෂඃ ක්ෂණේන
සෝऽප්යන්ය ඒව භවතීති විචිත්රං ඒතථ් ॥ 1.40 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
තානි - those; the same
ඉංද්රියාණි - senses; faculties
අවිකලානි - unimpaired; intact
තත් - that; the same
ඒව - indeed; only
නාම - name
සා - that; the same
බුද්ධිඃ - intelligence; understanding
අප්රතිහතා - unobstructed; not struck down
වචනම් - speech; words
තත් - that; the same
ඒව - indeed
අර්ථ - wealth; means
උෂ්මණා - warmth; heat (instrumental of උෂ්මන්; forming අර්ථෝෂ්මණා)
විරහිතඃ - devoid of; separated from
පුරුෂඃ - person
ක්ෂණේන - in a moment
සඃ - he
අපි - even (forming සෝऽප්ය් = සඃ + අපි)
අන්යඃ - another; different
ඒව - indeed
භවති - becomes
ඉති - thus
විචිත්රම් - strange; astonishing
ඒතත් - this

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The senses are the same and unimpaired; the name is the same; the intelligence is the same and unobstructed; the speech is the same. Yet, in a moment, a person deprived of the "warmth" of wealth becomes as if another - how strange this is!

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse observes how quickly social perception changes with financial status. Nothing essential about the person has changed - ඉංද්රියා (faculties), බුද්ධි (intellect), and වචන (speech) remain - but without අර්ථ the person is treated as "other." In modern life, you see this after a job loss or business failure: the same individual is suddenly ignored, dismissed, or avoided. The verse is a reminder in two directions: first, build resilience so your life is not at the mercy of one external factor; second, do not become the crowd that worships money. අද්වෛත goes even deeper: behind all changing roles is the same ආත්මා - when you remember that, you can respect a person for their being, not for their bank balance.

යස්යාස්ති විත්තං ස නරඃ කුලීනඃ
ස පංඩිතඃ ස ශ්රුතවාන්ගුණජ්ඤඃ ।
ස ඒව වක්තා ස ච දර්ශනීයඃ
සර්වේ ගුණාඃ කාංචනං ආශ්රයංති ॥ 1.41 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
යස්ය - whose
අස්ති - exists; is
විත්තම් - wealth; property; means
සඃ - that
නරඃ - man; person
කුලීනඃ - of good family; noble-born (as judged by society)
සඃ - he
පංඩිතඃ - learned; wise
සඃ - he
ශ්රුතවාන් - learned; well-heard (one who has studied)
ගුණ - qualities; virtues
ජ්ඤඃ - knower (forming ගුණජ්ඤඃ)
සඃ - he
ඒව - indeed
වක්තා - speaker; (good) orator
සඃ - he
ච - and
දර්ශනීයඃ - worthy of being seen; attractive; respectable
සර්වේ - all
ගුණාඃ - qualities; virtues
කාංචනම් - gold; wealth
ආශ්රයංති - take refuge in; depend upon; reside in

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
He who has wealth is considered noble; he is considered learned and wise; he is considered educated and a knower of virtues; he alone is considered an orator and even worthy of regard. All "qualities", it seems, take refuge in gold.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse continues the theme of how society warps its judgments around money. It does not say that wealth truly creates ගුණ (virtue); it says that people often attribute every virtue to the wealthy, even when nothing else has changed. In modern life you can notice this bias in how quickly someone is called "brilliant" after success, and how quickly the same person is dismissed after failure. The practical takeaway is twofold: build financial stability so you are not unnecessarily vulnerable, and also train yourself not to confuse wealth with worth. Respect competence and character directly, not the shine of කාංචනම්.

දෞර්මංත්ර්යාන්නෘපතිර්විනශ්යති යතිඃ සංගාත්සුතෝ ලාලනාත්
විප්රෝऽනධ්යයනාත්කුලං කුතනයාච්ඡීලං ඛලෝපාසනාත් ।
හ්රීර්මද්යාදනවේක්ෂණාදපි කෘෂිඃ ස්නේහඃ ප්රවාසාශ්රයාන්
මෛත්රී චාප්රණයාත්සමෘද්ධිරනයාත්ත්යාගප්රමාදාද්ධනම් ॥ 1.42 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
දුර් - bad; harmful
මංත්ර්යාත් - from counsel/advice (ablative of මංත්ර in the sense of "counsel"; forming දෞර්මංත්ර්යාත්)
නෘපතිඃ - king; ruler
විනශ්යති - perishes; is ruined
යතිඃ - ascetic; one who restrains
සංගාත් - from association/company (සංග)
සුතඃ - son
ලාලනාත් - from pampering; indulgent fondling
විප්රඃ - Brahmin (as a representative of a student of ශාස්ත්ර)
අනධ්යයනාත් - from not studying (ablative of අන්-අධ්යයන)
කුලම් - family; lineage
කුතනයාත් - from a bad son (කු + තනය)
ශීලම් - character; conduct
ඛලෝපාසනාත් - from serving/associating with the wicked (ඛල + උපාසන)
හ්රීඃ - modesty; sense of propriety
මද්යාත් - from liquor/intoxication (මද්ය)
අනවේක්ෂණාත් - from lack of supervision; from neglect
අපි - even
කෘෂිඃ - agriculture; cultivation
ස්නේහඃ - affection; love
ප්රවාස - living away; separation; travel
ආශ්රයාත් - from taking refuge in; from dwelling in (forming ප්රවාසාශ්රයාත්)
මෛත්රී - friendship
ච - and
අප්රණයාත් - from lack of warmth/affection (ප්රණය)
සමෘද්ධිඃ - prosperity; flourishing
අනයාත් - from bad policy; from mismanagement (අ-නය)
ත්යාග - giving; charity
ප්රමාදාත් - from careless excess/neglect; from heedlessness
ධනම් - wealth

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
A king is ruined by bad counsel; an ascetic by wrong company; a son by pampering. A Brahmin by not studying; a family by a bad son; character by serving the wicked. Modesty by liquor; even agriculture by neglect; affection by living away. Friendship by lack of warmth; prosperity by bad governance; and wealth by careless giving.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a diagnostic verse: it pairs a role with the most common cause of its downfall. The pattern is simple - greatness is not usually destroyed by one dramatic event, but by a small, repeated weakness: a leader who listens to poor advisors, a seeker who keeps the wrong company, a child raised without boundaries, a student who stops learning, a family that tolerates a destructive member, or a person who normalizes ඛලෝපාසන (serving/appeasing the wicked). In modern life, the "anavEkShaNa" example is striking: even a good system fails without maintenance. The verse encourages preventive discipline: choose counsel carefully, set boundaries early, keep learning, supervise what you own, and protect relationships with presence and warmth. Many avoidable collapses are simply the result of ignoring these basics.

දානං භෝගෝ නාශස්තිස්රෝ
ගතයෝ භවංති විත්තස්ය ।
යෝ න දදාති න භුංක්තේ
තස්ය තෘතීයා ගතිර්භවති ॥ 1.43 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
දානම් - giving; charity
භෝගඃ - enjoyment; use
නාශඃ - loss; destruction
තිස්රඃ - three
ගතයඃ - courses; fates; outcomes
භවංති - become; are
විත්තස්ය - of wealth
යඃ - he who
න - not
දදාති - gives
න - not
භුංක්තේ - enjoys; uses
තස්ය - for him; of him
තෘතීයා - the third
ගතිඃ - fate; outcome
භවති - becomes

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Wealth has three possible outcomes: giving, enjoyment, and destruction. For the one who neither gives nor enjoys, the third fate - loss - inevitably becomes his.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is practical economics wrapped as ethics. If you have resources, you can either share them (දාන), use them wisely (භෝග as "appropriate enjoyment"), or lose them (නාශ) through time, neglect, inflation, disputes, or sudden events. Hoarding without purpose is not safety; it is simply postponing the third outcome. In modern life, this encourages intentionality: budget for giving, budget for necessary and uplifting enjoyment, and invest rather than letting money rot. From a spiritual angle, දාන reduces ලෝභ (greed) and loosens attachment, which supports inner freedom; but even on a purely worldly level, it is wiser to direct wealth than to be dragged by its decay.

මණිඃ ශාණෝල්ලීඪඃ සමරවිජයී හේතිදලිතෝ
මදක්ෂීණෝ නාගඃ ශරදි සරිතඃ ශ්යානපුලිනාඃ ।
කලාශේෂශ්චංද්රඃ සුරතමෘදිතා බාලවනිතා
තන්නිම්නා ශෝභංතේ ගලිතවිභවාශ්චාර්ථිෂු නරාඃ ॥ 1.44 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
මණිඃ - gem; jewel
ශාණා - whetstone; polishing stone
උල්ලීඪඃ - rubbed; polished; scraped (forming ශාණෝල්ලීඪඃ = ශාණා + උල්ලීඪඃ)
සමර - battle
විජයී - victorious (forming සමරවිජයී)
හේති - weapon
දලිතඃ - split; crushed; wounded (forming හේතිදලිතෝ)
මද - rut; intoxication (of an elephant)
ක්ෂීණඃ - diminished; dried up; exhausted (forming මදක්ෂීණෝ)
නාගඃ - elephant
ශරදි - in autumn (ශරද්)
සරිතඃ - rivers
ශ්යාන - dried/settled; calm; with exposed banks (in verse as ශ්යානපුලිනාඃ)
පුලිනාඃ - sandbanks/shores
කලා - digit; phase (as of the moon)
ශේෂඃ - remaining; remainder (forming කලාශේෂශ්චංද්රඃ)
චංද්රඃ - moon
සුරත - lovemaking; intimacy
මෘදිතා - softened; made tender; moved to tears
බාල - young
වනිතා - woman (forming සුරතමෘදිතා බාලවනිතා)
තත් - that; in that state
නිම්නාඃ - lowered; humbled; diminished
ශෝභංතේ - shine; are beautiful
ගලිත - fallen away; slipped off; lost
විභවාඃ - wealth; power (forming ගලිතවිභවාඃ)
ච - and; also
අර්ථිෂු - among supplicants; in the state of seeking/begging (අර්ථින්)
නරාඃ - people; men

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
A gem shines when polished on a whetstone; a warrior shines even when wounded after victory in battle; an elephant shines when the rut has dried up; rivers shine in autumn with exposed sandbanks; the moon shines when only a sliver of its phase remains; and a young woman shines when softened after intimacy. Likewise, people whose wealth has slipped away also shine when they become humble seekers.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The common thread is "beauty after reduction." Polishing removes roughness; battle and loss remove complacency; autumn reveals the shape of the river; the waning moon reveals delicacy; and tenderness after intimacy reveals softness. භර්තෘහරි applies this to people: when විභව (wealth/power) falls away, the swagger often dissolves and a more human humility appears - and that can be genuinely attractive. In modern life, setbacks sometimes make a person easier to relate to: they listen more, speak less harshly, and value relationships over status. The higher application is to choose that humility without needing the fall: let "polishing" happen through self-reflection and good company, not only through loss.

පරික්ෂීණඃ කශ්චිත්ස්පෘහයති යවානාං ප්රසෘතයේ
ස පශ්චාත්සංපූර්ණඃ කලයති ධරිත්රීං තෘණසමාම් ।
අතශ්චානෛකාංත්යාද්ගුරුලඝුතයාऽර්ථේෂු ධනිනාම්
අවස්ථා වස්තූනි ප්රථයති ච සංකෝචයති ච ॥ 1.45 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
පරික්ෂීණඃ - completely exhausted; impoverished; reduced
කශ්චිත් - someone
ස්පෘහයති - longs for; desires
යවානාම් - of barley
ප්රසෘතයේ - for a handful (a measure: "prasRuti")
සඃ - he
පශ්චාත් - later
සංපූර්ණඃ - full; satisfied; complete
කලයති - considers; regards
ධරිත්රීම් - the earth
තෘණසමාම් - as equal to grass; as mere straw
අතඃ - therefore
ච - and
අනෛකාංත්යාත් - from non-absoluteness; from the lack of a fixed one-sided measure (න + ඒකාංත)
ගුරු - heavy; great
ලඝුතයා - by lightness/smallness; by being "great or small" (forming ගුරුලඝුතයා)
අර්ථේෂු - in objects/wealth; in "things" (අර්ථ here as means/possessions)
ධනිනාම් - of the wealthy
අවස්ථා - condition; state
වස්තූනි - things; objects
ප්රථයති - expands; magnifies; makes appear large
ච - and
සංකෝචයති - contracts; diminishes; makes appear small
ච - and

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Someone utterly impoverished longs for a mere handful of barley; later, once full and satisfied, he regards even the whole earth as no more than straw. Therefore, because there is no fixed measure in these matters, the condition of the wealthy makes things appear great or small - it expands them and it also shrinks them.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is about relativity of perception. Hunger makes a handful of barley look like treasure; satiety makes even the world look small. අනෛකාංත්ය means "no single fixed standpoint": value changes with state of mind and circumstance. In modern life this is why people experience lifestyle inflation - yesterday's luxury becomes today's baseline - and why desires keep shifting rather than ending. The practical application is to watch the moving target: before chasing "more", ask whether the craving is about real need or about inner emptiness. When you cultivate contentment and clarity, you stop letting circumstances decide what feels "big" or "small", and you choose deliberately.

රාජංදුධුක්ෂසි යදි ක්ෂිතිධේනුං ඒතාං
තේනාද්ය වත්සං ඉව ලෝකං අමුං පුෂාණ
තස්මිංශ්ච සම්යගනිශං පරිපෝෂ්යමාණේ
නානාඵලෛඃ ඵලති කල්පලතේව භූමිඃ ॥ 1.46 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
රාජන් - O king!
දුහුක්ෂසි - you wish to milk (desiderative/intent sense from දුහ්)
යදි - if
ක්ෂිති - earth
ධේනුම් - cow (accusative of ධේනු), forming ක්ෂිතිධේනුම් ("earth-cow")
ඒතාම් - this
තේන - therefore; by that
අද්ය - today; now
වත්සම් - calf
ඉව - like
ලෝකම් - the people; the world
අමුම් - this
පුෂාණ - nourish! (imperative of පුෂ්)
තස්මින් - in that; when that (in verse as තස්මිංශ්ච = තස්මින් + ච)
ච - and
සම්යක් - properly; well
අනිශම් - continually; without break
පරිපෝෂ්යමාණේ - being well-nourished; being properly cared for
නානා - many kinds
ඵලෛඃ - with fruits/results (instrumental plural of ඵල)
ඵලති - bears fruit; yields
කල්පලතා - wish-fulfilling creeper
ඉව - like
භූමිඃ - earth

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
O king, if you wish to milk this earth-cow, then nourish this people-world as you would a calf. When it is properly and continually cared for, the earth yields many fruits like a wish-fulfilling creeper.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a classic teaching on leadership: you cannot extract sustainably without first investing. The metaphor is simple: if the ruler wants revenue and prosperity, the "calf" - the people - must be nourished through protection, fairness, and opportunity. In modern life, the same principle applies to managers and institutions: you cannot demand output while starving the inputs (time, training, psychological safety, and decent compensation). When people are cared for, they naturally create value; the system becomes a කල්පලතා (wish-fulfilling creeper) not by magic, but by good conditions. The verse is a reminder that real prosperity is grown, not squeezed.

සත්යානෘතා ච පරුෂා ප්රියවාදිනී ච
හිංස්රා දයාලුරපි චාර්ථපරා වදාන්යා ।
නිත්යව්යයා ප්රචුරනිත්යධනාගමා ච
වාරාංගනේව නෘපනීතිරනේකරූපා ॥ 1.47 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සත්ය - true
අනෘතා - untrue; false (forming සත්යානෘතා - both truth and falsehood)
ච - and
පරුෂා - harsh; rough
ප්රිය - pleasing; dear
වාදිනී - speaking (feminine; forming ප්රියවාදිනී - sweet-speaking)
ච - and
හිංස්රා - violent; causing harm
දයාලුඃ - compassionate; kind
අපි - also
ච - and
අර්ථ - wealth; interest; advantage
පරා - devoted to; centered on (forming චාර්ථපරා)
වදාන්යා - generous; giving
නිත්ය - constant; always
ව්යයා - spending; expenditure (forming නිත්යව්යයා)
ප්රචුර - abundant; much
අනිත්ය - uncertain; not steady
ධන - wealth
ආගමා - income; arrival/coming-in (forming ප්රචුරනිත්යධනාගමා)
ච - and
වාරාංගනා - courtesan; prostitute
ඒව - like; just as
නෘප - king
නීතිඃ - policy; conduct; statecraft (forming නෘපනීතිඃ)
අනේකරූපා - of many forms; multifaceted

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The policy of kings is many-formed like a courtesan: it can be truthful and false, harsh and sweet-speaking; violent and yet compassionate; greedy for gain and yet generous; always spending, and yet receiving uncertain income.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a realistic description of political life: statecraft often shifts masks depending on need. By comparing it to a වාරාංගනා (courtesan), භර්තෘහරි implies skillful performance, but also moral ambiguity. In modern life, this helps you avoid naivety: institutions may speak sweetly while protecting interests, and may be kind in one situation and harsh in another. The practical application is to judge by consistent actions, not by temporary words; and if you hold leadership, to remember that flexibility need not mean deceit. Strong governance can be firm without cruelty and strategic without abandoning ධර්ම.

ආජ්ඤා කීර්තිඃ පාලනං බ්රාහ්මණානාං
දානං භෝගෝ මිත්රසංරක්ෂණං ච
යේෂාං ඒතේ ෂඩ්ගුණා න ප්රවෘත්තාඃ
කෝऽර්ථස්තේෂාං පාර්ථිවෝපාශ්රයේණ ॥ 1.48 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ශාලිනී): This is in ශාලිනී (ත්රිෂ්ටුභ් class) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 11 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `GGGG GLG GLGG`; යති (pause) is after the 4th syllable (and some traditions also observe an additional pause after the 7th).

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ආජ්ඤා - command; authority; the power to give orders
කීර්තිඃ - fame; good reputation
පාලනම් - protection; care
බ්රාහ්මණානාං - of බ්රාහ්මණs (learned and principled people; guardians of ශාස්ත්ර)
දානම් - giving; generosity
භෝගඃ - enjoyment; rightful use of resources
මිත්ර - friend; ally
සංරක්ෂණම් - protection; safeguarding (forming මිත්රසංරක්ෂණම්)
ච - and
යේෂාං - for whom; of those in whom
ඒතේ - these
ෂඩ් - six
ගුණාඃ - qualities
න - not
ප්රවෘත්තාඃ - active; practiced; functioning
කඃ - what
අර්ථඃ - use; purpose; benefit (in verse as කෝऽර්ථඃ = කඃ + අර්ථඃ)
තේෂාං - of/for them
පාර්ථිව - kingly; royal
උපාශ්රයේණ - by resorting to; by taking refuge in (forming පාර්ථිවෝපාශ්රයේණ)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Authority, reputation, protection of the learned, generosity, rightful enjoyment, and safeguarding of friends - if these six qualities are not present, what use is kingship (or dependence on such kingship) at all?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse defines leadership in responsibilities rather than in privilege. ආජ්ඤා is meaningful only when it creates order; කීර්ති comes from trust; protecting the learned means protecting values and long-term wisdom; දාන keeps society circulating; භෝග reminds that resources are meant to be used, not merely hoarded; and මිත්රසංරක්ෂණ is loyalty to allies and commitments. In modern life, these map well to good management: clear decisions, credibility, protecting expertise, fair rewards, healthy use of budgets, and standing by your people. Without these, authority becomes empty power, and people eventually stop trusting it.

යද්ධාත්රා නිජභාලපට්ටලිඛිතං ස්තෝකං මහද්වා ධනං
තත්ප්රාප්නෝති මරුස්ථලේऽපි නිතරාං මේරෞ තතෝ නාධිකම් ।
තද්ධීරෝ භව විත්තවත්සු කෘපණාං වෘත්තිං වෘථා සා කෘථාඃ
කූපේ පශ්ය පයෝනිධාවපි ඝටෝ ගෘහ්ණාති තුල්යං ජලම් ॥ 1.49 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
යත් - what; whatever
ධාත්රා - by the creator; by fate/dispensation (ධාතෘ)
නිජ - one's own
භාලපට්ට - the "forehead-surface" (as a place where fate is said to be written)
ලිඛිතම් - written
ස්තෝකම් - little
මහත් - great; much
වා - or
ධනම් - wealth
තත් - that
ප්රාප්නෝති - attains; obtains
මරුස්ථලේ - even in a desert (locative of මරුස්ථල)
අපි - even (forming මරුස්ථලේऽපි)
නිතරාම් - surely; completely
මේරෞ - on Meru (locative of මේරු)
තතඃ - than that
න - not
අධිකම් - more
තත් - therefore
ධීරඃ - steady; patient; composed
භව - be (imperative)
විත්තවත්සු - in matters of wealth; regarding wealth
කෘපණාම් - miserly; stingy (accusative feminine of කෘපණ)
වෘත්තිම් - conduct; habit
වෘථා - in vain; uselessly
සා - that
කෘථාඃ - you have done (2nd person; in verse as කෘථාඃ)
කූපේ - in a well
පශ්ය - see!
පයෝනිධෞ - in the ocean (literally, "treasury of waters")
අපි - even
ඝටඃ - pot; bucket
ගෘහ්ණාති - takes; draws
තුල්යම් - equal; the same
ජලම් - water

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Whatever little or much wealth the dispenser of fate has written on one's own forehead, one obtains it - even in a desert; and even on Meru one does not get more than that. Therefore, be steady about wealth and do not adopt a miserly way of life in vain. Look: whether in a well or even in the ocean, a pot draws only the same measure of water.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse combines fate and restraint. It is saying: within whatever "quota" life brings, excessive anxiety and stinginess do not actually expand the bucket. The pot-and-ocean image is excellent: you can stand before a vast opportunity, but you still draw only what your capacity and preparedness allow. In modern life, this can be read as a warning against both greed and paralysis: work and plan, but do not let fear turn you into a කෘපණ (miser) who cannot enjoy, share, or trust. A calm, generous mind uses resources intelligently; a tight, panicked mind hoards and still feels poor. The verse points toward ධෛර්ය (steadiness) and proportion.

ත්වං ඒව චාතකාධාරෝऽ
සීති කේෂාං න ගෝචරඃ ।
කිං අංභෝදවරාස්මාකං
කාර්පණ්යෝක්තං ප්රතීක්ෂසේ ॥ 1.50 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ත්වම් - you
ඒව - alone; indeed
චාතක - the චාතක bird (poetically known for waiting only for rain from clouds)
ආධාරඃ - support; refuge (in verse as ආධාරෝऽ)
අසි - you are (sandhi in verse: ආධාරෝऽ සීති = ආධාරඃ + අසි + ඉති)
ඉති - thus; this (statement)
කේෂාං - of whom? / for whom?
න - not
ගෝචරඃ - within reach; within awareness
කිම් - why?
අංභෝද - cloud
වර - best; excellent (forming අංභෝදවර)
අස්මාකම් - of us (in verse as අංභෝදවරාස්මාකං = අංභෝදවර + අස්මාකම්)
කාර්පණ්ය - wretchedness; helplessness; petty begging
උක්තම් - spoken words; utterance (forming කාර්පණ්යෝක්තං)
ප්රතීක්ෂසේ - do you wait for? do you expect?

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
You alone are the refuge of the චාතක - who does not know this? Then, O best of clouds, why do you wait for our wretched pleading words?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The චාතක is a symbol of single-pointed dependence: it is said to drink only raindrops from the cloud, not water from the ground. That exclusive trust is both its beauty and its vulnerability. In modern life, the verse can be read in two directions. For the seeker, it suggests focus: if you decide what truly sustains you (values, truth, inner steadiness), do not keep bargaining with lesser sources. For the giver or leader (the "cloud"), it is a reminder not to wait for people to beg: nourish proactively, especially when you already know the need. When help has to be extracted through කාර්පණ්ය (humiliating pleading), something in the relationship is already unhealthy.

රේ රේ චාතක සාවධානමනසා මිත්ර ක්ෂණං ශ්රූයතාම්
අංභෝදා බහවෝ වසංති ගගනේ සර්වේऽපි නෛතාදෘශාඃ ।
කේචිද්වෘෂ්ටිභිරාර්ද්රයංති වසුධාං ගර්ජංති කේචිද්වෘථා
යං යං පශ්යසි තස්ය තස්ය පුරතෝ මා බ්රූහි දීනං වචඃ ॥ 1.51 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
රේ රේ - hey! hey! (calling out)
චාතක - the චාතක bird
සාවධාන - attentive; alert
මනසා - with the mind (instrumental)
මිත්ර - O friend!
ක්ෂණම් - for a moment
ශ්රූයතාම් - let it be heard; please listen (imperative)
අංභෝදාඃ - clouds
බහවඃ - many
වසංති - dwell; are present
ගගනේ - in the sky
සර්වේ - all
අපි - even/also (sandhi in verse: සර්වේऽපි = සර්වේ + අපි)
න - not
ඒතාදෘශාඃ - of this kind; like this
කේචිත් - some
වෘෂ්ටිභිඃ - with rain (instrumental plural of වෘෂ්ටි)
ආර්ද්රයංති - moisten; make wet
වසුධාම් - the earth
ගර්ජංති - roar; thunder
වෘථා - in vain; uselessly
යං යම් - whichever; whatever (repeated for emphasis)
පශ්යසි - you see
තස්ය තස්ය - of that one, of that one (repeated for emphasis)
පුරතඃ - in front of; before
මා - do not
බ්රූහි - speak; say (imperative)
දීනම් - pitiable; lowly
වචඃ - words; speech

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
O චාතක, listen for a moment with an attentive mind, my friend. There are many clouds in the sky, but not all are like this one. Some truly wet the earth with rain; some merely thunder in vain. So, whichever one you see, do not utter pitiable words before each and every one.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse teaches discernment in seeking help. The චාතක is famous in poetry for its single-pointed hope in clouds, but භර්තෘහරි adds realism: not every cloud gives rain - some only make noise. In daily life, this is the difference between people who deliver and people who perform: a mentor who actually makes time vs. one who only offers slogans; a leader who acts vs. one who only announces; a friend who shows up vs. one who only sympathizes. The practical takeaway is not cynicism, but විවේක (discernment): choose where you place your vulnerability, do not beg indiscriminately, and do not train your own tongue into දීනතා (self-diminishing speech) in front of those who cannot or will not help.

අකරුණත්වං අකාරණවිග්රහඃ
පරධනේ පරයෝෂිති ච ස්පෘහා ।
සුජනබංධුජනේෂ්වසහිෂ්ණුතා
ප්රකෘතිසිද්ධං ඉදං හි දුරාත්මනාම් ॥ 1.52 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ද්රුතවිලංබිතම්): This is in ද්රුතවිලංබිතම් Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 12 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `LLLGLLGLLGLG`. No obligatory යති (pause) is defined for this meter; pauses follow sense and natural දංඩ breaks.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
අකරුණත්වම් - lack of compassion; cruelty
අකාරණ - without cause; causeless
විග්රහඃ - quarrel; hostility (forming අකාරණ-විග්රහඃ)
පර - others'
ධනේ - in wealth (locative; "in others' wealth")
පර - others'
යෝෂිති - in a woman (locative; "in another's wife"; යෝෂිත් = woman)
ච - and
ස්පෘහා - longing; covetous desire
සුජන - good people; the noble
බංධු - kin; relatives
ජනේෂු - toward people (locative plural of ජන)
අසහිෂ්ණුතා - intolerance; inability to bear
ප්රකෘති - nature; innate disposition
සිද්ධම් - established; inherent; already-formed
ඉදම් - this
හි - indeed
දුරාත්මනාම් - of the evil-minded; of the wicked (genitive plural of දුරාත්මන්)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Cruelty, causeless quarrel, coveting others' wealth and others' women, and intolerance toward good people and even relatives - these are, indeed, innate traits of the wicked.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse is a checklist for character. භර්තෘහරි points out that some behaviors are not occasional mistakes but stable patterns: a lack of empathy, conflict without reason, hunger for what belongs to others, and irritation toward the very people who are good or close. In modern life, this helps you set boundaries early: do not excuse repeated cruelty as "honesty", do not normalize constant drama as "just their style", and do not ignore a person's comfort with exploiting others. The practical application is to evaluate people by recurring tendencies, not by isolated charm; and to protect your time, trust, and relationships from those whose ප්රකෘති repeatedly moves toward harm.

දුර්ජනඃ පරිහර්තව්යෝ
විද්යයාऽලකෘතෝऽපි සන් ।
මණිනා භූෂිතඃ සර්පඃ
කිං අසෞ න භයංකරඃ ॥ 1.53 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
දුර්ජනඃ - a wicked person
පරිහර්තව්යඃ - should be avoided; should be kept away
විද්යයා - by knowledge; by learning (instrumental of විද්යා)
අලංකෘතඃ - adorned; decorated (sandhi in verse: විද්යයාऽලකෘතෝऽපි = විද්යයා + අලංකෘතඃ + අපි)
අපි - even
සන් - even being; though being
මණිනා - with a jewel/gem (instrumental)
භූෂිතඃ - adorned
සර්පඃ - snake
කිම් - what? / is it not?
අසෞ - that one; he
න - not
භයංකරඃ - frightening; dangerous

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
A wicked person should be avoided even if adorned with learning; is not a snake, even when decorated with a jewel, still dangerous?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse distinguishes "skill" from "goodness." Knowledge can sharpen the capacity to argue, persuade, and strategize - but if the person is දුර්ජන (wicked), that sharpness becomes more dangerous, not less. In daily life, you may meet a brilliant colleague who undermines others, a charismatic leader who manipulates, or a well-read person who uses words to wound; the "jewel" of talent does not remove the poison of character. The practical takeaway is to prioritize trustworthiness and empathy over mere intelligence when choosing friends, partners, and leaders - and to keep distance from a "decorated snake" even when it shines.

ජාඩ්යං හ්රීමති ගණ්යතේ ව්රතරුචෞ දංභඃ ශුචෞ කෛතවං
ශූරේ නිර්ඝෘණතා මුනෞ විමතිතා දෛන්යං ප්රියාලාපිනි ।
තේජස්වින්යවලිප්තතා මුඛරතා වක්තර්යශක්තිඃ ස්ථිරේ
තත්කෝ නාම ගුණෝ භවේත්ස ගුණිනාං යෝ දුර්ජනෛර්නාංකිතඃ ॥ 1.54 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ජාඩ්යම් - dullness; stupidity
හ්රීමති - in a modest/shy person (locative of හ්රීමත්)
ගණ්යතේ - is counted; is considered
ව්රත - vow; disciplined observance
රුචෞ - in one who delights in vows/discipline (locative of ව්රතරුචි)
දංභඃ - hypocrisy; pretence
ශුචෞ - in a pure person (locative of ශුචි)
කෛතවම් - deceit; trickery
ශූරේ - in a hero/valiant person (locative of ශූර)
නිර්ඝෘණතා - ruthlessness; lack of pity
මුනෞ - in a sage (locative of මුනි)
විමතිතා - wrong thinking; perversity; folly
දෛන්යම් - meanness; low-mindedness
ප්රිය - pleasing; dear
ආලාපිනි - in one who speaks pleasantly (locative feminine of ප්රියාලාපින්)
තේජස්විනි - in a radiant/powerful person (locative of තේජස්වින්)
අවලිප්තතා - arrogance; conceit
මුඛරතා - talkativeness; loquacity
වක්තරි - in a speaker; in one who speaks (locative of වක්ත්ऱ්)
අශක්තිඃ - inability; incapacity (forming වක්තර්යශක්තිඃ = වක්තරි + අශක්තිඃ)
ස්ථිරේ - in a steady person (locative of ස්ථිර)
තත් - then; therefore
කඃ - what? who?
නාම - indeed; really (emphatic)
ගුණඃ - virtue; quality
භවේත් - could be; would be
සඃ - that
ගුණිනාම් - of the virtuous; of good people
යඃ - which
දුර්ජනෛඃ - by wicked people (instrumental plural)
න - not
අංකිතඃ - marked/tainted; labeled (as in නාංකිතඃ)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
In a modest person, dullness is counted; in one devoted to vows, hypocrisy; in a pure person, deceit; in a hero, ruthlessness; in a sage, perversity; in one who speaks pleasantly, meanness. In a radiant person, arrogance; in a speaker, talkativeness; in a steady person, inability to speak. Then what virtue of the virtuous is there that is not labeled by the wicked?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse describes the "lens" of a cynical mind. A දුර්ජන can twist any virtue into a fault: modesty becomes stupidity, discipline becomes pretence, purity becomes deception, courage becomes cruelty, and steadiness becomes silence. In modern life, this appears as chronic negativity - the person who cannot appreciate anything without adding a sneer, who interprets boundaries as "attitude," and humility as "lack of confidence." The practical takeaway is twofold: first, do not base your self-image on such judgments; second, be careful not to become that person yourself. A mind trained in මත්සර (envy) will always find a way to diminish others; a mind trained in විවේක (discernment) learns to see the virtue without naive idealization.

ලෝභශ්චේදගුණේන කිං පිශුනතා යද්යස්ති කිං පාතකෛඃ
සත්යං චේත්තපසා ච කිං ශුචි මනෝ යද්යස්ති තීර්ථේන කිම් ।
සෞජන්යං යදි කිං ගුණෛඃ සුමහිමා යද්යස්ති කිං මංඩනෛඃ
සද්විද්යා යදි කිං ධනෛරපයශෝ යද්යස්ති කිං මෘත්යුනා ॥ 1.55 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ලෝභඃ - greed
චේත් - if (sandhi in verse as චේද්)
අගුණේන - with lack of virtue; by bad qualities (instrumental of අගුණ)
කිම් - what (use)? / what then?
පිශුනතා - slander; malicious speech; backbiting
යදි - if
අස්ති - exists; is present
කිම් - what (need)?
පාතකෛඃ - with sins (instrumental plural of පාතක)
සත්යම් - truthfulness
චේත් - if
තපසා - by austerity; by disciplined effort (instrumental)
ච - and
කිම් - what (need)?
ශුචි - pure
මනඃ - mind
යදි - if
අස්ති - exists
තීර්ථේන - by pilgrimage/holy place (instrumental of තීර්ථ)
කිම් - what (need)?
සෞජන්යම් - good nature; kindness; nobility
යදි - if
කිම් - what (need)?
ගුණෛඃ - with qualities (instrumental plural)
සු - very; great
මහිමා - greatness; glory (forming සුමහිමා)
යදි - if
අස්ති - exists
කිම් - what (need)?
මංඩනෛඃ - with ornaments/adornments (instrumental plural of මංඩන)
සත් - true; good
විද්යා - knowledge (forming සද්විද්යා)
යදි - if
කිම් - what (need)?
ධනෛඃ - with wealth (instrumental plural)
අපයශඃ - bad fame; dishonor
යදි - if
අස්ති - exists
කිම් - what (need)?
මෘත්යුනා - by death (instrumental of මෘත්යු)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
If greed is present, what use are virtues? If slander is present, what need of more sins? If there is truthfulness, what need of austerities? If the mind is pure, what need of pilgrimage? If there is nobility, what need of other qualities? If there is great inherent glory, what need of ornaments? If there is true knowledge, what need of wealth? And if there is dishonor, what need of death?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse contrasts essentials with accessories. Inner corruption like ලෝභ (greed) cancels the value of outward "virtues"; and inner clarity like සත්යම් (truthfulness) and ශුචි මනඃ (a pure mind) makes many external badges unnecessary. In daily life, this is a reminder to optimize for root causes: fix the habit that is poisoning the system, not the decoration around it. If a workplace culture rewards backbiting (පිශුනතා), training programs won't save it; if a person has honesty and goodwill (සෞජන්ය), they do not need constant image-management to be respected. The practical application is to invest in the "inside" first - character, clarity, and right intention - because those quietly make many outer supports redundant.

ශශී දිවසධූසරෝ ගලිතයෞවනා කාමිනී
සරෝ විගතවාරිජං මුඛං අනක්ෂරං ස්වාකෘතේඃ ।
ප්රභුර්ධනපරායණඃ සතතදුර්ගතඃ සජ්ජනෝ
නෘපාංගණගතඃ ඛලෝ මනසි සප්ත ශල්යානි මේ ॥ 1.56 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ශශී - the moon
දිවස - daytime
ධූසරඃ - pale; dust-colored (forming දිවසධූසරඃ)
ගලිත - fallen away; lost
යෞවනා - youth (forming ගලිතයෞවනා - one whose youth has gone)
කාමිනී - a beloved woman; a woman of charm
සරඃ - lake
විගත - gone; devoid of
වාරිජම් - lotus (literally, "born of water"; forming විගතවාරිජම්)
මුඛම් - face
අනක්ෂරම් - without letters; illiterate (literally "without අක්ෂර")
ස්වාකෘතේඃ - by one's own making/deeds ("because of one's own doing")
ප්රභුඃ - master; lord
ධන - wealth
පරායණඃ - wholly devoted to (forming ධනපරායණඃ)
සතතම් - always
දුර්ගතඃ - in misfortune; in distress
සජ්ජනඃ - a good person
නෘප - king
අංගණ - courtyard; assembly; circle (forming නෘපාංගණ)
ගතඃ - gone to; residing in
ඛ්හලඃ - wicked person
මනසි - in the mind
සප්ත - seven
ශල්යානි - thorns; spears; painful pricks
මේ - for me; in me

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
A moon that looks pale in daytime, a beloved whose youth has faded, a lake with no lotuses, a face made illiterate by its own doing, a master devoted only to wealth, a good person always in misfortune, and a wicked person seated in the king's circle - these are seven thorns in my mind.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a verse of "painful sights" - things that feel wrong to the heart because they are reversals of what should be. Some are natural (the moon fades in day), but others reveal avoidable decline: a face becoming අනක්ෂර (unlettered) by one's own choices, the powerful worshiping wealth alone, and the ඛ්හල thriving in courts while the සජ්ජන struggles. In modern life, this is the discomfort you feel when incentives are misaligned: when unethical people are rewarded, when learning is neglected, or when relationships are reduced to transactions. The practical application is to correct the "system" you can control: keep learning so you do not become "letterless" by neglect, choose leaders and teams that reward integrity, and do not be shocked that the world sometimes misplaces its honors - instead, quietly build a life where goodness and competence still have a home.

න කශ්චිච්චංඩකෝපානාම්
ආත්මීයෝ නාම භූභුජාම් ।
හෝතාරං අපි ජුහ්වානං
ස්පෘෂ්ටෝ වහති පාවකඃ ॥ 1.57 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
න - not
කශ්චිත් - anyone
චංඩ - fierce; violent
කෝපානාම් - of those of anger; of the wrathful (genitive plural; forming චංඩකෝපානාම්)
ආත්මීයඃ - one's own; belonging to oneself
නාම - named; truly (emphatic)
භූභුජාම් - of kings (genitive plural of භූභුජ්)
හෝතාරම් - the priest; the sacrificer (accusative of හෝත්ऱ්)
අපි - even
ජුහ්වානම් - offering; performing oblations
ස්පෘෂ්ටඃ - touched
වහති - carries away; burns; consumes
පාවකඃ - fire

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For kings given to fierce anger, no one is truly "their own." Even the priest who offers oblations - when touched, fire carries him away (burns him).

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a warning about unstable power. When a ruler is ruled by චංඩ කෝප (violent anger), relationships become unsafe - even loyal service does not guarantee protection. Fire is the metaphor: it accepts offerings, yet it burns the hand that touches it. In modern life, this applies to any volatile authority: a manager who explodes unpredictably, a patron who humiliates people, or a relationship where anger dominates. The practical takeaway is to reduce exposure: keep communication factual, avoid needless proximity, document work, and do not rely on "closeness" as security. Where anger is the operating system, even the well-intentioned get scorched.

මෞනෝමූකඃ ප්රවචනපටුර්බාටුලෝ ජල්පකෝ වා
ධෘෂ්ටඃ පාර්ශ්වේ වසති ච සදා දූරතශ්චාප්රගල්භඃ ।
ක්ෂාංත්යා භීරුර්යදි න සහතේ ප්රායශෝ නාභිජාතඃ
සේවාධර්මඃ පරමගහනෝ යෝගිනාං අප්යගම්යඃ ॥ 1.58 ॥

ඡංදඃ (මංදාක්රාංතා): This is in මංදාක්රාංතා (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 17 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `GGGG LLLLLG GLGGLGG`; යති (pause) is after the 4th and 10th syllables in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
මෞනඃ - silent (in verse as මෞනෝ)
මූකඃ - dumb; unable to speak (forming මෞනෝමූකඃ - "silent and dumb")
ප්රවචන - speech; discourse
පටුඃ - skilled; adept (forming ප්රවචනපටුඃ)
බාටුලඃ - mad; foolish; nonsensical
ජල්පකඃ - a chatterer
වා - or
ධෘෂ්ටඃ - bold; impudent
පාර්ශ්වේ - at the side; near
වසති - stays; resides
ච - and
සදා - always
දූරතඃ - from far away
ච - and (sandhi in verse: දූරතශ්චා = දූරතඃ + ච)
අප්රගල්භඃ - timid; not bold
ක්ෂාංත්යා - by patience/forbearance (instrumental of ක්ෂාංති)
භීරුඃ - timid; fearful
යදි - if
න - not
සහතේ - endures; bears
ප්රායශඃ - for the most part
න - not
අභිජාතඃ - well-born; noble
සේවා - service
ධර්මඃ - duty; way of life
පරම - extremely
ගහනඃ - hard to fathom; difficult
යෝගිනාම් - of yogis (genitive plural)
අපි - even
අගම්යඃ - not easily reachable/understood; difficult to master

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
In service one becomes silent and dumb, or skilled in speech, or a fool, or a chatterer; one stays near with boldness, or stays far with constant timidity. If one endures with patience, one is called fearful; if one does not endure, one is called not well-born. The "duty" of service is extremely hard to navigate - even for yogis it is difficult to master.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි is describing the psychological contortions of serving volatile power. Whatever posture you adopt gets misread: silence is taken as incompetence, clarity as insolence, patience as cowardice, refusal to endure as "bad breeding." In modern life, this is the experience of working under a toxic boss or inside a political environment where signals matter more than truth. The practical takeaway is: do not romanticize such settings. If you must serve, serve with clear limits, document decisions, and protect your mind; and if you can choose, prefer environments where speech, competence, and integrity are not punished. In the මංදාක්රාංතා rhythm (famous from මේඝදූත), the verse itself feels like a long, weary march - matching the fatigue of navigating such service.

උද්භාසිතාඛිලඛලස්ය විශෘංඛලස්ය
ප්රාග්ජාතවිස්තෘතනිජාධමකර්මවෘත්තේඃ ।
දෛවාදවාප්තවිභවස්ය ගුණද්විෂෝऽස්ය
නීචස්ය ගෝචරගතෛඃ සුඛං ආප්යතේ ॥ 1.59 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
උද්භාසිත - made manifest; displayed openly
අඛිල - all; entire
ඛලස්ය - of the wicked person (genitive of ඛල)
විශෘංඛලස්ය - unbridled; without restraint (genitive of විශෘංඛ්හල)
ප්රාක් - earlier; previously
ජාත - born; arisen
විස්තෘත - spread; expanded
නිජ - one's own
අධම - base; low
කර්ම - actions
වෘත්තේඃ - by conduct/habit (instrumental; in verse as කර්මවෘත්තේඃ)
දෛවාත් - by fate; by destiny
අවාප්ත - obtained
විභවස්ය - of wealth/power (genitive of විභව)
ගුණ - virtue; quality
ද්විෂඃ - of the hater (genitive of ද්විෂ්; forming ගුණද්විෂඃ)
අස්ය - of this one (sandhi in verse: ද්විෂෝऽස්ය = ද්විෂඃ + අස්ය)
නීචස්ය - of the low person
ගෝචර - range; sphere; domain
ගතෛඃ - by going/moving (instrumental plural of ගත)
සුඛම් - happiness; ease
ආප්යතේ - is obtained; is attained

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For the low person - whose wickedness is openly displayed and unrestrained, whose earlier base deeds and habits have already spread far, who has obtained wealth by fate, and who hates virtue - happiness is attained only by moving within the spheres that suit him.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a study in "misplaced success." A person can gain විභව (wealth/power) by chance and still remain inwardly crude - and then they seek comfort only among circles that do not challenge that crudeness. In modern life, this is why bad incentives corrode cultures: when a team rewards shortcuts, the ගුණද්විෂ් (hater of virtue) feels at home and the conscientious feel alien. The takeaway is not despair but realism: if you want to grow, choose circles that raise your standards; and if you hold responsibility, do not elevate the openly unrestrained. Otherwise, the environment will slowly reshape itself to fit the lowest preferences.

ආරංභගුර්වී ක්ෂයිණී ක්රමේණ
ලඝ්වී පුරා වෘද්ධිමතී ච පශ්චාත් ।
දිනස්ය පූර්වාර්ධපරාර්ධභින්නා
ඡායේව මෛත්රී ඛලසජ්ජනානාම් ॥ 1.60 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ආරංභ - beginning
ගුර්වී - heavy; intense
ක්ෂයිණී - diminishing; waning
ක්රමේණ - gradually; in due course
ලඝ්වී - light; slight
පුරා - earlier; at first
වෘද්ධිමතී - increasing; growing
ච - and
පශ්චාත් - later
දිනස්ය - of the day
පූර්වාර්ධ - first half
පරාර්ධ - second half
භින්නා - distinguished; separated; differing
ඡායා - shadow
ඒව - just like
මෛත්රී - friendship
ඛ්හල - wicked people
සජ්ජනානාං - of good people (genitive plural of සජ්ජන)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Friendship, like a day's shadow which differs between the first and second halves, is heavy at the beginning and gradually diminishes (with the wicked), but is light at first and grows later (with the good).

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse distinguishes fast friendship from deep friendship. With a ඛ්හල, warmth often arrives quickly (because it is transactional) and fades when the transaction changes; with a සජ්ජන, closeness may begin slowly (because it is cautious and principled) and grows as trust is earned. In modern life, this is a helpful filter: do not mistake intense early attention for loyalty, and do not dismiss steady, gradual bonds as lack of care. The practical application is to build relationships like long-term assets: consistent presence, reliability, and honesty over time. Like the shadow's changing length, friendship has seasons - but its direction tells you whether it is rooted in convenience or character.

මෘගමීනසජ්ජනානාං තෘණජලසංතෝෂවිහිතවෘත්තීනාම් ।
ලුබ්ධකධීවරපිශුනා නිෂ්කාරණවෛරිණෝ ජගති ॥ 1.61 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ආර්යා): This is in ආර්යා Chandas/Meter: a මාත්රා-චංදස් counted by මාත්රාඃ (1 for ලඝු, 2 for ගුරු) rather than a fixed syllable count; the usual scheme is 12+18 මාත්රාඃ in the first half (30 total) and 12+15 මාත්රාඃ in the second half (27 total), often written as two or four lines; a natural යති (pause) occurs at the 12-මාත්රා split within each half.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
මෘග - deer
මීන - fish
සජ්ජනානාම් - of good people (genitive plural of සජ්ජන)
තෘණ - grass
ජල - water
සංතෝශ - contentment; satisfaction
විහිත - ordained; arranged; established
වෘත්තීනාම් - of those whose conduct/livelihood is (thus) (genitive plural of වෘත්ති)
ලුබ්ධක - hunter
ධීවර - fisherman
පිශුනා - slanderer; malicious informer (instrumental; in verse as පිශුනා)
නිෂ්කාරණ - without cause; without reason
වෛරිණඃ - enemies (nominative plural of වෛරින්)
ජගති - in the world

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
In this world, deer, fish, and good people - whose way of life is contentment with grass and water - have enemies without any cause: the hunter, the fisherman, and the slanderer.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse points out a hard social fact: gentleness and simplicity can attract predators. The deer does not provoke the hunter; the fish does not provoke the fisherman; and the සජ්ජන often does not provoke the පිශුන (slanderer) - yet harm still comes. In modern life, this appears as exploiters targeting the polite, gossipers targeting the sincere, and manipulators targeting the trusting. The practical takeaway is to pair goodness with prudence: keep your values, but also keep boundaries, verify before trusting, and do not underestimate the damage of පිශුනතා (backbiting) in teams and families.

වාංඡා සජ්ජනසංගමේ පරගුණේ ප්රීතිර්ගුරෞ නම්රතා
විද්යායාං ව්යසනං ස්වයෝෂිති රතිර්ලෝකාපවාදාද්භයම් ।
භක්තිඃ ශූලිනි ශක්තිරාත්මදමනේ සංසර්ගමුක්තිඃ ඛලේ
යේෂ්වේතේ නිවසංති නිර්මලගුණාස්තේභ්යෝ නරේභ්යෝ නමඃ ॥ 1.62 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
වාංඡා - desire; longing
සජ්ජන - good people
සංගමේ - in association/company (locative of සංගම)
පර - others'
ගුණේ - in virtue/quality (locative of ගුණ)
ප්රීතිඃ - affection; delight
ගුරෞ - toward the teacher (locative of ගුරු)
නම්රතා - humility
විද්යායාම් - in learning/knowledge (locative of විද්යා)
ව්යසනම් - intense attachment; "addiction"; single-minded pursuit
ස්ව - one's own
යෝෂිති - in one's wife (locative of යෝෂිත්)
රතිඃ - love; affection; delight
ලෝක - people; the world
අපවාදාත් - from blame; from scandal (ablative of අපවාද)
භයම් - fear
භක්තිඃ - devotion
ශූලිනි - in ශූලින් (Siva, the trident-bearer; locative)
ශක්තිඃ - strength; capacity; ability
ආත්ම - self
දමනේ - in restraint/taming (locative of දමන; forming ආත්මදමනේ)
සංසර්ග - association; bad company
මුක්තිඃ - freedom; release
ඛලේ - in කලි (the age of Kali; locative)
යේෂු - in whom (locative plural)
ඒතේ - these
නිවසංති - dwell; reside
නිර්මල - pure; spotless
ගුණාඃ - qualities; virtues
තේභ්යඃ - to those (dative plural)
නරේභ්යඃ - to men/people (dative plural of නර)
නමඃ - salutations

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Salutations to those people in whom these pure qualities dwell: longing for the company of the good, love for others' virtues, humility toward the teacher, passion for learning, love for one's own wife, fear of public blame, devotion to Siva, strength in self-restraint, and freedom from bad association in this age of කලි.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse sketches a complete ethical "ecosystem." It begins with choosing good company (සජ්ජන-සංග), then teaches a healthy attitude: celebrate others' virtues (පර-ගුණ-ප්රීති) instead of competing with them; remain teachable through ගුරු-නම්රතා (humility); and keep growing through විද්යා-ව්යසන (love of learning). It also grounds spirituality in self-mastery: devotion to ශූලින් (Siva) paired with ආත්මදමන (self-restraint). In modern life, this reads like a practical checklist: curate your feeds and friends, admire competence rather than envy it, keep mentors close, guard your marriage/commitments, and avoid circles where gossip and "apavAda" thrive. When these habits are stable, your life becomes quieter, cleaner, and more reliable to others.

විපදි ධෛර්යං අථාභ්යුදයේ ක්ෂමා
සදසි වාක්පටුතා යුධි වික්රමඃ ।
යශසි චාභිරුචිර්ව්යසනං ශ්රුතෞ
ප්රකෘතිසිද්ධං ඉදං හි මහාත්මනාම් ॥ 1.63 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
විපදි - in calamity; in adversity (locative of විපද්)
ධෛර්යං - courage; steadiness; fortitude
අථ - and then; and also (sandhi in verse: අථාභ්යුදයේ = අථ + අභ්යුදයේ)
අභ්යුදයේ - in rise/success; in prosperity (locative of අභ්යුදය)
ක්ෂමා - forgiveness; forbearance
සදසි - in an assembly; in a court; in public company (locative of සදස්)
වාක්පටුතා - skill in speech; eloquence
යුධි - in battle; in conflict (locative of යුධ්)
වික්රමඃ - valor; heroic effort
යශසි - in fame; in good reputation (locative of යශස්)
ච - and (sandhi in verse: චාභිරුචිඃ = ච + අභිරුචිඃ)
අභිරුචිඃ - liking; taste; inclination (sandhi in verse: අභිරුචිර්ව්යසනං = අභිරුචිඃ + ව්යසනං)
ව්යසනං - strong attachment; intense pursuit (often used as "addiction" or "habit")
ශ්රුතෞ - in hearing; in learning/scripture (locative of ශ්රුති / ශ්රුත)
ප්රකෘති - nature; disposition
සිද්ධං - accomplished; established; inborn
ඉදං - this
හි - indeed
මහාත්මනාං - of great-souled / great-minded people (genitive plural of මහාත්මන්)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
This is indeed the natural disposition of the great: courage in adversity, forgiveness in prosperity, eloquence in public assembly, valor in conflict, a taste for good reputation, and a deep pursuit of learning.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a compact map of context-sensitive virtues: the same inner strength shows up as ධෛර්ය (fortitude) when life is hard and as ක්ෂමා (forgiveness) when you are in a position to "punish". වාක්පටුතා is not merely fluency; it is speaking in a way that is true, timely, and constructive in a group setting; and වික්රම is courage applied to real resistance. In modern life, you can use this as a self-checklist: in a setback, do not collapse; in success, do not become vindictive; in meetings, speak clearly without humiliating others; in conflict, do what is right even if it is uncomfortable; and treat reputation as "earned trust" rather than vanity. When ශ්රුති and learning become a ව්යසන (a steady, almost addictive pursuit), your decisions stop being driven by mood and start being guided by a deeper, more stable understanding.

ප්රදානං ප්රච්ඡන්නං ගෘහං උපගතේ සංභ්රමවිධිඃ
ප්රියං කෘත්වා මෞනං සදසි කථනං චාප්යුපකෘතේඃ ।
අනුත්සේකෝ ලක්ෂ්ම්යාං අනභිභවගංධාඃ පරකථාඃ
සතාං කේනෝද්දිෂ්ටං විෂමං අසිධාරාව්රතං ඉදම් ॥ 1.64 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ප්රදානං - giving; donation
ප්රච්ඡන්නං - concealed; done privately
ගෘහං - house; home
උපගතේ - when (someone) has arrived/entered (locative absolute/locative of උපගත)
සංභ්රම - eagerness; respectful haste; warmth
විධිඃ - proper method/etiquette (as in සංභ්රමවිධිඃ)
ප්රියං - a kind act; a favor; something pleasing
කෘත්වා - having done
මෞනං - silence; not advertising it
සදසි - in public assembly/court
කථනං - speaking; recounting
ච - and
අපි - even (sandhi in verse: චාප්යුපකෘතේඃ = ච + අපි + උපකෘතේඃ)
උපකෘතේඃ - of help/favor done (genitive of උපකෘති); i.e., speaking of the help received (rather than boasting of help given)
අනුත්සේකඃ - absence of arrogance; not being intoxicated by pride
ලක්ෂ්ම්යාං - in wealth/prosperity (locative of ලක්ෂ්මී)
අනභිභව - not having the sense/taint of defeat; not feeling "outdone" (as in අනභිභවගංධාඃ)
ගංධාඃ - smell; trace; undertone
පරකථාඃ - talk about others; discussion of others
සතාං - of good people (genitive plural of සත්)
කේන - by whom?
උද්දිෂ්ටං - prescribed; pointed out (sandhi in verse: කේනෝද්දිෂ්ටං = කේන + උද්දිෂ්ටං)
විෂමං - difficult; uneven; hard to walk
අසිධාරා - the edge of a sword/razor
ව්රතං - vow; discipline
ඉදං - this

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Who prescribed this hard "razor's-edge" discipline for the good: give in secret, welcome a guest into your home with eager courtesy, keep silent after doing a favor, speak in public about the help you have received, remain unarrogant in prosperity, and speak about others without the undertone of envy or rivalry?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse explains why true නීති feels demanding: it pushes against the ego's favorite habits - publicity, scorekeeping, and comparison. The good person is asked to do දාන (giving) without display, අතිථි-සත්කාර (hospitality) without calculation, and gratitude without turning it into self-advertisement. Even more subtle is අනභිභවගංධාඃ පරකථාඃ: when you speak of others, remove the "smell" of feeling diminished - do not praise with hidden bitterness or criticize to soothe your insecurity. In modern life, this looks like doing help without virtue-signaling, crediting mentors publicly, staying humble when you get a raise, and refusing to participate in gossip that is really envy in disguise. That is why භර්තෘහරි calls it අසිධාරාව්රත - it requires constant inner honesty.

කරේ ශ්ලාඝ්යස්ත්යාගඃ ශිරසි ගුරුපාදප්රණයිතා
මුඛේ සත්යා වාණී විජයි භුජයෝර්වීර්යං අතුලම් ।
හෘදි ස්වච්ඡා වෘත්තිඃ ශ්රුතිං අධිගතං ච ශ්රවණයෝර්
විනාප්යෛශ්වර්යේණ ප්රකෘතිමහතාං මංඩනං ඉදම් ॥ 1.65 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කරේ - in the hand
ශ්ලාඝ්යඃ - praiseworthy; commendable
ත්යාගඃ - giving; generosity; letting go
ශිරසි - on the head; in the highest place
ගුරු - teacher
පාද - feet
ප්රණයිතා - affectionate devotion; reverent attachment (as in ගුරුපාදප්රණයිතා)
මුඛේ - in the mouth
සත්යා - truthful
වාණී - speech
විජයි - victorious; able to win over obstacles
භුජයෝඃ - in the two arms
වීර්යං - strength; valor
අතුලං - incomparable
හෘදි - in the heart
ස්වච්ඡා - clear; pure
වෘත්තිඃ - inner tendency; conduct; disposition
ශ්රුතිං - ශ්රුති; scripture; that which is heard (Veda / sacred learning)
අධිගතං - studied; attained; learned
ච - and
ශ්රවණයෝඃ - in the two ears
විනා - without
අපි - even (sandhi in verse: විනාප්යෛශ්වර්යේණ = විනා + අපි + ඓශ්වර්යේණ)
ඓශ්වර්යේණ - with wealth/power (instrumental of ඓශ්වර්ය)
ප්රකෘති - nature
මහතාං - of the great (genitive plural of මහත්)
මංඩනං - ornament; adornment
ඉදං - this

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even without wealth, this is the true ornament of the great by nature: praiseworthy generosity in the hand, reverence for the teacher at the highest place, truthful speech in the mouth, incomparable valor in the arms, a clear disposition in the heart, and sacred learning residing in the ears.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි is redefining "wealth" as qualities that cannot be taken away. External status can rise and fall, but ත්යාග (generosity), ගුරු-භක්ති (reverence to a teacher), සත්යවාණී (truthful speech), courage, and a clean වෘත්ති (inner motive) remain yours. In modern life, this is a practical reminder: your real "portfolio" is your integrity and competence - the habits that make you dependable in both success and setback. When you cultivate these, even simple living becomes dignified; and when these are absent, even ඓශ්වර්ය (power) looks like a costume that does not fit.

සංපත්සු මහතාං චිත්තං භවත්යුත්පලකෝමලම් ।
ආපත්සු ච මහාශෛලශිලා සංඝාතකර්කශම් ॥ 1.66 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සංපත්සු - in prosperity; in times of success (locative plural of සංපද්)
මහතාං - of the great (genitive plural of මහත්)
චිත්තං - mind; heart
භවති - becomes
උත්පල - lotus
කෝමලං - soft; tender (as in උත්පලකෝමලං)
ආපත්සු - in calamities; in distress (locative plural of ආපත්)
ච - and
මහා - great
ශෛල - mountain
ශිලා - rock
සංඝාත - mass; cluster; compact heap
කර්කශං - hard; rough; unyielding (as in මහාශෛලශිලා සංඝාතකර්කශං)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
In prosperity, the mind of the great becomes as soft as a lotus; in adversity, it becomes as hard as a compact mass of mountain-rock.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse praises two complementary strengths. In good times, the noble mind becomes කෝමල (tender) - generous, accessible, and humane; it does not use success as an excuse to become harsh. In hard times, that same mind becomes කර්කශ (unyielding) toward obstacles - steady in duty, not easily shaken by fear. In modern life, this is the balance of healthy leadership: be kind when you have resources, and be firm when you face crisis. Softness without backbone becomes weakness; backbone without softness becomes cruelty. භර්තෘහරි is showing the integrated mind that can do both.

සංතප්තායසි සංස්ථිතස්ය පයසෝ නාමාපි න ජ්ඤායතේ
මුක්තාකාරතයා තදේව නලිනීපත්රස්ථිතං රාජතේ ।
ස්වාත්යාං සාගරශුක්තිමධ්යපතිතං තන්මෞක්තිකං ජායතේ
ප්රායේණාධමමධ්යමෝත්තමගුණඃ සංසර්ගතෝ ජායතේ ॥ 1.67 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සංතප්ත - heated; burning hot
ආයසි - in iron (locative of අයස්)
සංස්ථිතස්ය - of that which is placed/resting (genitive of සංස්ථිත)
පයසඃ - of water (genitive of පයස්)
නාම - name (as in නාමාපි)
අපි - even
න - not
ජ්ඤායතේ - is known/recognized
මුක්තා - pearl
ආකාරතයා - in the form/appearance (instrumental of ආකාරතා)
තදේව - that very same (water)
නලිනී - lotus
පත්ර - leaf
ස්ථිතං - placed on (as in නලිනීපත්රස්ථිතං)
රාජතේ - shines; appears splendid
ස්වාත්යාං - in ස්වාති (the නක්ෂත්ර; locative)
සාගර - ocean
ශුක්ති - oyster shell (as in සාගරශුක්ති)
මධ්ය - middle
පතිතං - fallen into (as in මධ්යපතිතං)
තත් - that
මෞක්තිකං - pearl
ජායතේ - becomes; is born
ප්රායේණ - generally; for the most part
අධම - low
මධ්යම - middling
උත්තම - excellent
ගුණඃ - quality; virtue; character
සංසර්ගතඃ - due to association/company (ablative of සංසර්ග)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Water placed on heated iron is not recognized even as "water"; the same water, resting on a lotus leaf, shines like a pearl; and fallen into an oyster in the time of ස්වාති, it becomes a true pearl. In the same way, low, middling, and excellent qualities arise mostly from one's association.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a vivid argument for සංසර්ග (company, environment). The "same water" can vanish, sparkle, or become a jewel depending on where it lands; likewise, the same raw human potential can be wasted, refined, or made luminous by context. In modern life this is why your circles matter: a team that rewards gossip and shortcuts makes you worse without noticing; a community that values learning and service makes you better almost effortlessly. This is exactly why ආදි ශංකරාචාර්ය, in the අද්වෛත teaching sequence of භ්හජ ගෝවිංදම්, places සත්සංග first: සත්සංගත්වේ නිස්සංගත්වං - from good association comes freedom from compulsive attachments, and the whole inner transformation follows. Choose your "lotus leaf" wisely.

ප්රීණාති යඃ සුචරිතෛඃ පිතරං ස පුත්රෝ
යද්භර්තුරේව හිතං ඉච්ඡති තත්කලත්රම් ।
තන්මිත්රං ආපදි සුඛේ ච සමක්රියං යද්
ඒතත්ත්රයං ජගති පුණ්යකෘතෝ ලභංතේ ॥ 1.68 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ප්රීණාති - pleases; gladdens
යඃ - who
සුචරිතෛඃ - by good conduct (instrumental plural of සුචරිත)
පිතරං - father (accusative of පිතෘ)
ස - that (person)
පුත්රඃ - son
යත් - which/that (referring to the next clause)
භර්තුඃ - of the husband (genitive of භර්තෘ)
ඒව - indeed; alone
හිතං - welfare; what is good
ඉච්ඡති - desires; seeks
තත් - that (one)
කලත්රං - wife; spouse
තත් - that (one)
මිත්රං - friend
ආපදි - in adversity (locative of ආපත්)
සුඛේ - in happiness (locative of සුඛ)
ච - and
සමක්රියං - acting together; of equal participation/support
යත් - which/that (friend)
ඒතත් - these
ත්රයං - three
ජගති - in the world
පුණ්ය - merit; past good action
කෘතඃ - (those who) have done (good deeds) (nominative plural; as in පුණ්යකෘතඃ)
ලභංතේ - obtain

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
He who gladdens his father through good conduct is a true son; she who seeks only her husband's welfare is a true wife; and that is a true friend who stands with you equally in trouble and in ease. These three are obtained in this world by the meritorious.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse does not romanticize relationships; it defines them by function: respect, welfare, and shared responsibility. A "son" is not merely biological but one whose life and choices bring joy to parents; a "wife/spouse" is one whose love expresses as seeking the other's හිත (good); and a "friend" is one who remains present when life is inconvenient, not only when it is fun. In modern life, this becomes a simple audit: do your actions bring peace to your elders, do you actively protect your partner's well-being (health, dignity, growth), and do you show up for friends in both crisis and celebration? The verse calls these rare not to make you fatalistic, but to encourage you to become such a person - and to choose such people carefully.

ඒකෝ දේවඃ කේශවෝ වා ශිවෝ වා
හ්යේකං මිත්රං භූපතිර්වා යතිර්වා ।
ඒකෝ වාසඃ පත්තනේ වා වනේ වා
හ්යේකා භාර්යා සුංදරී වා දරී වා ॥ 1.69 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ඒකා - one (feminine; used with භාර්යා)
ඒකෝ - one (masculine)
දේවඃ - God; the chosen deity
කේශවඃ - Kesava (Vishnu)
වා - or
ශිවඃ - Siva
හි - indeed
මිත්රං - friend
භූපතිඃ - king; ruler (can also mean a powerful patron)
යතී - renunciate; monk
වාසඃ - dwelling; residence
පත්තනේ - in a city/town (locative of පත්තන)
වනේ - in a forest (locative of වන)
භාර්යා - wife
සුංදරී - a beautiful woman
දරී - a cave (as a simple dwelling)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Let there be one chosen God - whether Kesava or Siva; one close friend - whether a kingly patron or a renunciate; one dwelling - whether in a city or a forest; and one wife - whether she is a beauty or (life is lived in) a cave.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is one of the popular සුභාෂිතානි from the ශතකම්, and it teaches the power of "one-pointedness" in life. භර්තෘහරි is not saying that everyone must literally live with a king or in a cave; he is saying: do not scatter your heart into endless alternatives. Choose an ඉෂ්ටදේවතා (your worship focus) without sectarian hostility - කේශවඃ or ශිවඃ both lead to inner growth when worship is sincere. Choose a real friend over a crowd, a stable home over restless wandering, and commitment in marriage over constant comparison. In modern life, this is the antidote to "infinite options": fewer loyalties, deeper practice, less distraction - and therefore more peace.

නම්රත්වේනෝන්නමංතඃ පරගුණකථනෛඃ ස්වාන්ගුණාන්ඛ්යාපයංතඃ
ස්වාර්ථාන්සංපාදයංතෝ විතතපෘථුතරාරංභයත්නාඃ පරාර්ථේ ।
ක්ෂාංත්යෛවාක්ෂේපරුක්ෂාක්ෂරමුඛරමුඛාංදුර්ජනාංදූෂයංතඃ
සංතඃ සාශ්චර්යචර්යා ජගති බහුමතාඃ කස්ය නාභ්යර්චනීයාඃ ॥ 1.70 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
නම්රත්වේන - by humility (instrumental of නම්රතා)
උන්නමංතඃ - rising; becoming elevated
පර - others'
ගුණ - virtues/qualities
කථනෛඃ - by speaking about (instrumental plural of කථන)
ස්ව - one's own
අංගුණාන් - one's own virtues (as in ස්වාන්ගුණාන්)
ඛ්යාපයංතඃ - making known; revealing
ස්වාර්ථාන් - their own goals
සංපාදයංතඃ - accomplishing; bringing to completion
විතත - wide; expansive
පෘථු - broad; large
තර - more (comparative sense inside the compound)
ආරංභ - undertaking; initiative
යත්නාඃ - efforts (as in තරාරංභයත්නාඃ)
පරාර්ථේ - for others' welfare (locative of පරාර්ථ)
ක්ෂාංත්යා - by forbearance; by patience (instrumental of ක්ෂාංති)
ඒව - alone; indeed
ආක්ෂේප - insult; abuse; censure
රුක්ෂ - harsh; rough
අක්ෂර - syllables/words (as in රුක්ෂාක්ෂර)
මුඛර - noisy; clamorous
මුඛාන් - mouths/faces (accusative plural of මුඛ)
දුර්ජනාන් - wicked people (accusative plural of දුර්ජන)
දූෂයංතඃ - putting to shame; correcting (also "condemning") by their own conduct
සංතඃ - good people; saints
සාශ්චර්ය - wondrous; amazing
චර්යා - conduct; way of life
ජගති - in the world
බහුමතාඃ - highly respected; well-regarded
කස්ය - of whom?
න - not
අභ්යර්චනීයාඃ - worthy of worship/respect (sandhi in verse: නාභ්යර්චනීයාඃ = න + අභ්යර්චනීයාඃ)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
By humility they rise; by speaking of others' virtues they reveal their own; while accomplishing their own aims, their broadest efforts are for others' good. And by patience alone they put to shame the wicked whose mouths are noisy with harsh, abusive words. Such saints, with their wondrous conduct, are highly honored in the world - who would not revere them?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse is a portrait of mature goodness that does not need to advertise itself. The saint rises through නම්රතා (humility), not through self-promotion; becomes known by praising others, not by attacking them; and converts personal capacity into පරාර්ථ (public good). The toughest line is about ක්ෂාංති (forbearance): it does not mean weakness; it means refusing to be pulled into the mud by abusive speech. In modern life, this is leadership without ego - giving credit, building systems, mentoring quietly, and not reacting to every provocation online or at work. When you stop fighting for "being seen", you become more useful; and that usefulness naturally earns respect.

භවංති නම්රාස්තරවඃ ඵලෝද්ගමෛර්
නවාංබුභිර්දූරාවලංබිනෝ ඝනාඃ ।
අනුද්ධතාඃ සත්පුරුෂාඃ සමෘද්ධිභිඃ
ස්වභාව ඒෂ පරෝපකාරිණාම් ॥ 1.71 ॥

ඡංදඃ (වංzඅස්ථ): This is in වංzඅස්ථ (සම-වෘත්ත) Chandas/Meter: 4 පාදාඃ, 12 අක්ෂරාඃ per පාද; ලඝු/ගුරු pattern (per පාද) is `LGLGG LLGLGLG`; යති (pause) is after the 5th syllable in each පාද.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
භවංති - become; are
නම්රාඃ - bowed; humble
තරවඃ - trees
ඵල - fruit
උද්ගමෛඃ - with the arising/abundance (instrumental plural of උද්ගම); in verse as ඵලෝද්ගමෛඃ
නව - fresh; new
අංබු - water
භිඃ - by (instrumental plural; in verse as නවාංබුභිඃ)
දූර - far; low-hanging
අවලංබිනඃ - hanging down; suspended
ඝනාඃ - clouds
අනුද්ධතාඃ - not arrogant; unraised (i.e., not "puffed up")
සත්පුරුෂාඃ - good people
සමෘද්ධිභිඃ - with prosperity/abundance (instrumental plural of සමෘද්ධි)
ස්වභාවඃ - natural disposition
ඒෂඃ - this
පර - others'
උපකාරිණාං - of benefactors; of those who help others (genitive plural of පරෝපකාරින්)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Trees bend down with the abundance of fruits; clouds hang low with fresh water; and good people are not arrogant even in prosperity - this is the natural way of benefactors.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
Fullness expresses as humility. A tree with no fruit stands stiff; a tree with fruit bends; a cloud heavy with rain hangs low. Likewise, when someone truly has value - skill, wealth, influence - they become more accessible, not more inflated. In modern life, this looks like a senior person who makes time for juniors, a successful leader who listens more than they speak, or a wealthy family that becomes quieter and more generous instead of more showy. Use the verse as a diagnostic: if prosperity makes you harder to approach, you are moving away from the nature of පරෝපකාර (helping others).

ශ්රෝත්රං ශ්රුතේනෛව න කුංඩලේන
දානේන පාණිර්න තු කංකණේන ।
විභාති කායඃ කරුණපරාණාං
පරෝපකාරෛර්න තු චංදනේන ॥ 1.72 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ශ්රෝත්රං - ear
ශ්රුතේන - by learning/hearing; by knowledge (instrumental of ශ්රුත)
ඒව - indeed; alone
න - not
කුංඩලේන - by an earring (instrumental of කුංඩල)
දානේන - by giving; by charity (instrumental of දාන)
පාණිඃ - hand (sandhi in verse: පාණිර්න = පාණිඃ + න)
තු - but
කංකණේන - by a bracelet/armlet (instrumental of කංකණ)
විභාති - shines; appears splendid
කායඃ - body; person
කරුණා - compassion
පරාණාං - of those devoted to (genitive plural; as in කරුණපරාණාං)
පර - others'
උපකාරෛඃ - by helpful acts (instrumental plural of පරෝපකාර; sandhi in verse: පරෝපකාරෛර්න = පරෝපකාරෛඃ + න)
චංදනේන - by sandal paste/wood (instrumental of චංදන)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
It is learning that adorns the ear, not earrings; giving that adorns the hand, not bracelets; and it is helpful service that makes the compassionate person's very body shine, not sandalwood.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a reminder that the most lasting "decoration" is character. External ornaments can impress for a moment, but ශ්රුත (real learning) changes the quality of your speech and decisions; දාන (giving) changes the quality of your relationships; and පරෝපකාර (helpful action) changes the quality of your presence. In modern life, this can be applied very simply: invest in skills and study before spending on status symbols, build the habit of generosity, and be known for reliability and kindness. When virtue becomes your "jewelry", you are respected in every place - even where no one cares about appearance.

පාපාන්නිවාරයති යෝජයතේ හිතාය
ගුහ්යං නිගූහති ගුණාන්ප්රකටීකරෝති ।
ආපද්ගතං ච න ජහාති දදාති කාලේ
සන්මිත්රලක්ෂණං ඉදං ප්රවදංති සංතඃ ॥ 1.73 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
පාපාත් - from sin; from harmful action (ablative of පාප; sandhi in verse: පාපාන් + නිවාරයති = පාපාන්නිවාරයති)
නිවාරයති - restrains; prevents
යෝජයතේ - connects/engages (someone); sets (someone) on (a path)
හිතාය - for welfare; for what is beneficial (dative of හිත)
ගුහ්යං - secret; confidential matter
නිගූහති - hides; keeps concealed
ගුණාන් - virtues; good qualities
ප්රකටීකරෝති - makes manifest; brings to light
ආපත් - distress; calamity (as in ආපද්ගතං)
ගතං - gone into; fallen into
ච - and
න - not
ජහාති - abandons; leaves
දදාති - gives
කාලේ - at the right time; when needed (locative of කාල)
සන්මිත්ර - true/good friend
ලක්ෂණං - mark; characteristic
ඉදං - this
ප්රවදංති - they say; they declare
සංතඃ - good people; the wise

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The wise say this is the mark of a true friend: they restrain you from harmful paths, guide you toward what is good, conceal your confidences, bring your virtues to light, do not abandon you when trouble comes, and help at the right time.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This definition of friendship is both ethical and practical. A true friend is not only pleasant company; they are a safeguard: they stop you from පාප (harmful action), nudge you toward හිත (real good), and keep your ගුහ්ය (private matters) protected. They also do something generous: they highlight your ගුණ (strengths) in a way that helps you grow, and they show up in ආපත් (distress) with timely support. In modern life, this means valuing friends who hold you accountable, respect your confidentiality, credit you publicly, and stay present when it costs them something - not just those who entertain you.

පද්මාකරං දිනකරෝ විකචීකරෝති
චංද්රප්රභෝල්ලාසයති කෛරවචක්රවාලම් ।
නාභ්යර්ථිතෝ ජලධරෝऽපි ජලං දදාති
සංතඃ ස්වයං පරහිතේ විහිතාභියෝගාඃ ॥ 1.74 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
පද්ම - lotus
ආකරං - collection; pond (as in පද්මාකරං)
දිනකරඃ - the sun ("maker of the day"; sandhi in verse: දිනකරෝ = දිනකරඃ)
විකචීකරෝති - makes bloom/open; causes to unfold
චංද්ර - the moon
ප්රභා - radiance; light (sandhi in verse: ප්රභෝල්ලාසයති = ප්රභා + උල්ලාසයති)
උල්ලාසයති - gladdens; makes blossom; causes to expand with joy
කෛරව - white water-lily (often opening in moonlight)
චක්රවාලං - multitude; circle; cluster (as in කෛරවචක්රවාලං)
න - not
අබ්යර්ථිතඃ - requested/asked (sandhi in verse: නාභ්යර්ථිතඃ = න + අබ්යර්ථිතඃ)
ජලධරඃ - cloud (sandhi in verse: ජලධරෝऽපි = ජලධරඃ + අපි)
අපි - even
ජලං - water
දදාති - gives
සංතඃ - good people
ස්වයං - of their own accord
පර - others'
හිතේ - in welfare/good (locative of හිත; as in පරහිතේ)
විහිත - established; appointed
අභියෝගාඃ - undertaking; dedicated effort (as in විහිතාභියෝගාඃ)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The sun makes the lotus-pond bloom; the moon's radiance makes the water-lilies rejoice; even a raincloud gives water only when asked. But good people, of their own accord, are dedicated to the welfare of others.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
Nature's forces respond to conditions: the sun and moon act according to their role; the cloud gives when invited. The saint, however, does not wait for an invitation to do good. විහිතාභියෝග means "committed engagement" - a steady readiness to help. In modern life, this is the difference between being reactive and being proactive: noticing someone struggling and offering support without being prompted, sharing useful information without being asked, or stepping in to prevent harm before it escalates. The verse invites you to become that person whose instinct is පරහිත (others' good).

ඒකේ සත්පුරුෂාඃ පරාර්ථඝටකාඃ ස්වාර්ථං පරිත්යජංති යේ
සාමාන්යාස්තු පරාර්ථං උද්යමභෘතඃ ස්වාර්ථාවිරෝධේන යේ ।
තේऽමී මානුෂරාක්ෂසාඃ පරහිතං ස්වාර්ථාය නිඝ්නංති යේ
යේ තු ඝ්නංති නිරර්ථකං පරහිතං තේ කේ න ජානීමහේ ॥ 1.75 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ඒකේ - some
සත්පුරුෂාඃ - noble people
පර - others'
අර්ථ - welfare; benefit
ඝටකාඃ - those who bring about/arrange (as in පරාර්ථඝටකාඃ)
ස්ව - one's own
අර්ථං - self-interest (as in ස්වාර්ථං)
පරිත්යජංති - abandon; give up
යේ - who
සාමාන්යාඃ - ordinary people
තු - but
පරාර්ථං - others' welfare
උද්යම - effort; endeavor
භෘතඃ - bearing/carrying; undertaking (as in උද්යමභෘතඃ)
ස්වාර්ථ - own interest
අවිරෝධේන - without opposing/contradicting (instrumental of අවිරෝධ)
තේ - those
ඉමේ - these (sandhi in verse: තේऽමී = තේ + ඉමේ)
මානුෂ - human
රාක්ෂසාඃ - demons; "rAkShasas" (as in මානුෂරාක්ෂසාඃ)
පරහිතං - others' welfare
ස්වාර්ථාය - for their own benefit
නිඝ්නංති - strike down; destroy
යේ - who
යේ - who
තු - but
ඝ්නංති - kill/destroy
නිරර්ථකං - purposelessly; without any gain
පරහිතං - others' welfare
තේ - those
කේ - who?
න - not
ජානීමහේ - we know (with න = "we do not know")

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Some noble people bring about others' welfare by giving up their own interest; ordinary people work for others' good without harming their own interests; those "human-demons" destroy others' welfare for their own benefit; but those who destroy others' welfare without any purpose - who are they? We do not know.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි classifies behavior by motive, and the last category is the most frightening: harm that is not even "rational". In modern life you can see all four: selfless mentors who sacrifice time for others; decent colleagues who help when it does not cost them much; exploiters who sabotage others to advance; and finally, people who attack or ridicule simply because they can. The practical lesson is විවේක (discernment): do not assume everyone plays by the same ethical rules. Encourage the first two, protect yourself from the third, and do not waste your life trying to "understand" the fourth - set boundaries and move away.

ක්ෂීරේණාත්මගතෝදකාය හි ගුණා දත්තා පුරා තේऽඛිලා
ක්ෂීරෝත්තාපං අවේක්ෂ්ය තේන පයසා ස්වාත්මා කෘශානෞ හුතඃ ।
ගංතුං පාවකං උන්මනස්තදභවද්දෘෂ්ට්වා තු මිත්රාපදං
යුක්තං තේන ජලේන ශාම්යති සතාං මෛත්රී පුනස්ත්වීදෘශී ॥ 1.76 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ක්ෂීරේණ - by/with milk (instrumental of ක්ෂීර)
ආත්මගත - entered into; absorbed within
උදකාය - to water (dative of උදක; in verse as ආත්මගතෝදකාය)
හි - indeed
ගුණාඃ - qualities
දත්තාඃ - given
පුරා - formerly; earlier
තේ - to you (dative of the 2nd-person pronoun; sandhi in verse: තේऽඛිලා = තේ + අඛිලාඃ)
අඛිලාඃ - all; entire
ක්ෂීර - milk
උත්තාපං - heating; distress/burning
අවේක්ෂ්ය - having seen
තේන - by you/that
පයසා - by water (instrumental of පයස්)
ස්ව - one's own
ආත්මා - self
කෘශානෞ - in fire (locative of කෘශානු)
හුතඃ - offered; sacrificed
ගංතුං - to go
පාවකං - fire
උන්මනඃ - eager; uplifted; inclined (to move)
තදා - then
අභවත් - became
දෘෂ්ට්වා - having seen
තු - but
මිත්ර - friend
ආපදං - misfortune/distress (as in මිත්රාපදං)
යුක්තං - fitting; proper
තේන - by that
ජලේන - by water (instrumental of ජල)
ශාම්යති - is quenched; is pacified
සතාං - of good people
මෛත්රී - friendship
පුනඃ - again; repeatedly
ත්වීදෘශී - of this kind; like this

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Milk had earlier given all its qualities to the water that entered into it. Seeing the milk being heated, that water offered its own self into the fire; and then the fire itself became eager to withdraw on seeing the friend's distress. Fittingly, that very water quenches the fire. Such indeed is the friendship of good people, again and again.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The imagery highlights a very specific kind of friendship: not one based on "what I get", but on "what I can protect". First there is sharing - milk does not keep its qualities to itself; then there is sacrifice - water gives itself up to absorb the heat; and finally there is reciprocity - fire itself withdraws when it recognizes the situation. In modern life, this looks like a friend who quietly shields you during a crisis, or a colleague who takes heat to protect the team, without announcing it later. The verse encourages මෛත්රී that is brave, discreet, and mutual - not fragile, performative, or transactional.

ඉතඃ ස්වපිති කේශවඃ කුලං ඉතස්තදීයද්විෂාම්
ඉතශ්ච ශරණාර්ථිනාං ශිඛරිණාං ගණාඃ ශේරතේ ।
ඉතෝऽපි බඩවානලඃ සහ සමස්තසංවර්තකෛඃ
අහෝ විතතං ඌර්ජිතං භරසහං සිංධෝර්වපුඃ ॥ 1.77 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ඉතඃ - here; in this place; on this side
ස්වපිති - sleeps
කේශවඃ - Kesava (Vishnu)
කුලං - clan; family
ඉතඃ - here also
තදීය - his
ද්විෂාම් - of enemies (genitive plural of ද්විෂ්)
ඉතඃ - here also
ච - and
ශරණ - refuge
අර්ථිනාං - of those seeking (genitive plural of අර්ථින්)
ශිඛරිණාං - of mountains (genitive plural of ශිඛරින්)
ගණඃ - group; multitude
ශේරතේ - rest/lie down
ඉතඃ - here also
අපි - even (sandhi in verse: ඉතෝऽපි = ඉතඃ + අපි)
බඩවානලඃ - submarine fire (the "mare's mouth" fire)
සහ - along with
සමස්ත - all
සංවර්තකෛඃ - with the fires of cosmic dissolution (instrumental plural of සංවර්තක)
අහෝ - alas!; ah!
විතතං - vast; spread out
ඌර්ජිතං - mighty; powerful
භර - burden
සහං - bearing; enduring
සිංධෝඃ - of the ocean (genitive of සිංධු)
වපුඃ - body; form

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Here sleeps Kesava; here also is the clan of his enemies; here lie the mountains seeking refuge; and here too is the submarine fire along with the fires of cosmic dissolution. Ah - vast, mighty, and burden-bearing is the ocean's very body!

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The ocean is used as a metaphor for vast capacity: it holds what is sacred (කේශව), what is hostile (the enemies' clan), what is heavy (mountains), and what is dangerous (submarine fire) - all without "spilling". In modern life, this is emotional maturity: being able to carry conflicting responsibilities, criticism, and uncertainty without losing stability. The verse does not ask you to become numb; it asks you to become spacious. When your inner world gains "ocean-like" breadth, you can respond to problems without panic, and you can serve as a refuge to others without being destroyed by their storms.

තෘෂ්ණාං ඡිංධි භජ ක්ෂමාං ජහි මදං පාපේ රතිං මා කෘථාඃ
සත්යං බ්රූහ්යනුයාහි සාධුපදවීං සේවස්ව විද්වජ්ජනම් ।
මාන්යාන්මානය විද්විෂෝऽප්යනුනය ප්රඛ්යාපය ප්රශ්රයං
කීර්තිං පාලය දුඃඛිතේ කුරු දයාං ඒතත්සතාං චේෂ්ටිතම් ॥ 1.78 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
තෘෂ්ණාං - thirst; craving (especially greed/desire)
ඡිංධි - cut off; break
භජ - cultivate; practice
ක්ෂමාං - forgiveness; forbearance
ජහි - abandon; destroy
මදං - pride; intoxication
පාපේ - in sin; in harmful action (locative of පාප)
රතිං - delight; attachment
මා - do not
කෘථාඃ - do (second person; imperative)
සත්යං - truth
බ්රූහි - speak (sandhi in verse: බ්රූහ්යනුයාහි = බ්රූහි + අනුයාහි)
අනුයාහි - follow; pursue
සාධු - good; noble
පදවීං - path; track
සේවස්ව - serve; associate with
විද්වජ්ජනං - the learned; the wise (accusative)
මාන්යාන් - the worthy; respected people (accusative plural of මාන්ය)
මානය - honor; respect
විද්විෂඃ - enemies (accusative plural of විද්විෂ්; sandhi in verse: විද්විෂෝऽපි = විද්විෂඃ + අපි)
අපි - even
අනුනය - conciliate; win over (imperative; also "seek reconciliation")
ප්රඛ්යාපය - proclaim; make known
ප්රශ්රයං - humility; deference
කීර්තිං - good fame; reputation
පාලය - protect; maintain
දුඃඛ්හිතේ - toward the distressed/suffering (locative; "when someone is suffering")
කුරු - do; practice
දයාං - compassion
ඒතත් - this
සතාං - of good people
ච - and (sandhi in verse: චේෂ්ටිතං = ච + ඒෂ්ටිතං)
ඒෂ්ටිතං - conduct; practice

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Cut off craving; practice forgiveness; abandon pride; do not delight in wrongdoing. Speak truth; follow the path of the noble; serve the learned. Honor the worthy; conciliate even enemies; proclaim humility. Protect your good name; show compassion to the distressed. This is the conduct of the good.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse is a complete daily "discipline list" for character. It begins inwardly (තෘෂ්ණා as craving, මද as ego-intoxication), moves to speech and association (truth and wise company), then to social maturity (respecting elders, reconciling where possible), and finally to compassion and reputation. In modern life, you can treat it as a checklist before sleep: did I feed craving today, or did I cut it? did I react from pride, or choose ක්ෂමා? did I speak truth kindly? did I spend time with people who elevate my standards? The verse does not promise perfection; it offers a direction - and repeated practice turns direction into habit.

මනසි වචසි කායේ පුණ්යපීයූෂපූර්ණාස්
ත්රිභුවනං උපකාරශ්රේණිභිඃ ප්රීණයංතඃ ।
පරගුණපරමාණූන්පර්වතීකෘත්ය නිත්යං
නිජහෘදි විකසංතඃ සංත සංතඃ කියංතඃ ॥ 1.79 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
මනසි - in the mind
වචසි - in speech
කායේ - in the body; in action
පුණ්ය - merit; goodness
පීයූෂ - nectar; ambrosia
පූර්ණාඃ - full (as in පුණ්යපීයූෂපූර්ණාස්)
ත්රිභුවනං - the three worlds
උපකාර - help; service
ශ්රේණිභිඃ - by rows/series (instrumental plural of ශ්රේණි)
ප්රීණයංතඃ - pleasing; delighting
පර - others'
ගුණ - virtues; good qualities
පරමාණූන් - atoms; tiny particles (accusative plural of පරමාණු)
පර්වතී - (making into) a mountain (as in පර්වතීකෘත්ය)
කෘත්ය - having made
නිත්යං - always
නිජ - one's own
හෘදි - in the heart
විකසංතඃ - blooming; expanding
සංතඃ - saints; good people
සංතඃ - saints; good people (repeated for emphasis)
කියංතඃ - how many?

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Full of the nectar of merit in mind, speech, and action; delighting the three worlds through continuous acts of help; always making even the tiniest atoms of others' virtues into mountains; blooming in their own hearts - how many such saints are there, O how many?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse identifies a saint by three traits: inner sweetness, outward service, and generous perception. They are "nectar-filled" (පීයූෂ) because their mind and speech are not poisoned by cynicism; they serve continuously through උපකාර (helpful action); and they amplify others' good - they take even a පරමාණු (tiny trace) of virtue in someone and make it visible, instead of hunting for faults. In modern life, such people are rare but invaluable: the teacher who encourages, the colleague who builds morale, the elder who blesses, the leader who sees strengths. The verse invites you to become one of them by practicing "magnifying good" as a deliberate habit.

කිං තේන හේමගිරිණා රජතාද්රිණා වා
යත්රාශ්රිතාශ්ච තරවස්තරවස්ත ඒව ।
මන්යාමහේ මලයං ඒව යදාශ්රයේණ
කංකෝලනිංබකටුජා අපි චංදනාඃ ස්යුඃ ॥ 1.80 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කිං - what (use is it?)
තේන - by that
හේම - gold
ගිරිණා - by a mountain (instrumental; as in හේමගිරිණා)
රජත - silver
අද්රිණා - by a mountain (instrumental; as in රජතාද්රිණා)
වා - or
යත්ර - where
ආශ්රිතාඃ - dwelling; resorting (past participle of ආශ්රි)
ච - and
තරවඃ - trees
තරවඃ - trees (repetition for emphasis)
ත - those
ඒව - only
මන්යාමහේ - we consider; we regard
මලයං - Malaya mountain
ඒව - alone
යත් - because/that which
ආශ්රයේණ - by resorting to; by association (instrumental of ආශ්රය)
කංකෝල - a pungent tree/fruit (often listed among inferior woods)
නිංබ - neem
කටුජ - pungent/bitter trees/wood
අපි - even
චංදනාඃ - become sandalwood; become fragrant/noble (predicate plural)
ස්යුඃ - would become; may become

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
What use is a golden mountain or a silver mountain, where only ordinary trees reside? We regard Malaya alone as the true mountain, because by resorting to it even ka~gkOla, neem, and other bitter woods become sandalwood.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is another teaching on සංසර්ග (association). External "value" like gold or silver is not what transforms character; environment does. Malaya is famous for sandalwood, and the poetic point is that even inferior woods become fragrant by proximity. In modern life, this is why mentors, peer groups, and cultures matter more than slogans: if your environment rewards honesty and learning, you start "smelling" like that; if it rewards cynicism and shortcuts, you absorb that too. Choose your Malaya - a place, a community, a discipline - that makes you better simply by staying near it.

රත්නෛර්මහාර්හෛස්තුතුෂුර්න දේවා
න භේජිරේ භීමවිෂේණ භීතිම් ।
සුධාං විනා න පරයුර්විරාමං
න නිශ්චිතාර්ථාද්විරමංති ධීරාඃ ॥ 1.81 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
රත්නෛඃ - by jewels (instrumental plural of රත්න)
මහාර්හෛඃ - very precious; priceless
තුතුෂුඃ - were satisfied; were content (perfect plural of තුෂ්)
න - not
දේවාඃ - gods
න - not
භේජිරේ - experienced; accepted; were afraid (perfect plural of භජ්)
භීතිං - fear
භීමවිෂේණ - by terrible poison (instrumental of භීමවිෂ)
සුධාං - nectar; ambrosia (often used for අමෘත)
විනා - without
න - not
පරයුඃ - reached/accepted ("did not stop"; perfect plural)
විරාමං - rest; cessation
න - not
නිශ්චිත - determined; resolved
අර්ථාත් - from the aim/purpose (ablative; sandhi in verse: නිශ්චිතාර්ථාත් = නිශ්චිත + අර්ථාත්)
විරමංති - desist; turn back
ධීරාඃ - steadfast; wise people

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The gods were not satisfied even with priceless jewels, were not frightened even by terrible poison, and did not rest without nectar; likewise, steadfast people do not turn back from a resolved goal.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse echoes the spirit of සමුද්රමංථන: even when riches appear, the work is not done; even when danger appears, the purpose is not abandoned; the journey continues until the true goal is reached. ධීර here means someone whose mind does not break under either temptation or fear. In modern life, this is determination with discrimination: do not get distracted by side-rewards, do not panic when obstacles appear, and do not quit the moment effort becomes uncomfortable. The caution is implicit: choose a worthy නිශ්චිතාර්ථ (resolved aim) first; then carry it through steadily.

ක්වචිත්පෘථ්වීශය්යඃ ක්වචිදපි ච පරංකශයනඃ
ක්වචිච්ඡාකාහාරඃ ක්වචිදපි ච ශාල්යෝදනරුචිඃ ।
ක්වචිත්කංථාධාරී ක්වචිදපි ච දිව්යාංබරධරෝ
මනස්වී කාර්යාර්ථී න ගණයති දුඃඛං න ච සුඛම් ॥ 1.82 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ක්වචිත් - sometimes; somewhere
පෘථ්වී - earth
සය්යඃ - bed; one who lies on (as in පෘථ්වීශය්යඃ = "sleeping on the earth")
ක්වචිත් - sometimes
අපි - also
ච - and
පරංක - bed/couch
ශයනඃ - sleeping; lying down (as in පරංකශයනඃ)
ක්වචිත් - sometimes
ඡාක - vegetables/greens
ආහාරඃ - food; one who eats (as in ඡාකාහාරඃ)
ක්වචිත් - sometimes
අපි - also
ශාලි - rice
ඕදන - cooked rice; meal
රුචිඃ - taste; liking (as in ශාල්යෝදනරුචිඃ)
ක්වචිත් - sometimes
කංථා - patched cloth; ragged garment
ධාරී - wearing (as in කංථාධාරී)
ක්වචිත් - sometimes
අපි - also
දිව්ය - fine; splendid
අංබර - garment
ධරඃ - wearing (as in දිව්යාංබරධරඃ)
මනස්වී - strong-minded; resolute
කාර්ය - work; purpose/mission
අර්ථී - seeker (as in කාර්යාර්ථී)
න - not
ගණයති - counts; considers
දුඃඛං - sorrow; hardship
න - not
ච - and
සුඛං - happiness; comfort

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Sometimes sleeping on the bare earth, sometimes on a bed; sometimes eating simple greens, sometimes enjoying rice; sometimes wearing rags, sometimes fine clothes - the resolute person intent on their purpose does not count sorrow and does not count comfort.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse teaches "goal-anchored flexibility." When your mind is fixed on කාර්ය (a worthy task), external ups and downs stop ruling you: you can work with whatever conditions exist. This is not negligence of health; it is refusal to make comfort the dictator of life. In modern life, anyone building something meaningful sees this rhythm: some months are lean and simple, some are abundant; some days are exhausting, some are easy - but the person with මනස් (inner resolve) keeps moving. The more you practice not overreacting to comfort or discomfort, the more stable your progress becomes.

ඓශ්වර්යස්ය විභූෂණං සුජනතා ශෞර්යස්ය වාක්සංයමෝ
ජ්ඤානස්යෝපශමඃ ශ්රුතස්ය විනයෝ විත්තස්ය පාත්රේ ව්යයඃ ।
අක්රෝධස්තපසඃ ක්ෂමා ප්රභවිතුර්ධර්මස්ය නිර්වාජතා
සර්වේෂාං අපි සර්වකාරණං ඉදං ශීලං පරං භූෂණම් ॥ 1.83 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ඓශ්වර්යස්ය - of wealth/power (genitive of ඓශ්වර්ය)
විභූෂණං - ornament; adornment
සුජනතා - goodness; being a good person
ශෞර්යස්ය - of valor/heroism (genitive of ශෞර්ය)
වාක් - speech
සංයමඃ - restraint; control (as in වාක්සංයමඃ)
ජ්ඤානස්ය - of knowledge (genitive of ජ්ඤාන)
උපශමඃ - tranquility; pacification; calmness
ශ්රුතස්ය - of learning; of what is heard/studied (genitive of ශ්රුත)
විනයඃ - humility; discipline
විත්තස්ය - of wealth (genitive of විත්ත)
පාත්රේ - in a worthy recipient (locative of පාත්ර)
ව්යයඃ - spending; outlay
අක්රෝධඃ - absence of anger; not being wrathful
තපසඃ - of austerity/discipline (genitive of තපස්)
ක්ෂමා - forgiveness; forbearance
ප්රභවිතුඃ - of the powerful/ruler (genitive of ප්රභවිතෘ)
ධර්මස්ය - of ධර්ම
නිර්වාජතා - impartiality; not being swayed by bias/bribes
සර්වේෂාං - of all
අපි - even; indeed
සර්ව - all
කාරණං - cause; reason (as in සර්වකාරණං)
ඉදං - this
ශීලං - good character; conduct
පරං - supreme
භූෂණං - ornament; adornment

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Goodness is the ornament of wealth; restraint of speech is the ornament of valor; tranquility is the ornament of knowledge; humility is the ornament of learning; spending wealth on worthy recipients is its ornament; freedom from anger is the ornament of austerity; forgiveness is the ornament of the powerful; and impartiality is the ornament of ධර්ම. Indeed, this noble character is the supreme ornament and the cause of everything.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි is giving a practical test: what makes each strength safe? Wealth without සුජනතා (goodness) becomes arrogance; courage without වාක්සංයම becomes bullying; knowledge without උපශම becomes agitation; learning without විනය becomes vanity. Even power is beautified only by ක්ෂමා (forbearance), and public life is protected by නිර්වාජතා (impartiality) - not being bought by faction or favor. In modern life, treat these as "guardrails" for success: as you grow in resources, grow in restraint and humility even faster. That is how ශීල becomes the real ornament that does not fade.

නිංදංතු නීතිනිපුණා යදි වා ස්තුවංතු
ලක්ෂ්මීඃ සමාවිශතු ගච්ඡතු වා යථේෂ්ඨම් ।
අද්යෛව වා මරණං අස්තු යුගාංතරේ වා
න්යාය්යාත්පථඃ ප්රවිචලංති පදං න ධීරාඃ ॥ 1.84 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
නිංදංතු - let them blame/criticize
නීති - conduct; ethics
නිපුණාඃ - experts; the skilled (as in නීතිනිපුණාඃ)
යදි - if; whether
වා - or
ස්තුවංතු - let them praise
ලක්ෂ්මීඃ - Lakshmi; fortune
සමාවිශතු - may enter; may come
ගච්ඡතු - may go
වා - or
යථේෂ්ඨං - as she wishes; as desired
අද්ය - today
ඒව - itself; indeed
වා - or
මරණං - death
අස්තු - may it be; let it be
යුග - age; eon
අංතරේ - in between; later (as in යුගාංතරේ)
වා - or
න්යායාත් - from justice/righteousness (ablative of න්යාය)
පථඃ - from the path (ablative of පථ; as in න්යාය්යාත්පථඃ)
ප්රවිචලංති - deviate; slip away
පදං - a step
න - not
ධීරාඃ - steadfast; wise people

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Let experts in ethics blame, or let them praise; let fortune come or go as she pleases; let death come today, or after ages - the steadfast do not deviate even a step from the path of justice.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a vow of integrity that is independent of outcome. Praise and blame are social weather; ලක්ෂ්මී (fortune) is changeable; even life itself is uncertain. But ධීර means someone who is anchored in න්යාය (justice) rather than in applause or fear. In modern life, this is the person who refuses to lie to look competent, refuses to cheat to get ahead, and refuses to abandon principles when money or anxiety enters the room. The verse is not "stubbornness"; it is clarity about what is non-negotiable.

භග්නාශස්ය කරංඩපිංඩිතතනෝර්ම්ලානේංද්රියස්ය ක්ෂුධා
කෘත්වාඛුර්විවරං ස්වයං නිපතිතෝ නක්තං මුඛේ භෝගිනඃ ।
තෘප්තස්තත්පිශිතේන සත්වරං අසෞ තේනෛව යාතඃ යථා
ලෝකාඃ පශ්යත දෛවං ඒව හි නෘණාං වෘද්ධෞ ක්ෂයේ කාරණම් ॥ 1.85 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
භග්න - broken
ආශස්ය - of hope/expectation (genitive of ආශා; as in භග්නාශස්ය)
කරංඩ - basket
පිංඩිත - coiled up; packed up
තනෝඃ - of the body (genitive of තනු; in verse as කරංඩපිංඩිතතනෝඃ)
ම්ලාන - withered; weakened
ඉංද්රියස්ය - of the senses (genitive of ඉංද්රිය; as in ම්ලානේංද්රියස්ය)
ක්ෂුධා - by hunger
කෘත්වා - having made; having become
ආඛු - rat/mouse
විවරං - hole (as in ආඛුර්විවරං = "a rat-hole")
ස්වයං - by itself
නිපතිතඃ - fallen into
නක්තං - at night
මුඛේ - in the mouth (locative of මුඛ)
භෝගිනඃ - of the serpent (genitive of භෝගින්)
තෘප්තඃ - satisfied
තත් - that (rat's)
පිශිතේන - by flesh/meat (instrumental of පිශිත)
සත්වරං - quickly
අසෞ - that one (the serpent)
තේන - by that
ඒව - indeed
යාතඃ - went
යථා - as; just as
ලෝකාඃ - O people!
පශ්යත - see!
දෛවං - fate; destiny
ඒව - alone
හි - indeed
නෘණාං - of people/men (genitive plural of නෘ)
වෘද්ධෞ - in rise/prosperity (locative of වෘද්ධි)
ක්ෂයේ - in decline/loss (locative of ක්ෂය)
කාරණං - cause

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
A serpent, whose hopes were broken, whose body was coiled like a basket and whose senses were weakened by hunger, made itself like a rat-hole; and at night a rat fell right into its mouth. Satisfied with that flesh, it quickly went away just like that. People, see! Destiny alone is indeed the cause of rise and fall in human life.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is not telling you to abandon effort; it is humbling you about outcomes. Even when the serpent is starving and seemingly helpless, fortune can drop food into its mouth; and even when you do things "right", results can still surprise you. දෛව here means the vast network of causes you cannot control. In modern life, this shows up as timing, market cycles, health, and chance meetings. The practical response is balanced: do your best work sincerely, but do not build your identity on results. Gratitude in success and steadiness in loss are both forms of wisdom.

ආලස්යං හි මනුෂ්යාණාං
ශරීරස්ථෝ මහාන්රිපුඃ ।
නාස්ත්යුද්යමසමෝ බංධුඃ
කුර්වාණෝ නාවසීදති ॥ 1.86 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ආලස්යං - laziness; inertia
හි - indeed
මනුෂ්යාණාං - of human beings (genitive plural of මනුෂ්ය)
ශරීර - body
ස්ථඃ - residing in (as in ශරීරස්ථඃ)
මහාන් - great
රිපුඃ - enemy
න - not
අස්ති - there is (sandhi in verse: නාස්ති = න + අස්ති)
උද්යම - effort; initiative
සමඃ - equal
බංධුඃ - friend
කුර්වාණඃ - doing; acting (present participle)
න - not
අවසීදති - sinks; fails; falls into ruin (sandhi in verse: නාවසීදති = න + අවසීදති)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Laziness is indeed a great enemy dwelling within the human body; there is no friend equal to effort. The one who keeps acting does not sink into failure.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි points to the most dangerous opponent because it is invisible and internal: ආලස්ය (inertia) lives inside our routines and excuses. External obstacles can be negotiated, but laziness quietly steals days. The counter-force is උද්යම (effort): small, consistent action that keeps momentum alive. In modern life, this can be as simple as a daily non-negotiable: one page read, one message sent, one workout, one honest difficult conversation. When you keep moving, problems shrink; when you stop moving, even small problems feel like mountains.

ඡින්නෝऽපි රෝහති තර්ක්ෂීණෝऽප්යුපචීයතේ පුනශ්චංද්රඃ ।
ඉති විමෘශංතඃ සංතඃ සංතප්යංතේ න දුඃඛේෂු ॥ 1.87 ॥

ඡංදඃ (ආර්යා): This is in ආර්යා Chandas/Meter: a මාත්රා-චංදස් counted by මාත්රාඃ (1 for ලඝු, 2 for ගුරු) rather than a fixed syllable count; the basic scheme is 12+18 මාත්රාඃ in the first half and 12+15 මාත්රාඃ in the second half (often written as two lines); a natural යති (pause) occurs at the 12-මාත්රා split within each half.

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ඡින්නඃ - cut down
අපි - even (sandhi in verse: ඡින්නෝऽපි = ඡින්නඃ + අපි)
රෝහති - grows again; sprouts
තර්ක්ෂිණී - a tree (in verse as තර්ක්ෂීණි)
අපි - even (sandhi in verse: තර්ක්ෂීණෝऽපි = තර්ක්ෂිණී + අපි)
උපචීයතේ - grows; increases again
පුනඃ - again
චංද්රඃ - the moon
ඉති - thus
විමෘශංතඃ - reflecting; considering deeply
සංතඃ - good people; the wise
සංතප්යංතේ - are afflicted; suffer
න - not
දුඃඛේෂු - in sorrows; in difficulties (locative plural of දුඃඛ)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even when cut down, a tree grows again; and even when it wanes, the moon increases again. Reflecting in this way, good people do not despair in times of sorrow.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse offers a simple medicine for despair: remember the rhythm of renewal in nature. Loss is real, but it is not always final; many things regrow, return, or can be rebuilt. In modern life, this is resilience after failure: a project can be restarted, skills can be regained, relationships can be repaired, health can often be restored with patient discipline. The point is not naive optimism; it is refusing to make pain into permanent identity. Like the moon's phases, your difficult season can pass.

නේතා යස්ය බෘහස්පතිඃ ප්රහරණං වජ්රං සුරාඃ සෛනිකාඃ
ස්වර්ගෝ දුර්ගං අනුග්රහඃ කිල හරේරෛරාවතෝ වාරණඃ ।
ඉත්යෛශ්වර්යබලාන්විතෝऽපි බලභිද්භග්නඃ පරෛඃ සංගරේ
තද්ව්යක්තං නනු දෛවං ඒව ශරණං ධිග්ධිග්වෘථා පෞරුෂම් ॥ 1.88 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
නේතා - leader; guide
යස්ය - of whom
බෘහස්පතිඃ - Brihaspati (guru of the gods)
ප්රහරණං - weapon
වජ්රං - vajra (thunderbolt)
සුරාඃ - the gods
සෛනිකාඃ - soldiers; army
ස්වර්ගඃ - heaven
දුර්ගං - fortress
අනුග්රහඃ - support; favor
කිල - indeed
හරේඃ - of Hari (Vishnu)
ඓරාවතඃ - Airavata
වාරණඃ - elephant
ඉති - thus
ඓශ්වර්ය - wealth/power
බල - strength
අන්විතඃ - endowed with (sandhi in verse: ඉත්යෛශ්වර්යබලාන්විතෝऽපි = ඉති + ඓශ්වර්යබලාන්විතඃ + අපි)
අපි - even though
බලභිත් - Indra ("slayer of බල")
භග්නඃ - defeated; broken
පරෛඃ - by others/enemies
සංගරේ - in battle (locative of සංගර)
තත් - that
ව්යක්තං - clear; manifest
නනු - indeed
දෛවං - fate; destiny
ඒව - alone
ශරණං - refuge
ධික් - shame!
වෘථා - in vain; pointless
පෞරුෂං - human effort/valor

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even though Indra had Brihaspati as his leader, the vajra as his weapon, the gods as his army, heaven as his fortress, Hari's favor, and Airavata as his elephant, he was still defeated by enemies in battle. Thus it is clear: fate alone is the refuge - shame on human effort done in vain.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is deliberately extreme to make a point about limits: even the most "stacked" advantages cannot guarantee victory. දෛව here stands for factors beyond our control - timing, hidden causes, and the unpredictability of the world. In modern life, this is why humility is essential in success and compassion is essential in judgment: you do not fully know what helped you win, and you do not fully know what blocked someone else. The healthy synthesis is: do your පෞරුෂ (effort) sincerely, but do not treat outcomes as proof of personal superiority. Accept what you cannot control, and keep your character steady.

කර්මායත්තං ඵලං පුංසාං
බුද්ධිඃ කර්මානුසාරිණී ।
තථාපි සුධියා භාව්යං
සුවිචාර්යෛව කුර්වතා ॥ 1.89 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කර්ම - action
ආයත්තං - dependent on; under the control of (as in කර්මායත්තං)
ඵලං - result; fruit
පුංසාං - of people/men (genitive plural of පුමාන්)
බුද්ධිඃ - intellect; understanding
කර්ම - action
අනුසාරිණී - following; in accordance with (as in කර්මානුසාරිණී)
තථා - thus
අපි - even so
සුධියා - by the wise (instrumental of සුධි)
භාව්යං - should be done; should act
සුවිචාර්ය - having deliberated well
ඒව - indeed
කුර්වතා - by the one who acts/does

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The results people obtain depend on their actions, and even the mind's understanding follows action; nevertheless, the wise should act only after careful deliberation.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse balances two truths: action matters, and thinking matters. If you keep acting impulsively, your බුද්ධි (judgment) starts to "follow" those impulses and justifies them; but if you deliberate well and then act, your mind becomes aligned with wisdom. In modern life, this is why small ethical choices matter: a shortcut today makes the next shortcut easier; a principled choice today strengthens the next principled choice. Train yourself to pause, consider consequences, and then act - that is සුවිචාර in practice.

ඛල්වාතෝ දිවසේශ්වරස්ය කිරණෛඃ සංතාඩිතෝ මස්තකේ
වාංඡංදේශං අනාතපං විධිවශාත්තාලස්ය මූලං ගතඃ ।
තත්රාප්යස්ය මහාඵලේන පතතා භග්නං සශබ්දං ශිරඃ
ප්රායෝ ගච්ඡති යත්ර භාග්යරහිතස්තත්රෛව යාංත්යාපදඃ ॥ 1.90 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ඛල්වාතඃ - bald man (sandhi in verse: ඛල්වාතෝ = ඛල්වාතඃ)
දිවස - day
ඊශ්වරස්ය - of the lord (as in දිවසේශ්වරස්ය = "lord of the day" = the sun)
කිරණෛඃ - by rays (instrumental plural of කිරණ)
සංතාඩිතඃ - struck; tormented; afflicted
මස්තකේ - on the head (locative of මස්තක)
වාංඡන් - desiring; seeking
දේශං - place
අනාතපං - without heat/sun; shady
විධි - fate; the ordainer
වශාත් - due to the control/influence (as in විධිවශාත්)
තාලස්ය - of the palm tree
මූලං - root; base
ගතඃ - went
තත්ර - there
අපි - even
අස්ය - his
මහා - big; great
ඵලේන - by a fruit (instrumental of ඵල; as in මහාඵලේන)
පතතා - falling (instrumental of present participle)
භග්නං - broken
සශබ්දං - with a sound
ශිරඃ - head
ප්රායඃ - generally; most often
ගච්ඡති - goes
යත්ර - where
භාග්යරහිතඃ - the unfortunate; one without good fortune
තත්ර - there
ඒව - indeed
යාංති - go
ආපදඃ - calamities (sandhi in verse: යාංත්යාපදඃ = යාංති + ආපදඃ)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
A bald man, whose head was tormented by the sun's rays, sought a shady place; by fate he went under the base of a palm tree. Even there, his head was cracked with a loud sound by a large falling fruit. Often, calamities go exactly where the unfortunate goes.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a sharp way of describing cascading misfortune: when luck is bad, even a reasonable decision seems to backfire. It is also a warning about becoming careless under discomfort: the bald man is desperate for shade, so he stops thinking about what might fall from a tall tree. In modern life, this is how one rushed decision creates another problem - you try to escape one pain quickly and walk into a new one. The practical application is: slow down when stressed, widen your awareness, and choose "shade" that is actually safe. Even if දෛව is a factor, විවේක (discernment) reduces avoidable harm.

රවිනිශාකරයෝර්ග්රහපීඩනං
ගජභුජංගමයෝරපි බංධනම් ।
මතිමතාං ච විලෝක්ය දරිද්රතාං
විධිරහෝ බලවානිති මේ මතිඃ ॥ 1.91 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
රවි - the sun
නිශාකර - the moon ("maker of night")
යෝඃ - of the two (genitive dual; as in රවිනිශාකරයෝඃ)
ග්රහ - seizer; planet (here: eclipse-causing "graha")
පීඩනං - affliction; oppression (as in ග්රහපීඩනං)
ගජ - elephant
භුජංගම - serpent
යෝඃ - of the two (genitive dual; as in ගජභුජංගමයෝඃ)
අපි - even
බංධනං - bondage; captivity
මතිමතාං - of intelligent people (genitive plural of මතිමත්)
ච - and
විලෝක්ය - having seen
දරිද්රතාං - poverty; destitution
විධිඃ - fate; the ordainer
අහෝ - alas!
බලවාන් - powerful
ඉති - thus
මේ - my
මතිඃ - opinion; understanding

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Seeing the eclipse of the sun and moon, the captivity of even an elephant and a serpent, and the poverty of intelligent people, I conclude: alas, fate is powerful.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse lists "reversals" to shake our simplistic beliefs: even the bright can be eclipsed, even the strong can be bound, and even the wise can be poor. විධි is not a license for helplessness; it is a reminder to stay humble and compassionate. In modern life, this means not equating wealth with intelligence, not assuming power guarantees safety, and not treating misfortune as moral failure. Do your work with effort, but hold outcomes with humility - that is what the verse trains.

සෘජති තාවදශේෂගුණකරං
පුරුෂරත්නං අලංකරණං භුවඃ ।
තදපි තත්ක්ෂණභංගි කරෝති
චේදහහ කෂ්ටං අපංඩිතතා විධේඃ ॥ 1.92 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
සෘජති - creates; produces
තාවත් - then/so long; at first
අශේෂ - without remainder; all
ගුණ - virtues; qualities
කරං - making; producing (as in අශේෂගුණකරං = "producing all virtues")
පුරුෂ - person
රත්නං - jewel (as in පුරුෂරත්නං = "a jewel among people")
අලංකරණං - ornament; adornment
භුවඃ - of the earth/world (genitive of භුව්)
තත් - that
අපි - even
තත්ක්ෂණ - in that very moment; instantly
භංගි - breaking; destruction (as in තත්ක්ෂණභංගි)
කරෝති - does; makes
චේත් - if (sandhi in verse: චේදහහ = චේත් + අහහ)
අහහ - alas!
කෂ්ටං - painful; hard
අපංඩිතතා - lack of learning; not being a පංඩිත
විධේඃ - of fate/creator (genitive of විධි)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Fate first creates a "jewel of a person" who produces every virtue, an ornament of the earth; but if it then breaks that person instantly, alas - how painful is the creator's gift of ignorance and lack of learning.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a lament that raw potential is wasted when education and discernment are missing. Even a naturally gifted person becomes fragile if අපංඩිතතා (lack of learning) rules their choices; one impulsive error can "break" a reputation or a life. In modern life, this is why skill without judgment is dangerous: talent needs training, mentorship, and reflection to become stable virtue. Treat learning not as decoration but as protection - the difference between brilliance that burns out and brilliance that serves.

පත්රං නෛව යදා කරීරවිටපේ දෝෂෝ වසංතස්ය කිම්
නෝලූකෝऽප්යවලෝකතේ යදි දිවා සූර්යස්ය කිං දූෂණම් ।
ධාරා නෛව පතංති චාතකමුඛේ මේඝස්ය කිං දූෂණම්
යත්පූර්වං විධිනා ලලාටලිඛිතං තන්මාර්ජිතුං කඃ ක්ෂමඃ ॥ 1.93 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
පත්රං - leaf
න - not
ඒව - at all (as in නෛව)
යදා - when
කරීර - a thorny tree/shrub
විටපේ - on a branch/tree (locative of විටප)
දෝෂෝ - fault; defect
වසංතස්ය - of spring
කිම් - what (fault?)
උලූකඃ - owl (sandhi in verse: නෝලූකෝऽපි = න + උලූකඃ + අපි)
අපි - even
අවලෝකතේ - sees; looks (with න in the verse: does not see)
යදි - if
දිවා - in the daytime
සූර්යස්ය - of the sun
කිම් - what
දූෂණං - blame; defect
ධාරාඃ - streams; flows (of rain)
න - not
ඒව - at all (as in නෛව)
පතංති - fall
චාතක - the chataka bird (traditionally said to drink only rain directly)
මුඛේ - into the mouth (locative of මුඛ)
මේඝස්ය - of the cloud
කිම් - what
දූෂණං - blame
යත් - that which
පූර්වං - previously
විධිනා - by fate/creator (instrumental of විධි)
ලලාට - forehead
ලිඛිතං - written (as in ලලාටලිඛිතං)
තත් - that
මාර්ජිතුං - to wipe away; to erase
කඃ - who?
ක්ෂමඃ - capable

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
If, in spring, leaves do not appear on the thorny karIra tree, what fault is that of spring? If an owl cannot see in the daytime, what defect is that of the sun? If rain-streams do not fall into the chataka bird's mouth, what is the cloud to blame? What was written earlier on the forehead by fate - who can erase it?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse teaches two kinds of maturity: stop blaming the wrong cause, and accept what is beyond you. A karIra tree will not become leafy like a mango by blaming spring; an owl's limitation is not the sun's defect; and the chataka mythology is used to show that even the "right" cloud may not satisfy every desire. In modern life, this means: do not waste emotional energy resenting reality, other people, or the world for constraints that are structural. Work with what you can change, build skill and timing patiently, and accept that some outcomes are not in your hands. That acceptance is not laziness; it is clarity.

නමස්යාමෝ දේවාන්නනු හතවිධේස්තේऽපි වශගා
විධිර්වංද්යඃ සෝऽපි ප්රතිනියතකර්මෛකඵලදඃ ।
ඵලං කර්මායත්තං යදි කිං අමරෛඃ කිං ච විධිනා
නමස්තත්කර්මභ්යෝ විධිරපි න යේභ්යඃ ප්රභවති ॥ 1.94 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
නමස්යාමෝ - we bow; we salute
දේවාන් - the gods (accusative plural of දේව)
නනු - indeed
හතවිධේඃ - of inexorable/cruel fate (genitive of හතවිධි)
තේ - they
අපි - also; even (sandhi in verse: තේऽපි = තේ + අපි)
වශගාඃ - under control; subservient
විධිඃ - fate; the ordainer
වංද්යඃ - worthy of reverence
සඃ - he
අපි - also (sandhi in verse: සෝऽපි = සඃ + අපි)
ප්රතිනියත - fixed; strictly determined
කර්ම - action
ඒක - only
ඵලදඃ - giver of fruits/results (as in ප්රතිනියතකර්මෛකඵලදඃ)
ඵලං - fruit/result
කර්මායත්තං - dependent on karma
යදි - if
කිං - what (use?)
අමරෛඃ - by the immortal gods
කිං - what
ච - and
විධිනා - by fate (instrumental)
නමඃ - salutations
තත් - to those
කර්මභ්යඃ - to actions (dative plural of කර්ම)
විධිඃ - fate
අපි - even
න - not
යේභ්යඃ - from which
ප්රභවති - prevails/operates

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
We bow to the gods, yet even they are under the control of inexorable fate. Fate is to be revered, yet it gives fruits only according to fixed karma. If results depend on karma, what use are the gods, and what use is fate? Salutations to those actions, apart from which even fate does not operate.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is a philosophical tightening of the screw: it keeps removing "intermediaries" until responsibility remains. If even gods are constrained by විධි, and if විධි itself gives results only through කර්ම, then the most practical focus is: do the right action. In modern life, this discourages both superstition and fatalism: do not outsource your ethics to rituals, and do not outsource your effort to luck. Worship in your tradition if you wish, but let it support සත්ක්රියා (right conduct) - because conduct is where your agency lives.

බ්රහ්මා යේන කුලාලවන්නියමිතෝ බ්රහ්මාඩභාංඩෝදරේ
විෂ්ණුර්යේන දශාවතාරගහනේ ක්ෂිප්තෝ මහාසංකටේ ।
රුද්රෝ යේන කපාලපාණිපුටකේ භික්ෂාටනං කාරිතඃ
සූර්යෝ භ්රාම්යති නිත්යං ඒව ගගනේ තස්මෛ නමඃ කර්මණේ ॥ 1.95 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
බ්රහ්මා - Brahma
යේන - by which
කුලාල - potter
වත් - like (as in කුලාලවත්)
නියමිතඃ - regulated/limited; constrained
බ්රහ්මාංඩ - cosmic egg
භාංඩ - pot/vessel (as in බ්රහ්මාංඩභාංඩ)
උදරේ - inside (locative of උදර)
විෂ්ණුඃ - Vishnu
යේන - by which
දශ - ten
අවතාර - incarnations
ගහනේ - in the thicket; in the difficult maze (locative of ගහන)
ක්ෂිප්තඃ - thrown; cast
මහා - great
සංකටේ - in distress/difficulty (locative of සංකට)
රුද්රඃ - Rudra (Siva)
යේන - by which
කපාල - skull-bowl
පාණි - hand
පුටකේ - in the bundle/container (locative)
භික්ෂාටනං - begging; wandering for alms
කාරිතඃ - made to do; caused
සූර්යඃ - the sun
භ්රාම්යති - wanders; moves around
නිත්යං - always; daily
ඒව - indeed
ගගනේ - in the sky
තස්මෛ - to that
නමඃ - salutations
කර්මණේ - to karma (dative of කර්ම)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Salutations to that karma by which Brahma is constrained like a potter within the "pot" of the cosmic egg; by which Vishnu is cast into the difficult maze of ten incarnations; by which Rudra is made to wander begging with a skull-bowl; and by which the sun endlessly circles the sky.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a poetic way of asserting the universality of cause-and-effect. Even the highest cosmic roles are portrayed as moving within laws; no one is "above" the structure of consequence. In modern life, this restores moral seriousness: your actions matter, patterns repeat, and responsibility cannot be escaped by status. It also restores humility: if even gods are shown as moving within order, it is wise for us to align our choices with ධර්ම and to cultivate patience. කර්ම here is not merely fate; it is the moral logic of life.

නෛවාකෘතිඃ ඵලති නෛවා කුලං න ශීලං
විද්යාපි නෛව න ච යත්නකෘතාපි සේවා ।
භාග්යානි පූර්වතපසා ඛලු සංචිතානි
කාලේ ඵලංති පුරුෂස්ය යථෛව වෘක්ෂාඃ ॥ 1.96 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
න - not
ඒව - at all (as in නෛව)
ආකෘතිඃ - form; appearance
ඵලති - bears fruit; succeeds
න - not
ඒව - at all
කුලං - family/lineage
න - not
ශීලං - character; conduct
විද්යා - learning
අපි - even
න - not
ඒව - at all
න - not
ච - and
යත්න - effort
කෘතා - done (as in යත්නකෘතා)
අපි - even
සේවා - service
භාග්යානි - fortunes; good outcomes
පූර්ව - earlier/past
තපසා - by austerity/discipline (instrumental of තපස්)
ඛලු - indeed
සංචිතානි - accumulated
කාලේ - in time; at the right season
ඵලංති - bear fruit
පුරුෂස්ය - of a person
යථා - just as
ඒව - indeed
වෘක්ෂාඃ - trees

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Neither appearance, nor family, nor character, nor even learning or service done with effort necessarily bears fruit; fortunes accumulated through past discipline bear fruit in their own time for a person, just like trees.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
Read this verse as a teaching on timing and long causality, not as a command to stop trying. Many results are delayed; some are rooted in earlier causes we do not see. පූර්වතපස් here can be understood as sustained effort and inner discipline accumulated over time - like planting a tree and waiting for the season of fruit. In modern life, this is why consistent practice matters: the work you do today may not show up immediately, but it is stored. Keep building good causes; when time ripens, effects appear.

වනේ රණේ ශත්රුජලාග්නිමධ්යේ
මහාර්ණවේ පර්වතමස්තකේ වා ।
සුප්තං ප්රමත්තං විෂමස්ථිතං වා
රක්ෂංති පුණ්යානි පුරාකෘතානි ॥ 1.97 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
වනේ - in a forest
රණේ - in battle
ශත්රු - enemy
ජල - water
අග්නි - fire
මධ්යේ - in the midst (as in ශත්රුජලාග්නිමධ්යේ)
මහා - great
අර්ණවේ - in the ocean (locative of අර්ණව; as in මහාර්ණවේ)
පර්වත - mountain
මස්තකේ - on the top/head (locative; as in පර්වතමස්තකේ)
වා - or
සුප්තං - (even if) asleep
ප්රමත්තං - careless; intoxicated; inattentive
විෂම - dangerous; uneven
ස්ථිතං - situated (as in විෂමස්ථිතං)
වා - or
රක්ෂංති - protect
පුණ්යානි - merits; good deeds
පුරා - earlier
කෘතානි - done (as in පුරාකෘතානි)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Whether in a forest or in battle, amid enemies, water, or fire; whether in the great ocean or on a mountain peak; whether asleep, careless, or in a dangerous position - merits earned earlier protect.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is not encouraging recklessness; it is encouraging long-term ethical investment. When you consistently do good - build trust, keep promises, help others, avoid harm - that "stored" merit often shows up as protection: the right person appears, a mistake is forgiven, help arrives at the right time, or you simply have the inner strength to endure. In modern life, you can view පුණ්ය as both spiritual credit and practical goodwill. Build it quietly; it becomes your unseen safety net.

යා සාධූංශ්ච ඛලාන්කරෝති විදුෂෝ මූර්ඛාන්හිතාංද්වේෂිණඃ
ප්රත්යක්ෂං කුරුතේ පරීක්ෂං අමෘතං හාලාහලං තත්ක්ෂණාත් ।
තාං ආරාධය සත්ක්රියාං භගවතීං භෝක්තුං ඵලං වාංඡිතං
හේ සාධෝ ව්යසනෛර්ගුණේෂු විපුලේෂ්වාස්ථාං වෘථා මා කෘථාඃ ॥ 1.98 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
යා - which (power/goddess)
සාධූන් - good people; saints (accusative plural; sandhi in verse: සාධූංශ්ච = සාධූන් + ච)
ච - and
ඛලාන් - wicked people (accusative plural; as in "making (them) wicked")
කරෝති - makes
විදුෂඃ - the learned (accusative plural; sandhi in verse: විදුෂෝ = විදුෂඃ)
මූර්ඛාන් - fools (accusative plural of මූර්ඛ්)
හිතාන් - well-wishers; beneficial people
ද්වේෂිණඃ - haters; enemies (sandhi in verse: හිතාංද්වේෂිණඃ = හිතාන් + ද්වේෂිණඃ)
ප්රත්යක්ෂං - directly; visibly
කුරුතේ - makes/does
පරීක්ෂං - test; examination
අමෘතං - nectar; ambrosia
හාලාහලං - deadly poison (halAhala)
තත්ක්ෂණාත් - in that very moment; instantly
තාං - her
ආරාධය - worship; propitiate (imperative)
සත්ක්රියාං - proper honoring; due service/reverence
භගවතීං - the venerable goddess
භෝක්තුං - to enjoy
ඵලං - fruit/result
වාංඡිතං - desired
හේ - O!
සාධෝ - good man; noble one
ව්යසනෛඃ - by misfortunes/vices (instrumental plural of ව්යසන)
ගුණේෂු - in virtues/qualities (locative plural of ගුණ)
විපුලේෂු - abundant; great
ආස්ථාං - reliance; confidence; attachment
වෘථා - in vain
මා - do not
කෘථාඃ - do (imperative)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That power which can turn good people into wicked, the learned into fools, and well-wishers into haters; which openly tests by turning nectar into deadly poison in an instant - worship her with due reverence if you wish to enjoy the result you desire. O noble one, do not place vain reliance on even abundant virtues when misfortune can overturn them.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse warns against complacency: character is tested, not merely possessed. Under pressure, people can flip; in one moment what looked like අමෘත (nectar) can feel like හාලාහල (poison). The instruction is not to fear life, but to cultivate humility and consistent discipline - සත්ක්රියා as "right conduct" and "proper honoring" of what is sacred and ethical. In modern life, this means not assuming your good habits are unbreakable: protect them with routines, good company, and boundaries, especially during stress. Virtues survive not by pride, but by practice.

ගුණවදගුණවද්වා කුර්වතා කාර්යජාතං
පරිණතිරවධාර්යා යත්නතඃ පංඩිතේන ।
අතිරභසකෘතානාං කර්මණාං ආවිපත්තේර්
භවති හෘදයදාහී ශල්යතුල්යෝ විපාකඃ ॥ 1.99 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ගුණවත් - with virtue/quality
අගුණවත් - without quality; flawed
වා - or
කුර්වතා - by the doer; by one who does
කාර්යජාතං - the set/collection of tasks
පරිණතිඃ - outcome; consequence
අවධාර්යා - must be ascertained/considered
යත්නතඃ - carefully; with effort
පංඩිතේන - by the wise person
අති - excessively
රභස - haste; impulsive speed
කෘතානාං - of actions done (genitive plural)
කර්මණාං - of actions
ආ - toward; into (prefix)
විපත්තේඃ - from the arising of calamity/misfortune (ablative of විපත්ති)
භවති - becomes
හෘදය - heart
දාහී - burning (as in හෘදයදාහී)
ශල්ය - a thorn/dart; something lodged painfully
තුල්යඃ - like; comparable (as in ශල්යතුල්යඃ)
විපාකඃ - fruition; ripened result

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Whether doing a task well or poorly, the wise person should carefully consider its consequence. For actions done in reckless haste, the ripened result becomes heart-burning, like a thorn or dart lodged within.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The key warning is against රභස (impulsive haste). A rushed email, a quick lie, a sudden purchase, a careless comment, or an unreviewed change can ripen into විපත්ති (misfortune) that burns the heart. ශල්ය means a thorn or dart stuck inside - the pain is not dramatic but persistent, because it keeps pricking you later. In modern life, this verse is an argument for pause: review, ask one more question, wait one day, and act with clarity. The cost of carefulness is small; the cost of rashness is long.

ස්ථාල්යාං වෛදූර්යමය්යාං පචති තිලකණාංශ්චංදනෛරිංධනෞඝෛඃ
සෞවර්ණෛර්ලාංගලාග්රෛර්විලිඛති වසුධාං අර්කමූලස්ය හේතෝඃ ।
කෘත්වා කර්පූරඛංඩාන්වෘත්තිං ඉහ කුරුතේ කෝද්රවාණාං සමංතාත්
ප්රාප්යේමාං කරංභූමිං න චරති මනුජෝ යස්තෝප මංදභාග්යඃ ॥ 1.100 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ස්ථාල්යාං - in a cooking pot (locative of ස්ථාලී)
වෛදූර්ය - vaidUrya gemstone (cat's-eye)
මය්යාං - made of (locative feminine; as in වෛදූර්යමය්යාං)
පචති - cooks
තිලකණාන් - sesame seeds (accusative plural)
චංදනෛඃ - with sandalwood (instrumental plural of චංදන)
ඉංධන - fuel
ඖඝෛඃ - by heaps/floods (instrumental plural of ඕඝ්හ; as in ඉංධනෞඝෛඃ)
සෞවර්ණෛඃ - with golden (instrumental plural of සෞවර්ණ)
ලාංගල - plough
අග්රෛඃ - tips/points (instrumental plural of අග්ර; as in ලාංගලාග්රෛඃ)
විලිඛති - scratches; ploughs
වසුධාං - the earth (accusative of වසුධා)
අර්ක - arka plant
මූලස්ය - of the root (genitive of මූල)
හේතෝඃ - for the sake of; for the purpose
කෘත්වා - having made
කර්පූර - camphor
ඛංඩාන් - pieces (accusative plural of ඛංඩ)
වෘත්තිං - use; means (here: using as fuel)
ඉහ - here
කුරුතේ - does; makes
කෝද්රවාණාං - of coarse grains/millets (genitive plural of කෝද්රව)
සමංතාත් - all around; everywhere
ප්රාප්ය - having obtained
ඉමාං - this
කර්ම - action
භූමිං - field/land (as in කරංභූමිං = "field of action"; often used for the human condition as a place of purposeful effort)
න - not
චරති - conducts himself; lives/acts
මනුජඃ - man; human
යඃ - who
තු - but
අපි - even
මංද - dull; weak
භාග්යඃ - fortune (as in මංදභාග්යඃ = "unfortunate")

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
He cooks mere sesame seeds in a pot made of vaidUrya gem using heaps of sandalwood as fuel; he ploughs the earth with golden ploughshares just to grow the root of arka; he uses chunks of camphor as fuel to cook coarse grains everywhere. Having obtained this precious field of human action, such an unfortunate person still does not live rightly.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse is an unforgettable picture of misallocation: priceless resources used for trivial ends. In modern life, this looks like using a powerful mind only for gossip, using money only for status, using education only for vanity, or using time only for distraction. The word කරංභූමි reminds us that human life is the arena where choices can be made consciously; wasting it is the deepest poverty. The remedy is simple: match resources to purpose - use your best energy for what is truly meaningful, and refuse to spend the rare on the cheap.

මජ්ජත්වංභසි යාතු මේරුශිඛරං ශත්රුං ජයත්වාහවේ
වාණිජ්යං කෘෂිසේවනේ ච සකලා විද්යාඃ කලාඃ ශික්ෂතාම් ।
ආකාශං විපුලං ප්රයාතු ඛගවත්කෘත්වා ප්රයත්නං පරං
නාභාව්යං භවතීහ කර්මවශතෝ භාව්යස්ය නාශඃ කුතඃ ॥ 1.101 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
මජ්ජතු - let it sink
අංබසි - in water (locative of අංබු)
යාතු - let it go
මේරු - Meru (cosmic mountain)
ශිඛරං - peak/summit
ශත්රුං - enemy
ජයතු - let (one) conquer
ආහවේ - in battle (locative of ආහව)
වාණිජ්යං - trade/commerce
කෘෂි - agriculture
සේවනේ - in service/practice (locative; as in කෘෂිසේවනේ)
ච - and
සකලාඃ - all
විද්යාඃ - knowledges/skills
කලාඃ - arts
ශික්ෂතාං - let them be learned
ආකාශං - the sky
විපුලං - vast
ප්රයාතු - let (one) reach
ඛ්හග - bird
වත් - like (as in ඛගවත්)
කෘත්වා - having done/made
ප්රයත්නං - effort
පරං - supreme; great
න - not
අභාව්යං - what is not destined ("not to be")
භවති - happens
ඉහ - here
කර්ම - karma; action
වශතඃ - due to the control (as in කර්මවශතඃ)
භාව්යස්ය - of what is destined (to be)
නාශඃ - destruction
කුතඃ - from where? how?

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Let Meru's peak sink in water; let the enemy be conquered in battle; let all skills and arts be learned in trade and agriculture; let one reach the vast sky like a bird through supreme effort. Yet what is not destined will not happen here due to karma; and if something is destined, how can it be destroyed?

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse holds two truths in tension: exert the highest effort, and accept that outcomes are not fully yours. It encourages ambition and learning, but it also warns against arrogance and despair. In modern life, this is the healthiest mindset for big goals: do the work as if everything depends on you, and accept results as if something larger is also at play. That balance keeps you energetic without being fragile: you strive, you learn, you attempt the impossible - and you do not collapse if the world says "not now".

භීමං වනං භවති තස්ය පුරං ප්රධානං
සර්වෝ ජනඃ ස්වජනතාං උපයාති තස්ය ।
කෘත්ස්නා ච භූර්භවති සන්නිධිරත්නපූර්ණා
යස්යාස්ති පූර්වසුකෘතං විපුලං නරස්ය ॥ 1.102 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
භීමං - frightening; formidable
වනං - forest
භවති - becomes
තස්ය - for him; of him
පුරං - city
ප්රධානං - principal; foremost
සර්වඃ - all
ජනඃ - people
ස්වජනතාං - kinship; being one's own people
උපයාති - attains; comes to
තස්ය - for him
කෘත්ස්නා - entire; whole
ච - and
භූඃ - earth
භවති - becomes
සන්නිධිඃ - proximity; nearness
රත්න - jewel
පූර්ණා - full (as in රත්නපූර්ණා)
යස්ය - whose
අස්ති - is
පූර්ව - previous; past
සුකෘතං - good deed; merit
විපුලං - abundant; great
නරස්ය - of a man/person

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For the person whose past merit is abundant, even a fearsome forest becomes his chief city, everyone becomes like his own kin, and the whole earth becomes like a nearby treasure-house full of jewels.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse describes how fortune reshapes the world around you: danger turns into opportunity, strangers turn into allies, and resources appear close at hand. Taken ethically, it is also a reminder not to be arrogant in prosperity: when the world feels "easy", much of that ease may be the ripening of පූර්වසුකෘත (past good causes) rather than personal genius alone. In modern life, this encourages gratitude and generosity: if life is presently favorable, use that season to build more good causes and to help others who are in a harder season.

කෝ ලාභෝ ගුණිසංගමඃ කිං අසුඛං ප්රාජ්ඤේතරෛඃ සංගතිඃ
කා හානිඃ සමයච්යුතිර්නිපුණතා කා ධර්මතත්ත්වේ රතිඃ ।
කඃ ශූරෝ විජිතේංද්රියඃ ප්රියතමා කාऽනුව්රතා කිං ධනං
විද්යා කිං සුඛං අප්රවාසගමනං රාජ්යං කිං ආජ්ඤාඵලම් ॥ 1.103 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කඃ - what? / which?
ලාභඃ - gain
ගුණි - the virtuous; the qualified
සංගමඃ - association (as in ගුණිසංගමඃ)
කිං - what?
අසුඛං - sorrow; unhappiness
ප්රාජ්ඤ - wise
ඒතරෛඃ - with those other-than (i.e., not wise)
සංගතිඃ - association
කා - what?
හානිඃ - loss
සමය - right time; opportunity
ච්යුතිඃ - slipping away; missing (as in සමයච්යුතිඃ)
නිපුණතා - skill; competence
කා - what?
ධර්ම - dharma; rightness
තත්ත්වේ - in the true essence/principle (locative of තත්ත්ව)
රතිඃ - delight; interest; commitment
කඃ - who?
ශූරඃ - hero
විජිත - conquered
ඉංද්රියඃ - senses (as in විජිතේංද්රියඃ)
ප්රියතමා - most beloved
කා - who?
අනුව්රතා - loyal; one who follows the same vow/path
කිං - what?
ධනං - wealth
විද්යා - knowledge
කිං - what?
සුඛං - happiness
අප්රවාස - not living away from home; no exile/long absence
ගමනං - going/moving (as in අප්රවාසගමනං)
රාජ්යං - kingdom; rule
කිං - what?
ආජ්ඤා - command
ඵලං - fruit; effectiveness (as in ආජ්ඤාඵලං)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
What is true gain? The company of the virtuous. What is sorrow? Association with those who are not wise. What is loss? Missing the right time. What is real skill? Delight in the essence of dharma. Who is a hero? One who has conquered the senses. Who is most beloved? The loyal companion who follows the same path. What is wealth? Knowledge. What is happiness? Not having to live away from home. What is kingdom? The effectiveness of one's command.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This verse is a compact value-system. It shifts definitions away from social status toward inner quality: real "profit" is good company, real "wealth" is knowledge, real "heroism" is self-mastery, and real "rule" is the ability to make decisions that actually take effect. In modern life, this helps you measure success more sanely: choose friends who raise your standards, guard your time (missed opportunities are real loss), invest in learning, and practice ඉංද්රියනිග්රහ (sense-discipline) so choices are not hijacked by craving. A life shaped by these definitions becomes steady and dignified, even if it is not flashy.

අප්රියවචනදරිද්රෛඃ ප්රියවචනධනාඪ්යෛඃ ස්වදාරපරිතුෂ්ටෛඃ ।
පරපරිවාදනිවෘත්තෛඃ ක්වචිත්ක්වචින්මංඩිතා වසුධා ॥ 1.104 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
අප්රිය - unpleasant; not dear
වචන - speech; words
දරිද්රෛඃ - by those who are "poor" (instrumental plural of දරිද්ර; as in අප්රියවචනදරිද්රෛඃ = "poor in harsh speech")
ප්රිය - pleasant; dear
වචන - speech; words
ධන - wealth
ආඪ්යෛඃ - by those who are rich (instrumental plural of ආඪ්ය; as in ප්රියවචනධනාඪ්යෛඃ = "rich in the wealth of kind words")
ස්ව - one's own
දාර - wife
පරිතුෂ්ටෛඃ - by those who are content/satisfied (instrumental plural)
පර - others'
පරිවාද - slander; backbiting
නිවෘත්තෛඃ - by those who have turned away/ceased (instrumental plural; as in පරපරිවාදනිවෘත්තෛඃ)
ක්වචිත් - here
ක්වචිත් - there
මංඩිතා - adorned; beautified
වසුධා - earth

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The earth is beautified here and there by people who are "poor" in harsh words (i.e., who do not speak unkindly), "rich" in the wealth of pleasant speech, content with their own spouse, and refraining from slandering others.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි names four social virtues that quietly make the world livable. First is speech: being "poor" in අප්රිය-වචන (hurtful words) and "rich" in ප්රිය-වචන (kind words) means you reduce needless harm. Second is fidelity: contentment with one's own spouse protects families. Third is restraint from පරිවාද (backbiting), which protects communities from poison. In modern life, these virtues are still rare and powerful: think before you post, refuse gossip at work, honor commitments, and speak in a way that leaves others stronger. Such people truly "adorn" society.

කදර්ථිතස්යාපි හි ධෛර්යවෘත්තේර්
න ශක්යතේ ධෛර්යගුණඃ ප්රමාර්ෂ්ටුම් ।
අධෝමුඛස්යාපි කෘතස්ය වහ්නේර්
නාධඃ ශිඛා යාති කදාචිදේව ॥ 1.105 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කදර්ථිතස්ය - of one who has been insulted/humiliated
අපි - even
හි - indeed
ධෛර්ය - courage; fortitude
වෘත්තේඃ - of the conduct/disposition (genitive; as in ධෛර්යවෘත්තේඃ)
න - not
ශක්යතේ - can be (in the sense: "it is not possible")
ධෛර්ය - courage
ගුණඃ - quality
ප්රමාර්ෂ්ටුං - to wipe away; to erase
අධෝ - downward
මුඛස්ය - of (one) facing (genitive of මුඛ; as in අධෝමුඛස්ය)
අපි - even
කෘතස්ය - made; placed
වහ්නේඃ - of fire
න - not
අධඃ - downward
ශිඛා - flame
යාති - goes
කදාචිත් - ever; at any time
ඒව - indeed

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even if a person of courageous disposition is humiliated, the quality of courage cannot be wiped away. Even when fire is made to face downward, its flame never goes downward.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
භර්තෘහරි is praising inner character as "directional": it naturally rises. You can insult a courageous person, but you cannot erase their ධෛර්ය (fortitude) the way you wipe dust off a surface. The fire-image is simple: even when turned, its nature expresses upward as flame. In modern life, this is what resilience looks like: criticism, setbacks, or temporary humiliation may hurt, but they do not define you unless you internalize them. Hold your principles steady, keep doing the next right thing, and let time reveal the real direction of your character.

කාංතාකටාක්ෂවිශිඛා න ලුනංති යස්ය
චිත්තං න නිර්දහති කෘපකෘශානුතාපඃ ।
කර්ෂංති භූරිවිෂයාශ්ච න ලෝභපාශෛර්
ලෝකත්රයං ජයති කෘත්ස්නං ඉදං ස ධීරඃ ॥ 1.106 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
කාංතා - beloved; wife
කටාක්ෂ - sidelong glance
විශිඛා - arrow
න - not
ලුනංති - cut; wound
යස්ය - whose
චිත්තං - mind
න - not
නිර්දහති - burns up
කෘප - wretched; poor; pitiable
කෘශානු - fire
තාපඃ - heat; burning (as in කෘපකෘශානුතාපඃ = "the burning heat of the fire of poverty"; hunger)
කර්ෂංති - pull; drag
භූරි - many; abundant
විෂයාඃ - sense objects
ච - and
න - not
ලෝභ - greed
පාශෛඃ - by ropes/nooses (instrumental plural of පාශ)
ලෝකත්රයං - the three worlds
ජයති - conquers
කෘත්ස්නං - entire; complete
ඉදං - this
ස - that
ධීරඃ - steadfast person

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The steadfast one whose mind is not wounded by the arrows of the beloved's glances, not burned by the heat of poverty's fire, and not dragged by the ropes of greed tied to countless sense objects - that person conquers this entire threefold world.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is a definition of victory that begins inside. The ධීර is not defeated by lust (the "arrow" of attraction), not defeated by hunger and hardship (කෘපකෘශානුතාප), and not defeated by greed (the පාශ, a noose). In modern life, this is the person who can stay ethical under financial stress, stay steady under emotional temptation, and stay focused amid endless consumer distraction. When you master these three pressures, outer victories become secondary; you have already won the hardest battle.

ඒකේනාපි හි ශූරේණ
පාදාක්රාංතං මහීතලම් ।
ක්රියතේ භාස්කරේණෛව
ස්ඵාරස්ඵුරිතතේජසා ॥ 1.107 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ඒකේන - by one
අපි - even
හි - indeed
ශූරේණ - by a hero/brave one (instrumental)
පාද - foot
ආක්රාංතං - trodden/overrun; conquered (as in පාදාක්රාංතං)
මහීතලං - the earth's surface
ක්රියතේ - is made
භාස්කරේණ - by the sun (instrumental of භාස්කර)
ඒව - alone
ස්ඵාර - vast; widespread
ස්ඵුරිත - spread/flashed; radiated
තේජසා - by radiance (instrumental of තේජස්; as in ස්ඵාරස්ඵුරිතතේජසා)

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even by a single hero the earth can be overrun; and by the sun alone, through its widespread radiance, the world is made bright.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse reminds you not to underestimate concentrated power. One capable person can change a battlefield; one sun changes the world simply by shining. In modern life, this can be inspiring: one disciplined student, one principled leader, one excellent engineer, or one committed volunteer can lift a whole team. It is also a warning: if one person can cause so much good, one person can also cause large harm; therefore build character with capability.

වහ්නිස්තස්ය ජලායතේ ජලනිධිඃ කුල්යායතේ තත්ක්ෂණාන්
මේරුඃ ස්වල්පශිලායතේ මෘගපතිඃ සද්යඃ කුරංගායතේ ।
ව්යාලෝ මාල්යගුණායතේ විෂරසඃ පීයූෂවර්ෂායතේ
යස්යාංගේऽඛිලලෝකවල්ලභතමං ශීලං සමුන්මීලති ॥ 1.108 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
වහ්නිඃ - fire
තස්ය - for him; of him
ජල - water
ආයතේ - becomes like; takes the form of (as in ජලායතේ)
ජලනිධිඃ - ocean ("treasure of water")
කුල්යා - a small canal/ditch
ආයතේ - becomes like (as in කුල්යායතේ)
තත්ක්ෂණාත් - instantly; in that very moment
මේරුඃ - Meru (great mountain)
ස්වල්ප - small
ශිලා - stone
ආයතේ - becomes like (as in ස්වල්පශිලායතේ)
මෘගපතිඃ - lion ("lord of beasts")
සද්යඃ - immediately
කුරංග - deer
ආයතේ - becomes like (as in කුරංගායතේ)
ව්යාලඃ - serpent; dangerous creature
මාල්ය - garland
ගුණා - string/cord (as in මාල්යගුණායතේ = "becomes like a garland-string")
විෂ - poison
රසඃ - essence/juice
පීයූෂ - nectar
වර්ෂ - rain
ආයතේ - becomes like (as in පීයූෂවර්ෂායතේ = "becomes like a rain of nectar")
යස්ය - whose
අංගේ - in the body (locative of අංග)
අඛ්හිල - all; entire
ලෝක - worlds; people
වල්ලභ්හතමං - most beloved (as in අඛිලලෝකවල්ලභතමං)
ශීලං - character; conduct
සමුන්මීලති - blossoms; fully opens

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For the person in whom a most-beloved character blossoms, fire becomes like water, the ocean becomes like a small canal, Meru becomes like a pebble, the lion becomes like a deer, the serpent becomes like a garland-string, and poison becomes like a rain of nectar.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
This is intentional exaggeration to show the "alchemy" of ශීල (character). When your conduct is trusted and loved, the world becomes safer: people cooperate instead of attacking, risks shrink, and even "poison" (hostility) can turn into "nectar" (support). In modern life, this looks like reputation built over years: a leader whose team will follow through crisis, a person whose apology is believed, or a family elder whose words calm conflict. You cannot buy this power; you grow it by consistent integrity.

ලජ්ජාගුණෞඝජනනීං ජනනීං ඉව ස්වාම්
අත්යංතශුද්ධහෘදයාං අනුවර්තමානාම් ।
තේජස්විනඃ සුඛං අසූනපි සංත්යජනති
සත්යව්රතව්යසනිනෝ න පුනඃ ප්රතිජ්ඤාම් ॥ 1.109 ॥

Meaning (පදාර්ථ):
ලජ්ජා - modesty; shame (in the sense of moral restraint)
ගුණ - virtue
ඖඝ - flood/heap (as in ගුණෞඝ)
ජනනීං - mother; generator (accusative of ජනනී)
ජනනීං - mother (repeated)
ඉව - like
ස්වාම් - one's own
අත්යංත - extremely
ශුද්ධ - pure
හෘදයාං - heart (accusative feminine; as in ශුද්ධහෘදයාං)
අනුවර්තමානාං - following; adhering to (accusative plural)
තේජස්විනඃ - radiant; spirited people
සුඛං - easily
අසූන් - life-breaths; lives
අපි - even
සංත්යජනති - abandon; give up
සත්ය - truth
ව්රත - vow
ව්යසනිනඃ - those devoted/addicted to (as in සත්යව්රතව්යසනිනඃ)
න - not
පුනඃ - again
ප්රතිජ්ඤාං - promise; pledge

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Those who, with perfectly pure hearts, follow their own mother-like source of modesty and the flood of virtues - the radiant ones devoted to the vow of truth - will easily give up even life, but will never break a promise.

Commentary (අනුසංධාන):
The verse places truthfulness above survival. For the සත්යව්රත person, a promise is not a casual sentence; it is an extension of character. In modern life, this is rare integrity: honoring commitments even when inconvenient, refusing to manipulate language to escape responsibility, and guarding trust as a sacred asset. You need not "die" for truth, but you can live it: keep your word, admit mistakes quickly, and do not offer promises you cannot keep. That is how ලජ්ජා (moral restraint) and ගුණ (virtue) become living realities.

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