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The Elephant

Books: Sacred Books Of The East

Silently I endured abuse as the elephant in battle endures the arrow

sent from the bow: for the world is ill-natured.



They lead a tamed elephant to battle, the king mounts a tamed elephant;

the tamed is the best among men, he who silently endures abuse.



Mules are good, if tamed, and noble Sindhu horses, and elephants with

large tusks; but he who tames himself is better still.



F
r with these animals does no man reach the untrodden country

(Nirvana), where a tamed man goes on a tamed animal--on his own

well-tamed self.



The elephant called Dhanapalaka, his temples running with pungent sap,

and who is difficult to hold, does not eat a morsel when bound; the

elephant longs for the elephant grove.



If a man becomes fat and a great eater, if he is sleepy and rolls

himself about, that fool, like a hog fed on grains, is born again and

again.



This mind of mine went formerly wandering about as it liked, as it

listed, as it pleased; but I shall now hold it in thoroughly, as the

rider who holds the hook holds in the furious elephant.



Be not thoughtless, watch your thoughts! Draw yourself out of the evil

way, like an elephant sunk in mud.



If a man find a prudent companion who walks with him, is wise, and lives

soberly, he may walk with him, overcoming all dangers, happy, but

considerate.



If a man find no prudent companion who walks with him, is wise, and

lives soberly, let him walk alone, like a king who has left his

conquered country behind--like an elephant in the forest.



It is better to live alone: there is no companionship with a fool; let a

man walk alone, let him commit no sin, with few wishes, like an elephant

in the forest.



If the occasion arises, friends are pleasant; enjoyment is pleasant,

whatever be the cause; a good work is pleasant in the hour of death; the

giving up of all grief is pleasant.



Pleasant in the world is the state of a mother, pleasant the state of a

father, pleasant the state of a Samana, pleasant the state of a

Brahmana.



Pleasant is virtue lasting to old age, pleasant is a faith firmly

rooted; pleasant is attainment of intelligence, pleasant is avoiding of

sins.



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