c. 5th century
Bhartrhari
Sanskrit poet remembered for three collections of a hundred verses each, on worldly wisdom, love and renunciation. His Nitishataka and Vairagyashataka are still quoted across India for their compact, hard-edged lines.
Every line we carry
Each one links to its source, what it means, and the shirt in any of our looks.
- The low never start. The middling quit. The best never let go.
Bhartrhari sorts people by how they meet obstacles. The lowest never begin because they fear trouble, the middling begin and stop when trouble comes, and the best get knocked back again and again and still do not drop what they started. The difference is not talent but what you do on the third setback.
Nitishataka 27, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Praise me or blame me. The steady never step off the right path.
Let the clever critics condemn or applaud, let fortune arrive or leave, let death come today or in an age: the steady do not move one step from what is right. Bhartrhari strips away every outside reason to bend. Opinion, money and even time lose their power over a person who has decided.
Nitishataka 84, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Laziness is the great enemy living in your own body.
The worst enemy, Bhartrhari says, does not come from outside; it lives in the body and its name is sloth. The second half gives the cure: there is no friend like effort, and the person who keeps working does not sink. Treat the urge to put things off as an opponent, not a mood.
Nitishataka 86, our translation from the Sanskrit
- No friend like effort. Whoever keeps working does not sink.
This is the answer to the first half of the same verse. Effort is the one companion that never abandons you, and steady work keeps you afloat when things go badly. You may not control the outcome, but the person still moving is rarely the one who goes under.
Nitishataka 86, our translation from the Sanskrit
- The cut tree grows back. The waning moon fills again.
A tree cut down sends up new shoots, and the shrinking moon grows full again. Bhartrhari says the wise keep these two pictures in mind and so are not crushed by bad times. Loss is part of a cycle, not the end of it.
Nitishataka 87, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Turn a torch upside down. Its flame still climbs.
You can humiliate a resolute person, Bhartrhari says, but you cannot wipe out their resolve. Hold a fire face down and its flame still points up. Character pushed down keeps rising, because rising is its nature.
Nitishataka 106, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Soft as a lotus in good times. Hard as mountain rock in bad.
The great, Bhartrhari observes, change texture with the season. When things go well their hearts are gentle as a lotus petal; when disaster comes they turn to granite. Be easy when it is easy and unbreakable when it is not, not the other way round.
Nitishataka 66, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Wealth goes three ways: given, enjoyed, or lost.
Money has only three possible ends: you give it, you use it, or it is lost. Bhartrhari's sting is in the second line: the person who neither gives nor enjoys meets the third. Hoarding is not saving; it is just choosing loss slowly.
Nitishataka 43, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Knowing little, I thought I knew all. Learning more, I knew I was a fool.
When Bhartrhari knew only a little he was blind with pride like a rutting elephant, sure he knew it all. Then he learned a little from wise people and realized he was a fool, and the pride left him like a fever breaking. Confidence that comes from knowing little is the loudest kind. Real learning shrinks you to your true size.
Nitishataka 8, our translation from the Sanskrit
- A lion cub still leaps at elephants. Fire does not wait for age.
Even a young lion springs at a full-grown elephant. Bhartrhari says this is simply the nature of the brave: age is not what gives a person their fire. If you are waiting to be older or more experienced before you act boldly, this verse says you do not have to.
Nitishataka 38, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Unburned by anger, undragged by greed: that one conquers the world.
The verse lists three attacks on the mind: the arrows of desire, the heat of anger and the ropes of greed. The person none of them can cut, burn or drag, Bhartrhari says, conquers all three worlds. Self-mastery is the only conquest that covers everything.
Nitishataka 107, our translation from the Sanskrit
- The steady do not stop before the goal.
When the gods churned the ocean, precious jewels came up and did not satisfy them, a terrible poison came up and did not scare them off, and they did not rest until they had the nectar. Bhartrhari draws the lesson: the resolute do not stop short of what they set out to get. Do not settle for the shiny distractions or quit at the frightening middle.
Nitishataka 81, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Floor or bed, rags or silk: the driven count neither pain nor pleasure.
Sometimes the ground is your bed, sometimes a fine couch; sometimes you eat greens, sometimes rice; sometimes rags, sometimes silk. A person set on a goal, Bhartrhari says, does not keep score of comfort or discomfort. When the mission is clear, conditions are just conditions.
Nitishataka 82, our translation from the Sanskrit
- The bold will give up life before they give up a promise.
For the spirited person devoted to truth, Bhartrhari says, a promise is like a mother, pure and to be followed. They will let go of life more easily than they let go of their word. Keep fewer promises if you must, but keep all of them.
Nitishataka 110, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Clouds give rain without being asked. So do the good.
The sun opens the lotus and the moon opens the night lilies without anyone requesting it, and the rain cloud gives water unasked. Good people, Bhartrhari says, are like that: they help on their own initiative. Do not wait to be asked when you can see what is needed.
Nitishataka 74, our translation from the Sanskrit
- The hand is adorned by giving, not by bracelets.
Bhartrhari moves through the body: the ear is beautified by what it has learned, not by earrings; the hand by giving, not by gold; the body of the kind by service, not by sandal paste. Real ornaments are things you do. Spend less on looking generous and more on being it.
Nitishataka 72, our translation from the Sanskrit
- We did not consume our pleasures. Our pleasures consumed us.
Bhartrhari looks back and sees that he never really enjoyed his pleasures; they used him up instead. The chase for comfort and indulgence quietly spends the person doing the chasing. Ask of every habit whether you are enjoying it or it is enjoying you.
Vairagyashataka 7, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Time did not pass. We passed.
We talk about time going by, but time does not go anywhere; we do. Bhartrhari's mirror line puts the clock back in our hands. The days are not slipping away from you; you are spending them.
Vairagyashataka 7, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Craving never grew old. We did.
The body wears out, but wanting stays young. Bhartrhari watches desire outlive the strength to pursue it. If you wait for craving to fade on its own, you will run out of years first; you have to set it down on purpose.
Vairagyashataka 7, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Everything on earth carries fear. Only letting go is fearless.
In pleasure there is fear of sickness, in family fear of disgrace, in wealth fear of the king, in pride fear of humiliation, in strength fear of enemies, in beauty fear of age, in the body fear of death. Bhartrhari concludes that every possession comes with its own fear attached. Only dispassion, vairagya, is free of it. The less you clutch, the less you have to guard.
Vairagyashataka 31, our translation from the Sanskrit
- When the mind is content, who is rich and who is poor?
Bhartrhari, dressed in bark, tells a king dressed in silk that they are equally satisfied, so the difference between them is no difference. Poor is the one whose craving is huge. Once the mind is content, the labels rich and poor stop meaning anything.
Vairagyashataka 53, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Who digs a well when the house is already on fire?
While the body is healthy, old age far off and the senses sharp, Bhartrhari says, that is the time to work hard on what matters most. Starting once the crisis arrives is like digging a well after the house catches fire. Do the important thing while you still have the strength to do it.
Vairagyashataka 75, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Life leaks away like water from a cracked pot.
Old age crouches like a tigress, sickness strikes the body like an enemy, and life drains out like water from a broken jar. Bhartrhari finds it strange that people still waste their days on what harms them. The leak is constant; spend what is left on purpose.
Vairagyashataka 38, our translation from the Sanskrit
- A minnow's flick does not stir the ocean.
To a great mind, Bhartrhari says, even the whole universe is a small round thing, nothing worth being greedy for. A little fish darting about does not disturb the sea. Be the ocean: let small temptations and small provocations flick past without making waves.
Vairagyashataka 92, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Earth his bed, sky his roof, moon his lamp: the sage sleeps like a king.
The sage's bed is the earth, his pillow his own arm, his canopy the sky, his fan the breeze, his lamp the autumn moon. Bhartrhari says he sleeps happy and at peace, rich as a king. Wealth is not what you own but how little you need to rest well.
Vairagyashataka 94, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Courage is his father, patience his mother, truth his friend. What could he fear?
Bhartrhari gives the yogi a family made of virtues: courage for a father, forbearance for a mother, peace for a wife, truth for a friend, compassion for a sister, self-control for a brother. With relatives like these, he asks, what is there to be afraid of. Build your household out of qualities and no loss can leave you alone.
Vairagyashataka 100*2, our translation from the Sanskrit
- Why wander, mind? Rest. What will be will be as it will.
Bhartrhari talks to his own restless mind: why run around for nothing, settle down. What is going to happen will happen in its own way and not otherwise. Do your part, then stop rehearsing outcomes you cannot change.
Vairagyashataka 62, our translation from the Sanskrit