z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 05.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 360
360 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- In everything the primal element is mind. Mind is pre-eminent.
IV
If a man speaks or does evil suffering follows him, close as the wheel of the hoof of the beast that draws the cart.
If a man speaks or acts from uprightness of mind, happiness follows him, close like his never-departing shadow.
This fickle, unsteady mind, difficult to guard, difficult to guide—the wise man makes it straight as the fletcher makes straight the arrow.
As quivers and throbs the water-dwelling fish, when thrown up out of the water on to the land, so quivers and throbs the mind forsaking the realm of Mara.
Hard to control, unstable is this mind, ever in quest of delight. Good is it to subdue the mind. A mind subdued brings happiness.
Make thyself an island, work hard, when thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt enter into the heavenly world of the elect.
Let a wise man blow off the impurities of himself, as a smith blows off the impurities of silver, one by one, little by little, and from time to time.
As the impurity which springs from the iron, when it springs from it, destroys it ; thus to a transgressor’s own works, lead him to the evil path.
But there is a taint worse than all taints. Ignorance is the greatest taint. O! mendicants, throw off that taint, and become taintless.
Life is easy to live for a man who is without shame, a crow here, a mischief maker, an insulting, bold and wretched fellow.
But life is hard to live for a modest man, who always looks for what is pure, who is disinterested, quiet, spotless and intelligent.
He who destroys life, who speaks untruth, who in the world takes what is not given him, who goes to another man’s wife.
And the man who gives himself to drinking