Pluck the fruit after ripening - वनस्पतेरपक्वानि फलानि प्रचिनोति यः

वनस्पतेरपक्वानि फलानि प्रचिनोति यः |
स नाप्नोति रसं तेभ्यो बीजं चास्य विनश्यति ||

vanaspaterapakvāni phalāni prachinoti yaḥ |
sa nāpnoti rasaṃ tebhyo bījaṃ chāsya vinashyati ||

vanaspaterapakvAni phalAni prachinoti yaH |
sa nApnoti rasaM tebhyo bIjaM chAsya vinashyati ||

"One who plucks the unripened fruits from the trees, he doesn't get the juice of the fruit, and the seed is also destroyed."

This shloka of Vidura Neeti talks about patience in work. When we plant a tree, say of mango, it will take years for it to give fruits. When we have put in so much effort, and then we see the buds coming out, the flowers bloom, and see the first sight of the fruits. It is very important to keep patience now. We should not pluck the fruits before they ripen.

At the first sight of fruits of our effort, we may jump to start tasting it. But, let it ripen fully, so that not only it will taste better, it will give you seeds for future trees as well.

You can think of this as the last 5%. Most of us have this problem. The last finishing touch, the last mile, is where we give up. The runner, who looks back at the last meter (of the 100 meter dash) or who relaxes in the last stride may lose the race even if s/he was leading.

Large projects at enormous cost are sanctioned and by the end of it, the momentum goes down, and we start to 'wrap it up now' thus lowering the quality. We may drive across the country for 2000 miles without a problem, and just when we are 50 miles from home, we take it easy, relax our reflexes, and get a traffic ticket or worse, an accident.

This is all so evident in cooking. Even the last minute matters, you can't just take it off the stove sooner!

The arrow's momentum diminishes, be prepared for it. Keep yourself motivated till the end. Don't make the slip at the very end.

Read the book of Sanskrit sayings -  Attitude Shift - Sanskrit Maxims for Contemporary Life and Leadership .

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and now the language aspects of the shloka -

yaH vanaspateH apakvAni phalAni prachinoti, saH tebhyaH rasam na Apnoti, asya bIjam cha vinashyati |

वनस्पतेरपक्वानि = vanaspaterapakvAni = vanaspateH + apakvAni
vanaspati = vanaH + pati = lord of the forest = large tree
vanaspateH = of the trees

pakvam = ripe (pakvAni , plural)
a-pakvAni = unripe

फलानि = phalAni = fruits

प्रचिनोति = prachinoti = plucks, picks

यः = yaH = one who

स = sa = saH = he

नाप्नोति = nApnoti = na + Apnoti
= does not get

रसं = rasam = juice, essence

तेभ्यो = tebhyo = tebhyaH = their

बीजं = bIjam = seed

चास्य = chAsya = cha + asya = and its

विनश्यति = vinashyati = destroys, gets destroyed


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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved. Check us on Facebook.

The Lord is within us. अन्तर्यामी

The Lord is within us.

अन्तर्यामी = antaryAmI
= antar + yAmI
= inside + mover
= one that moves inside us.
= antarmadhye yamayati sva-sva-kAryeShu indriyAdIni niyojayati
= one that moves within [us] and engages the senses in their respective activities.
= supreme divine, the force of Life and beyond!

The Lord is within us.

antaryAmI is a very popular synonym for the Supreme Divine, Lord, God.

You don't have to search for the supreme divine, the force that runs the show anywhere outside. Just bow your head in humbleness and see it within you. It resides in all of us. Metaphorically as well physically. This magic of the body that runs so smoothly, 90% time without our specific instruction, is due to the force of life knowing intrinsically what to do! When we shed the curtain of ego we see it in us and everyone around us. That is the enlightenment in one word.

No institution, no appointed guards, no mediators, no guru-s or swAmI-s are needed. When you see that the Life Force is same in all of us, humans, animals, plants, when you see the oneness of it all, all negatives go away. Just like you don't hate your left hand and love your right hand, heck you don't even hate an injured or diseased body part, you feel all the more love and pity for it. Similarly, when you see the same force in all living beings, and then beyond that, you can only have love for all, no hatred.

Start seeing the force in you, and in all around you. Some may the force misdirected, strayed from the path of good deeds, hidden by the veil of ignorance. Help them. Not by giving them a membership card to a club, but liberating them with care and love.

Just like a movie lasts 90-120 minutes and then its 'life' is all gone, so are we here temporarily in this form. Soon the movie will be over. So for this short duration why hate anyone, why have ego?

See the inner-dweller and rejoice.
antar-yAmI

The Lord is within us.

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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved. Check us on Facebook.

Straight path and crooked path - ऋजु-मार्गेण सिध्यतः

ṛiju-mārgéṇa sidhyataḥ
ऋजु-मार्गेण सिध्यतः

The unsuitability of accomplishing by complicated or crooked means, that which is achievable by simple or honest means.

The word ‘ṛiju’ means ‘simple’, as in easy. It also means ‘simple-hearted’, as in honest. The word vakra means ‘with bends, winding, crooked’. So we have to understand this at two levels.

When it is possible to do something simply and/or easily then it is not appropriate to do it in a more complicated and/or difficult way. Why catch the nose from behind the head? Why spend the extra time, energy and resource to do something with more difficulty or complication than necessary? Such complicated methods are only suitable to employ when the motive is to make some good amount of resource disappear without trace or reason. This wastage does not even get caught easily compared to the blatant ones that disappear in scams and scandals.


The second way to look at this is that when it is possible to do something honestly, it is not appropriate to do it by dishonest means. In general, we are guided by the ‘honesty’ thing. Whenever we do something dishonest, it keeps nagging us in the back of our mind. When someone starts a venture with the goal of ‘making lot of money’, it is a wrong goal. If the goal was just to make money, then we could employ any method, even illegal or unethical ones, even one for which we have no passion. But the general goodness in most of us makes us not take the blatantly dishonest path. Our goal should be ‘What good will come out of this venture for the customer, the people and the society?’ If there is a worthwhile answer to that question, then money will surely come with a little business sense.

The 100,000 shloka epic of Mahābhārata is summarized in 4 shloka-s at the end of the epic itself, and one of the four shloka-s has Véda Vyāsa saying – “With arms up in the air, I call out to people but no one listens. From following dharma (right conduct) you can get not only mokṣha (salvation) but also artha (wealth) and kāma (desires), then why not follow dharma?” ( ऊर्ध्वबाहुर्विरौम्येष न च कश्चिच्छृणोति मे । धर्मादर्थश्च कामश्च स किमर्थं न सेव्यते ॥ ūrdhva-bāhur_viraumyéṣha na cha kashchich_chhṛiṇoti mé, dharmārdarthashcha kāmashcha sa kimartham na sévyaté.)

Think of this from the society’s broader perspective, not individual narrow point of view. If everyone follows right conduct, things will be better for everyone.

So why does dishonesty start? Blame it on the ṣhaḍripu (six enemies) within us – kāma (desire, lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (pride) and matsara (jealousy). Greed – desire to have more than one deserves. Jealousy – comparison with others and getting discontent. Among people who are not fighting for mere survival, this is how it starts. This is how Rāvaṇa became what he became at the behest of his mother, who compared him with his cousin Kubéra, the celestial treasurer. Then he did penance for 10,000 years to get his almost invincible boon and created a menace that the universe had not seen before. He made the beings howl in terror and hence Shiva gave him the name Rāvaṇa – the one who made them cry.

Follow simplicity and honesty.


This saying is taken from a book on collection of Sanskrit Maxims. Click to find more.


Language notes:
ऋजुमार्गेण सिध्यतोऽर्थस्य वक्रेण साधनायोगः
= ऋजु-मार्गेण सिध्यतः-अर्थस्य वक्रेण साधन-अयोगः
= ṛiju-mārgéṇa sidhyataḥ-arthasya vakréṇa sādhana-ayogaḥ

ṛiju = simple, straight.
mārgéṇa = by path (mārga).
sidhyataḥ = achievable.
vakréṇa = by crooked (vakra), winding path.
sādhana = means.
ayoga = unsuitability.

Attitude Shift - Sanskrit Maxims for Contemporary Life and Leadership

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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved. Check us on Facebook.