The time of the wise and the foolish - काव्यशास्त्रविनोदेन

The time of the wise passes by entertainment with arts and sciences.
That of the foolish goes by troubles, sleep or quarrel.

kAvya-shAstra-vinodena kAlo gachchhati dhiimatAm |
vyasanena cha muurkhANam nidrayA kalahena vA ||

काव्यशास्त्रविनोदेन कालो गच्छति धीमताम् ।
व्यसनेन  च  मूर्खाणां  निद्रया  कलहेन  वा ।।

Moving forward with the story of Hitopadeśha, King Sudarśhana was pondering the role of parents in a child’s education, welfare, and growth.

Thinking about the importance of education and worldly wisdom for the future kings—his sons—the worried king called a meeting of the wise. There he said:

"O great wise men, listen. Is there any wise man here who, by teaching nīti-śhāstra (polity, people management, worldly wisdom, administration), can give rebirth to my sons—my sons who are always on the wrong path and have not studied properly? Because even glass acquires the shining colors of precious stones by being near them, and the ignorant learn in the company of the learned. In the company of lower minds, the thinking goes low; with similar minds, it remains level; and with the wise, it becomes better!"

Then, a very famous and wise old man named Viṣhṇuśharmā, an expert authority in nīti-śhāstra, said:

"Your sons are of a good lineage, and investing effort and time in them will not be fruitless. For investing in the unworthy is fruitless—just as no amount of effort can make a crane talk like a parrot. In this family of yours, I do not see any worthless person. In six months, I shall make your sons experts in nīti-śhāstra (polity, people management, worldly wisdom, administration)."

(In the Pañchatantra, he even throws a challenge that if he fails, he should be beheaded or have his name changed. He even declines the payment of a hundred villages for his teachings, saying that he does not sell knowledge but will do it for the good of the kingdom.)

Then he took them to the top of the palace, and after sitting comfortably, he said to the princes:

"The time of the wise passes by in entertainment with arts and sciences.

That of the foolish goes by in troubles, sleep, or quarrel.

Let me tell you the interesting story of the crow, turtle, etc., for your entertainment."

And the princes said: "Sir, please do tell."

The princes had been wasting their time and intellect in useless idling and following the wrong paths. Who can stop them but themselves? Youth, fame, power, and thoughtlessness—each is enough for disaster, and they had all four!

But time is money, time is life, and once gone, time never comes back. In the very long run, time is cyclic, but not within our perceptible range. The foolish waste their time with bad habits or a lack of wisdom that gets them into trouble. Laziness or petty quarrels eat up their time. The foolish waste their time, and those who waste their time become or remain foolish. It is a vicious cycle.

Think about it. How often have you tried to save your time by avoiding useless arguments, ego bruises, showing off, gossiping, or simply lazing around beyond the point of refreshment? You are being tāmasika—inert, not alive. And how many times have you gotten into trouble because of not doing the small, right things that you most probably knew but ignored, taking the easy way out?

Entertainment through arts and sciences! It is not boring—it is entertainment! It is not work—it is fun, your very own nature to know. For example, some people watch The Jerry Springer Show on TV, while others check out TED.com online.

One who is wise loves to enrich themselves through learning and experiencing new things. And one who does this becomes wise. It is a good cycle. Don’t look at learning as a burden or boredom, for all of life is learning. Approach it as a good habit.

Reading is so widely stressed by every government—literacy rates! But after learning how to read, we also need to know what to read. Of course, there will be all grades of literature available, just as there are all types of readers! From playboys to playwrights! From philo-sophie to philosophy!

Here, the words used are kāvya and śhāstra. Most translations do injustice to them by rendering them as “poetry” and “scripture.” Kavi is not just a poet or wordsmith but a seer, a visionary—one who sees all and says all. Kāvya is the output of a kavi. In a stricter sense, kāvya belongs to literature, while kalā refers to the arts. But all artists are kavi in that they see beyond the obvious and create visions through their art—be it dance, painting, music, design, sculpture, etc.

Śhāstra is certainly science—a field of study—and not just “scriptures,” which has a heavy religious connotation. A wise person is not one who simply reads religious texts, for life on this earth is about more than just that. Both are important. Any formal field of study is called a śhāstra, akin to “-logy” in modern terms.

Do some study every day. Grow old while learning. You are never too old to learn.

---

And now the language aspects of the shloka -

kAvya-shAstra-vinodena = काव्यशास्त्रविनोदेन = by entertainment with arts and sciences
kAvya = poetry (arts)
shAstra = sciences
vinoda = entertainment
vinodena = by entertainment

kAlo = कालो = time
kAlaH = time (-aH becomes -o due to sandhi rules)

gachchhati = गच्छति = goes

dhiimatAm = धीमताम् = of the wise

vyasanena = व्यसनेन = by troubles
vyasana = troubles, difficult times, bad habits (that give troubles)

cha = च = and

muurkhANam = मूर्खाणां = of the foolish
muurkhaH = foolish

nidrayA = निद्रया = by sleep
nidrA = sleep

kalahena = कलहेन = by quarrel
kalah = quarrel

vA = वा = or




(c) Shashikant Joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।

https://PracticalSanskrit.com/

https://facebook.com/PracticalSanskrit