N°12: Self-sufficiency
१२. आत्मवर्गः द्वादशः
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Someone who is dear to themselves must guard themselves well. Of your three lookout towers, guard at least one of them.
आत्मान चेत् प्रियं जानीयाद् रक्षेत्तं सुरक्षितम् ।
त्रयाणामन्यतमं यामं प्रतिजागृयात् पण्डितः ॥ १॥
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First find what is good for yourself, then you can teach it to others, avoiding unnecessary suffering.
आत्मानमेव प्रथमं प्रतिरूपे निवेशयेत् ।
अथान्यमनुशिष्यात् न क्लिश्येत् पण्डितः ॥ २॥
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As soon as you are as good as you teach others to be, then you can speak from personal truth. Self-control is incredibly difficult.
आत्मानं चेत् तथा कुर्यात् यथाऽन्यमनुशासति ।
सुदान्तो वत दमयेद् आत्मा हि किल दुर्दमः ॥ ३॥
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Only you can be master of yourself. Who outside of yourself can be your master? Where the master and the servant are one and the same, there lies true service and self-sufficiency.
आत्मा हि आत्मनो नाथः कोहि नाथः परः स्यात् ।
आत्मना हि सुदान्तेन नाथं लभते दुर्लभम् ॥ ४॥
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All evil deeds come from within yourself and are caused by yourself; and this crushes the foolish man just as a hard stone shatters the softer stone.
आत्मनैव कृतं पापं आत्मजं आत्मसंभवम् ।
अभिमथ्नाति दुर्मेधसं वज्रमिवाश्ममयं मणिम् ॥ ५॥
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And the bad can grow in anyone just like ivy can suffocate the very tree it grows on. It can bring you down to the state you wanted your enemy to stoop to.
यस्याऽत्यन्तदौःशील्यं मालुवा शालमिवाततम् ।
करोति स तथात्मानं यथैनमिच्छन्ति द्विषः ॥ ६॥
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It's all too easy to do what's wrong, to do what's bad for you; but it is extremely difficult to do what is right, what is good for yourself.
सुकराण्यसाधून्यात्मनोऽहितानि च ।
यद्वै हितं च साधु च तद्वै परमदुष्करम् ॥ ७॥
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The fool who, through juggling all opinions, laughs at and humiliates the buddha's teachings; or people who humiliate a great and generous soul, they all plant the seeds of their own demise.
यः शासनमर्हतां आर्याणां धर्मजीविनाम् ।
प्रतिक्रुश्यति दुर्मेधा दृष्टिं निःश्रित्य पापिकाम् ।
फलानि काष्ठकस्येव आत्महत्त्यायै फुल्लति ॥ ८॥
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If you have done something bad, it will also be you who suffers. If you have left something bad for what it is, you will become pure through yourself. Pure and not pure comes only from your own self. There is no one who can make another pure, this is a personal assignment.
आत्मनैव कृतं पापं आत्मना संक्लिश्यति ।
आत्मनाऽकृतं पापं आत्मनैव विशुध्यति ।
शुद्धयशुद्धी प्रत्त्यात्मं नाऽन्योऽन्यं विशोधयेत् ॥ ९॥
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Let no one jeopardize one's own duty to oneself, the duty to the good of his or her soul, for the good of another, no matter how great. When you see the good in someone else's soul, follow it in earnest.
आत्मनोऽर्थं परार्थेन बहुनाऽपि न हापयेत् ।
आत्मनोऽर्थमभिज्ञाय सदर्थप्रसितः स्यात् ॥ १०॥
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