z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 05.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 366
366 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
a long way ; company with fools as with an enemy, is always painful; company with the wise is pleasure, like meeting with kinsfolk.
IV
Therefore, one ought to follow the wise, the intelligent, the learned, the much enduring, the dutiful, the elect, one ought to follow such a good and wise man, as the moon follows the path of the stars.
Follow not after vanity, nor after the enjoyment of love and lust. He who is earnest obtains ample joy.
When the learned man drives away vanity by earnestness, he, the wise, climbing the terraced heights of wisdom, looks down upon the fools, free from sorrow he looks upon the sorrowing crowd, as one that stands on a mountain looks down upon them that stand upon the plain.
Earnest among the thoughtless, awake among the sleepers, the wise man advances like a richer, leaving behind the hack.
ยง 8. On Thoughtfulness and Mindfulness
In everything be thoughtful; in everything be mindful ; in all things be earnest and bold.
This is the Buddhist Way of Life.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought ; it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of your thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him. Therefore pure thoughts are important.
Be not thoughtless, watch your thought! Draw yourself out of the evil way, like an elephant sunk in mud.
Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are difficult to perceive, very artful, and they rush whenever they list ; thoughts well-guarded bring happiness.
As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.