Chanakyaniti – Rules to live by – Chapter 12

Chanakyaniti is rules to live by. Chanakya niti outline the guideline about how to behave in different scenarios.

Chapter 11 – List of Chapters – Chapter 13

  1. Such home is endowed with divine favor of God where sons & daughter obey orders , the housewife is sweet tongued, family members are hardworking, the money is earned with honesty and is sufficient to fulfill their needs, food is in surplus, servants are faithful, where guests are welcomed, and is often visited by learned spiritual teachers.
  2. O king, a person who donates a little of his earning to deserving Brahmin (with full time involvement in spreading enlightenment in the society) attracts multiple amount of his donation in different ways by the grace of almighty God.
  3. The world is maintained by good people who are polite and helpful to their near ones, people who are compassionate to deserving fellows, who show no mercy to wicked, face powerful opponent with bravery, who show respect to learned scholars,  show reverence to parent and guru, and who are good at tackling women in a wise manner instead of putting complete trust in them.
  4. Chanakya compares such man to Jackal and calls him the lowliest; whose hands do not come  forward for charity, ears do not listen the sermons in holy scriptures, eyes never focus on saints, legs do not move on the path of pilgrimage, who earn money by unjust means, and who do not take care of their parent or guru.
  5. Fate is a very strong component in life. Chanakya expresses his opinion by giving following examples:
    1. You cannot blame spring for taking away the leaves from a Karel tree. (A rare leafless tree)
    2. An owl cannot see in daylight and none can be blamed for this.
    3. In same manner you cannot blame the cloud if the raindrop does not fall in the open beak of Chatak bird. (As per mythology Chatak bird only drinks the rain drops that fall at time of Swati Nakshatra. For this it opens its beak and waits for  drop to fall in it.)



  6. A good person can inculcate goodness in a bad person, but the badness of a bad is unlikely to be transferred in nature of a good person. The fragrance of a flower might leave its effect on soil beneath. but the flower never attains the murky smell from soil.
  7. Beholding a sadhu is like an instant pilgrimage for which you don’t even require visiting a holy place.
  8. Once a divine saint was asked about his family. He replied that his mother is truth, knowledge is his master, religion is his brother, kindness is his sister, peace is his wife, and tolerance is his son.
  9. Finding a green pasture is a festival for cow, A brahmin’s festival is to receive an invitation for meal, and recovery of her husband is the festival for a woman, but for me the festival is to have faith in God.
  10. A person who considers women of others as mother, wealth of others as dirt, and one who sees his own soul in all living creatures; is the person who has really found the truth.
  11. One who always abides by religion, is a polite speaker, is always interested in acts of charity, is/has a faithful friend, show respect to any good advice, respects guru, is full of knowledge, and has faith in almighty is a noble soul for sure.



  12. O lord Rama, there is no point in comparing you with anyone. [a simple summary for a longer verse ]
  13. One must learn decency from princes, speech from scholars, art of bluffing from gamblers, and cunningness from a woman.
  14. One who overspends money without planning, who provokes the stronger opponent, and one who desires relationship with all kinds of women will definitely meet a quick destruction.
  15. One must not worry about meals and must perform his duties. It is God who will arrange food for you.  [Something closely related to Karma Theory of Bhagvad Gita. Action is supreme and person devoted to his duty is unlikely to face such trouble. The line has nothing to do with inaction]
  16. A pitcher can be filled drop-by-drop and so is the case with your wealth.
  17. A person with evil nature is unlikely to change even after gaining maturity. So is the case with a bitter pumpkin that does not taste sweet even upon ripening. [A class of such persons do exists.]



Chapter 11 – List of Chapters – Chapter 13