Chapter - 07

DO NOT REPENT IN OLD AGE – BUILD UP YOUR VALUES WHEN YOUNG

1' Gatha : (10th stanza – Jarā Vagga)

Acaritvā brahmacariyaṃ - Aladdhā yobbane dhanaṃ;

Jiṇṇakoñcāva jhāyanti - Khīṇamaccheva pallale.

• Meaning:
They who have neither led the life of purity nor have acquired wealth in their youth,
waste away in grief like old and feeble cranes (storks) on a drying lake empty of fish.

• Moral: Heedlessness in the youth, leads to repentance in the old age.

• Explanation:
Who have not led the holy life nor riches earned while young, they linger on, as aged
storks around a fished-out pond.

• In youth they did not lead the higher spiritual life. Nor did they acquire wealth when
they were young. Now they are old and incapable. They are similar to those old and
starving storks, who are sighing away at the bank of a lake without fish, being unable
to fly to another.

2' Gatha : (11th stanza – Jarā Vagga)

Acaritvā brahmacariyaṃ - Aladdhā yobbane dhanaṃ

Senti cāpā tikhīṇāva - Purāṇāni anutthunaṃ.

• Meaning :
They who have neither led the life of purity nor have acquired wealth in their youth,
would lie helplessly like arrows that have lost their potential, moaning and sighing after
the past.

• Moral: Heedlessness in the youth, leads to repentance in the old age.

• Explanation:
Who have not led the holy life nor riches earned while young, they languish on worn-
out bows, sighing for the past.
• Most people tend to spend their youth squandering the precious days with no thought
about the inevitable old-age that will overtake them.
• Youth is allowed to slip by without having earned either material wealth or spiritual
wealth.
• The Buddha’s admonition to the mankind in this verse, is that they must, in time, become
mindful of the passage of time and the speedy fading of the glamour of youth.

3' Gatha : (Appamāda Vagga 4th stanza).

Uṭṭhānavato satīmato - Sucikammassa nisammakārino;

Saññatassa ca dhammajīvino - Appamattassa yasobhivaḍḍhati.

• Meaning :
If a person is energetic, mindful, pure in his deeds and acts after consideration,
controlled in his senses, earns his living righteously and is heedful, the fame of such
person increases steadily.

• Moral: The Glory increases of the Righteous Person.

• Explanation: The fame enhances of the person who possesses the following 7
Optimistic Qualities :

(1) Utthanavato - Persevering

(2) Satimato - Mindful
(3) Sucikammassa - Pure in deed (physical, verbal & mental deeds)
(4) Nisammakari - Acts after consideration
(5) Sannatassa - Controlled in senses
(6) Dhammajivi - Living righteously
(7) Appamattassa - Heedful

• If a person is persevering and attention focused within, if his physical, verbal and mental
actions are unblemished, thinks before acting, if he is restrained in senses, living according
to the Dhamma and not heedless, his glory (Yasa) will fast grow.