2.3.20. Not Drinking Palm-Wine
921 Who love the palm’s intoxicating juice, each day, No rev’rence they command, their glory fades away. Those who always thirst after drink will neither inspire fear (in others) nor retain the light (of their fame).
922 Drink not inebriating draught. Let him count well the cost. Who drinks, by drinking, all good men’s esteem is lost. Let no liquor be drunk; if it is desired, let it be drunk by those who care not for esteem of the great.
923 The drunkard’s joy is sorrow to his mother’s eyes; What must it be in presence of the truly wise? Intoxication is painful even in the presence of (one’s) mother; what will it not then be in that of the wise ? 112
924 Shame, goodly maid, will turn her back for aye on them Who sin the drunkard’s grievous sin, that all condemn. The fair maid of modesty will turn her back on those who are guilty of the great and abominable crime of drunkenness.
925 With gift of goods who self-oblivion buys, Is ignorant of all that man should prize. To give money and purchase unconsciousness is the result of one’s ignorance of (one’s own actions).
926 Sleepers are as the dead, no otherwise they seem; Who drink intoxicating draughts, they poison quaff, we deem. They that sleep resemble the deed; (likewise) they that drink are no other than poison-eaters.
927 Who turn aside to drink, and droop their heavy eye, Shall be their townsmen’s jest, when they the fault espy. Those who always intoxicate themselves by a private (indulgence in) drink; will have their secrets detected and laughed at by their fellow-townsmen.
928 No more in secret drink, and then deny thy hidden fraud; What in thy mind lies hid shall soon be known abroad. Let (the drunkard) give up saying “I have never drunk”; (for) the moment (he drinks) he will simply betray his former attempt to conceal.
929 Like him who, lamp in hand, would seek one sunk beneath the wave. Is he who strives to sober drunken man with reasonings grave. Reasoning with a drunkard is like going under water with a torch in search of a drowned man.
930 When one, in sober interval, a drunken man espies, Does he not think, ‘Such is my folly in my revelries’? When (a drunkard) who is sober sees one who is not, it looks as if he remembered not the evil effects of his (own) drink.
2.3.21. Gaming (Gambling)
931 Seek not the gamester’s play; though you should win, Your gain is as the baited hook the fish takes in. Though able to win, let not one desire gambling; (for) even what is won is like a fish swallowing the iron in fish-hook.
932 Is there for gamblers, too, that gaining one a hundred lose, some way 113 That they may good obtain, and see a prosperous day? Is there indeed a means of livelihood that can bestow happiness on gamblers who gain one and lose a hundred ?
933 If prince unceasing speak of nought but play, Treasure and revenue will pass from him away. If the king is incessantly addicted to the rolling dice in the hope of gain, his wealth and the resources thereof will take their departure and fall into other’s hands.
934 Gaming brings many woes, and ruins fair renown; Nothing to want brings men so surely down. There is nothing else that brings (us) poverty like gambling which causes many a misery and destroys (one’s) reputation.
935 The dice, and gaming-hall, and gamester’s art, they eager sought, Thirsting for gain- the men in other days who came to nought. Penniless are those who by reason of their attachment would never forsake gambling, the gamblingplace and the handling (of dice).
936 Gambling’s Misfortune’s other name: o’er whom she casts her veil, They suffer grievous want, and sorrows sore bewail. Those who are swallowed by the goddess called “gambling” will never have their hunger satisfied, but suffer the pangs of hell in the next world.
937 Ancestral wealth and noble fame to ruin haste, If men in gambler’s halls their precious moments waste. To waste time at the place of gambling will destroy inherited wealth and goodness of character.
938 Gambling wastes wealth, to falsehood bends the soul: it drives away All grace, and leaves the man to utter misery a prey. Gambling destroys property, teaches falsehood, puts an end to benevolence, and brings in misery (here and hereafter).
939 Clothes, wealth, food, praise, and learning, all depart From him on gambler’s gain who sets his heart. The habit of gambling prevents the attainment of these five: clothing, wealth, food, fame and learning.
940 Howe’er he lose, the gambler’s heart is ever in the play; E’en so the soul, despite its griefs, would live on earth alway. As the gambler loves (his vice) the more he loses by it, so does the soul love (the body) the more it suffers through it. 114
2.3.22. Medicine
941 The learned books count three, with wind as first; of these, As any one prevail, or fail; ’twill cause disease. If (food and work are either) excessive or deficient, the three things enumerated by (medical) writers, flatulence, biliousness, and phlegm, will cause (one) disease.
942 No need of medicine to heal your body’s pain, If, what you ate before digested well, you eat again. No medicine is necessary for him who eats after assuring (himself) that what he has (already) eaten has been digested.
943 Who has a body gained may long the gift retain, If, food digested well, in measure due he eat again. If (one’s food has been) digested let one eat with moderation; (for) that is the way to prolong the life of an embodied soul.
944 Knowing the food digested well, when hunger prompteth thee, With constant care, the viands choose that well agree. (First) assure yourself that your food has been digested and never fail to eat, when very hungry, whatever is not disagreeable (to you).
945 With self-denial take the well-selected meal; So shall thy frame no sudden sickness feel. There will be no disaster to one’s life if one eats with moderation, food that is not disagreeable.
946 On modest temperance as pleasures pure, So pain attends the greedy epicure. As pleasure dwells with him who eats moderately, so disease (dwells) with the glutton who eats voraciously.
947 Who largely feeds, nor measure of the fire within maintains, That thoughtless man shall feel unmeasured pains. He will be afflicted with numberless diseases, who eats immoderately, ignorant (of the rules of health).
948 Disease, its cause, what may abate the ill: Let leech examine these, then use his skill. Let the physician enquire into the (nature of the) disease, its cause and its method of cure and treat it faithfully according to (medical rule). 115
949 The habitudes of patient and disease, the crises of the ill These must the learned leech think over well, then use his skill. The learned (physician) should ascertain the condition of his patient; the nature of his disease, and the season (of the year) and (then) proceed (with his treatment).
950 For patient, leech, and remedies, and him who waits by patient’s side, The art of medicine must fourfold code of laws provide. Medical science consists of four parts, viz., patient, physician, medicine and compounder; and each of these (again) contains four sub-divisions.