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listlesslists · 7 years

Text

11-8-17 my books

2/2/2018

100 People Who Changed the World, LIFE

1984 by George Orwell

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

30 Days of Night: 1, 2, 3, 7

500 Tricks: Storage by Page One

A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene

A Certain … Je Ne Sais Quoi by Charles Timoney

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain (Signet Classics

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (with The Chimes)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie (in Poirot: the Post-War Years)

A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

A Life in Poems: Selected Works of Khoo Seok Wan

All My Sons by Arthur Miller (x3)

All-Star Superman: 1

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

All The Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen

Alms for Oblivion by Simon Raven

A Man Asleep by Georges Perec (and Things: A Story of the Sixties)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman

And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

Animal Farm by George Orwell

An Inspector Calls, J. B. Priestley

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Antigone (in The Three Theban Plays) by Sophocles (Robert Fagles translation)

A Pack of Liars by Anne Fine

A Passage to India, E. M. Forster

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

A Series of Unfortunate Events 3: The Wide Window, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 4: The Miserable Mill, by Lemony Snicket (x2)

A Series of Unfortunate Events 5: The Austere Academy, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 7: The Vile Village, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 8: The Hostile Hospital, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 9: The Carnivorous Carnival, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 10: The Slippery Slope, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 11: The Grim Grotto, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 12: The Penultimate Peril, by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events 13: The End, by Lemony Snicket

A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins

A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Ajahn Chah, Jack Kornfield, Paul Bretier

A Taste of Freedom by Ven. Ajahn Chah

Atlanta Review: Asia (Spring/ Summer 2002)

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Atonement by Ian McEwan

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Batman Hush: 1, 2

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine: Selected Verse and Prose Poems

Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken

Black Maria by Diana Wynne Jones

Boy by Roald Dahl

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Buddhism for Beginners, Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

Bullfighting by Roddy Doyle

Burning Your Boats: Collected Stories by Angela Carter

Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh

Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (in Poirot: the Post-War Years)

Cat and Mouse in a Haunted House by Geronimo Stilton

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Ceriph: issue 2

Ceriph: issue 6

Cha-no-yu: The Japanese Tea Ceremony by A. L. Sadler

Chaos by James Gleick

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Chicken Rice (24 Flavours series by BooksActually)

Chinese Ethnic Minority Motifs by Page One

Cligés by Chretien de Troyes (in Arthurian Romances by DigiReads.com Publishing)

Collected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Collected Stories of Vladimir Nabokov

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (x2, one translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky)

Crow Boy by Taro Yashima

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Cymbeline by Shakespeare (The Pelican Shakespeare)

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

Daredevil Noir

Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Dog Friday by Hilary McKay

Death Note: Another Note: The Lost Angeles BB Murder Cases

Demian by Herman Hesse

Dhammapada, Venerable Buddharakkhita

Dinosaur in a Haystack by Stephen Jay Gould

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Drawing and Painting the Portrait by John Devane

Dune by Frank Herbert

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

East Lynne by Mrs Henry Wood

Eating Chinese Food Naked by Mei Ng

Economics: Making Sense of the Modern Economy, The Economist

Elidor by Alan Garner

Emma by Jane Austen (x2)

English Literature Made Simple by H. Coombes

Erec et Enide by Chretien de Troyes (in Arthurian Romances by DigiReads.com Publishing)

ESV Holy Bible

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Ethics in Buddhist Perspective by K. N. Jayatilleke

Evolve or Die (Horrible Science) by Phil Gates

Facing the Torturer by Francois Bizot

Fallen Angels: Paintings by Jack Vettriano, edited by W. Gordon Smith

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Fascist Rock by Claire Tham

Favourite Singlish Tales: Three Little Pigs Lah by Casey Chen

Federal Anthology of Poetry I

Festivals Graphics by Page One

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

Five Run Away Together by Enid Blyton

Folk Customs and Family Life (Korean Cultural Series Volume III)

Foreskin’s Lament by Shalom Auslander

For the Record: Conversations with People People who Have Shaped the Way we Listen to Music

For They Know Not What They Do by Slavoj Zizek

Four Continents by Nadine Gordimer, Chinua Achebe, et al.

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman

Frankenstein by Mary Sehlley

Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel

From Third World to First: The Singapore Story 1965-2000, Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Ghost Stories of Henry James

Gitanjali by Tagore (双语版)

Gone Case by Dave Chua

Gone Case: A Graphic Novel (Book One), art by Koh Hong Teng

Gratitude to Parents, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho

Great British Editorial by Page One

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland by Jonathan Powell

Great Illustrated Classics: The Little Mermaid and Other Stories

Green First! : Earth Friendly Design (Over 100 green projects around the world)

Guerillas by VS Naipaul

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Hamlet by Shakespeare (x2)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

Have Phone, Will Paint by Zhu Hong

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie (in Poirot: the Post-War Years)

History of Beauty, Umberto Eco

History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

Home and Exile by Chinua Achebe

House of M, Marvel

How the Bible Came to be by John Barton

How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman

I Didn’t Know Mani was a Conceptualist by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

If I Could Tell You by Lee Jing-Jing

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Infographics: Designing and Visualising Data by Page One

Jane Austen Cover to Cover by Margaret C. Sullivan

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Japanese Tales, Royall Tyler

Japanese Tatoos by Brian Ashcraft and Hori Benny

Jeeves and Wooster: Perfect Nonsense, by The Goodale Brothers/P.G. Wodehouse

Jerusalem the Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

King Solomon’s Mines by Haggard

Kitchen by Yoshimoto Banana

KJV Holy Bible

Kokology 2: More of the Game of Self-discovery by Tadahiko Nagao and Isamu Saito

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence (in The Great Novels of “)

Lady Precious Stream by S. I. Hsiung

Lancelot, or, The Knight of the Cart by Chretien de Troyes (in Arthurian Romances by DigiReads.com Publishing)

Left-Right

Les Misérables: Volume One by Victor Hugo

Let’s Chat About the Bible by Whiting/Reeves

Let’s Give it up for Gimme Lao! by Sebastian Sim

Letter from an Unknown Woman by Stefan Zweig

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Lists of Note by Shaun Usher

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Lizard by Yoshimoto Banana

Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Looking for Juliette by Janet Taylor Lisle

Love for Love by William Congreve (in Three Restoration Comedies, Gamini Salgado intro)

Love Gathers All: the Philippines-Singapore Anthology of Love Poetry

Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway

Luxury for Cats (by teNeues)

Macbeth by Shakespeare

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Malay Weddings Don’t Cost $50 by Hidayah Amin

Malgudi Days by R. K. Narayan

Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung

Marx on China

Me Grandad ‘ad an Elephant! by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer

Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare

Metal Gear Solid: 1, 2

Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

Middle Land, Middle Way by S. Dhammika

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren

Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West (and The Day of the Locust)

Moby-Dick or The Whale by Herman Melville

Mr Dooley by Finley Peter Dunne

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (x2, one with an intro by Carol Ann Duffy)

Mrs Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw

Measure for Measure by Shakespeare

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Multitudes: Litmus 2016

Music & Monarchy by David Starkey & Kate Greening

My Pictorial Book of Dialect Idioms & Slangs by Kuan Eng

Mythologies by Roland Barthes

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

Nanyang Girls’ High School 2014 Montage

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Native Son by Richard Wright

Natural Heritage of Korea, Dokdo

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

No Ajahn Chah: Reflections by Ven. Ajahn Chah

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me by Harvey Pekar and JT Waldman

Nightmare Abbey/Crotchet Castle by Peacock (x2)

Occupational Hazards by Mayo Martin

Oedipus the King (in The Three Theban Plays) by Sophocles (Robert Fagles translation)

Oedipus at Colonus (in The Three Theban Plays) by Sophocles (Robert Fagles translation)

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham

Of Walking in Ice by Werner Herzog

Oh, Play That Thing by Roddy Doyle

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Gregory Rabassa translation, Penguin)

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

On Ugliness, Umberto Eco

Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Othello by Shakespeare

Our Animal Eye: Litmus 2014

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Papillon by Henri Charrière

Paradise Lost by Milton

Pastels for Beginners by Francisco Asensio Cerver

Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Persuasion by Jane Austen (x2: penguin classics and )

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (x2)

Phedra by Eugenia Tan

Physics by Aristotle

Playing Pretty by Euginia Tan

Poems Deep and Dangerous

Poets on Growth: An Anthology of Poetry and Craft

Possession by A. S. Byatt

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (x2)

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Prozac Nation, Elizabeth Wurtzel

Puck of Pook’s Hill by Rudyard Kipling

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp

Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Jay Rubin translation)

Reaching for Stones: Collected Poems (1963-2009) by Chandran Nair

Rebel Rites by Deborah Emmanuel

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Voice by Mildred D. Taylor

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Ael Scheffler

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima

Sabbath’s Theatre by Phillip Roth

Salted Vegetables and Duck Soup (24 Flavours series by BooksActually)

Samanera sikkapadani 沙马内拉学处

Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundation of Mindfulness

Selected Dhamma Talks in 2011 by Venerable K. Rathanasara

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (published by Vintage)

Sense and Sensibility: The Screenplay & Diaries by Emma Thompson

Shakespeare: All 37 Plays, All 160 Sonnets and Poems (The Illustrated Stratford)

Shakespearean Tragedy by A. C. Bradley

Shakespeare the Complete Works: Volumes 2 and 3

Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary & Language Companion by David Crystal & Ben Crystal

Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays by George Orwell

Short Cuts by Raymond Carver

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Sigalovada Sutta: The Code of Discipline for Layman

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Singapore Children’s Favourite Stories by DI Taylor and L K Tay-Audouard

Sing to the Dawn by Minfong Ho

Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Slightly Invisible by Lauren Child

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence (in The Great Novels of “)

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron

Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder

Spiaking Singlish by Gwee Li Sui

Spider-Man Noir

Stoner by John Williams

SQ21, Ng Yi-Sheng

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

Strait is the Gate by Andre Gidé

Summer by Edith Wharton

Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Tales from Around the World

Tales from King Arthur by Andrew Lang

Tartuffe by Molíère

Tenacity: Stories Built to Last

Tennyson: Selected Poetry (The Penguin Poetry Library)

That Night by the Beach and other stories for a film score by Phan Ming Yen

The 9/11 Commission Report

The Abyssinian, Jean Christophe Rufin

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Chrichton

The Art of Animal Character Design (first edition) by David Colman

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The BFG by Roald Dahl

The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay

The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

The Blondes by Emily Schultz

The Bikkhus’ Rules for Laypeople by Bikkhu Ariyesako

The Billion Shop by Stephanie Ye

The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Sierstad

The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren

The Buddha and his Teachings

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe

The Case for Literature by Gao Xingjian

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Cherry Tree Buck and Other Stories by Moore

The Children of Cherry Tree Farm by Enid Blyton

The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Chimes by Charles Dickens (with A Christmas Carol)

The Chomsky-Foucault Debate on Human Nature

The Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington

The Clocks by Agatha Christie (in Poirot: the Post-War Years)

The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield

The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Translated by Geza Vermes)

The Complete Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson

The Complete Fairy Tales of The Brothers Grimm

The Complete Plays of Christopher Marlowe

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

The Complete Poems of Sappho

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Complete Stories and Poems of Lewis Carroll

The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer

The Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Country Wife by William Wycherley (in Three Restoration Comedies, Gamini Salgado intro)

The Crescent Moon by Tagore (双语版)

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The Dark is Rising: The Complete Sequence by Susan Cooper

The Dark Tower Book I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Dark Tower Book II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The Dark Tower Book III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King

The Dark Tower Book IV: Wizard and Glass by Stephen King

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West (and Miss Lonelyhearts)

The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle

The Dhammapada, K. Sri Dhammananda

The Dragon Book of Verse

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

The Earth by Émile Zola (Translated by Douglas Parmée)

The Earthsea Quartet (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu) by Ursula Le Guin

The Eclogues by Virgil (Translated by Arthur Guy Lee)

The Elements of Legal Style: Second Edition by Bryan A. Garner

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel

The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit

The Encyclopedia of American Comics

The Encyclopedia of Illustration Techniques by Catharine Slade

The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox

The Four Buddhist Books on Mahayana Pure Land Teachings

The Fright of Real Tears by Slavoj Zizek

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson

The Gardener by Tagore (双语版)

The Gardener’s Son by Cormac McCarthy

The Girl who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The Golden Ass by Apuleius

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

The Governing Principles of Ancient China, excerpted from qunshu zhiyao

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde

The History of Rasselas by Johnson

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis (in collected volume)

The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Last Breath by Ajahn Pasanno

The Liberation of Lily and Other Poems by Lim Thean Soo

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

The Lioness & Her Knight by Gerald Morris

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (x2 in collected volume)

The Literature of the United States of America by Marshall Walker

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Little World of Liz Climo

The Lord of the Rings Part 1: The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings Part 2: The Two Towers, by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings Part 3: The Return of the King, by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lost Estate (Le Grand Meaulnes) by Alain-Fournier

The Maid by Yasutaka Tsutsui

The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis (in collected volume)

The Man of Mode by Sir George Etherege (in Three Restoration Comedies, Gamini Salgado intro)

The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare (The Pelican Shakespeare)

The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare (World’s Classics)

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

The Mind Map Book by Tony Buzan

The Miner by Natsume Sōseki

The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Natural History of Selborne by Reverend Gilbert White

The Nature of the Gods by Cicero

The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton (x2?)

The Once and Future King by T. H. White

The Phantom of the Opera by Leroux

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future

The Poetry of Singapore

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (x2)

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

The Prussian Officer and Other Stories by D. H. Lawrence

The Queen and I by Sue Townsend

The Ragamuffin Mystery by Enid Blyton

The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence (in The Great Novels of “)

The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope

The Rattle Bag, edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes

The Reason Why: A Gospel Exposition, Robert Laidlaw

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret of Killimooin by Enid Blyton

The Secret of Spiggy Holes by Enid Blyton

The Selected Poems of Carol Ann Duffy

The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

The Space of City Trees (selected poems) by Arthur Yap

The Spy Who Came in From The Cold, John Le Carré

The Symptom of Beauty by Francette Pacteau

The Tempest by Shakespeare

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

The Time is Now: Public Art of the Sustainable City Land Art Generator Initiative UAE

The True History of the BlackAdder by J. F. Roberts

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

The Vatican Cellars by André Gide

The Voice Book by Michael McCallion

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

The Whispering Statue (a Nancy Drew Mystery) by Carolyn Keene

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Wings of the Dove by Henry James

The Witches by Roald Dahl

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston

The Works of Sir Walter Scott (poetry)

The World and other Places by Jeanette Winterson

The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer (Payne translation)

The World’s Great Civilizations, LIFE

The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy

The Young Adventurers and the Boy Next Door by Enid Blyton

The Zahir, Paulo Coelho

Things: A Story of the Sixties by Georges Perec (and A Man Asleep)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Thirty Days on the Camino by Alvin Mark Tan

Thursday Afternoons by Monica Dickens

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Top Girls by Caryl Churchill

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Totto-Chan by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

Towerhill reclaimed (a 2011 high school commemorative, HCI)

Travesties by Tom Stoppard

Tristan by Gottfried Von Strassburg

Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer (Norton Critical Edition)

Twelfth Night by Shakespeare

Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill

Ulysses by James Joyce

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Unfree Verse

Understand and Criticize by John Doraisamy

Unhomed

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (x3, Rosemary Edmonds for Penguin, Louise & Aylmer Maude, Pevear & Volokhonsky)

We Rose Up Slowly by Jon Gresham

What are Masterpieces? by Gertrude Stein

Whit by Iain Banks

Why Worry? How to Live Without Fear & Worry by K. Sri Dammananda

What Does the Bible Really Teach?

W. I. T. C. H.: The Four Dragons

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

William Wordsworth

Wilde: The Complete Plays

Worlds of Amano by Yoshitaka Amano

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Yeng Pway Ngon: 英培安: Poems 3 [Self-exile]

Yeng Pway Ngon: 英培安: Poems 4 [Resurgence]

Yeng Pway Ngon: 英培安: Poems 5 [Other Thoughts]

Ywain, or, The Knight with the Lion by Chretien de Troyes (in Arthurian Romances by DigiReads.com Publishing)

20世纪中国短篇小说精选：现代卷1、2

飙车 (La Ronde et Autres Faits Divers), J. M. G. Le Clézio

冰河，余秋雨

陈嘉庚新传，陈共存

重访边城，张爱玲

春尽江南，格非

Composition 摄影构图

弟子规（少儿版，注音，配图）

儿女英雄传

蕉风椰雨话甘榜五十，李龙

光耀一生，联合早报

古诗词一百篇

Hi, 我们的森林，赵小敏

红楼梦（节本），曹雪芹

华韵35：火花

华韵39：以梦为马

皇朝末路：清朝篇

家，巴金

假如给我三天光明 (The Story of My Life) by Helen Keller (双语版)

狼图腾，姜戎

廖静文与徐悲鸿：名人情节众书，廖静文

灵山，高行健

鲁迅大全集

绿山墙的安妮

名侦探柯南：44

念力的秘密分享，净空法师

女神，郭沫若

三国演义

山河入梦，格非

失恋33天，鲍鲸鲸

世界近代史

十年阅城记（Tenacity）

守车的秘密 (The Boxcar Children: Caboose Mystery), Gertrude Chandler Warner

霜冷长河，余秋雨

特拾：学生文集2010，新加坡特选中学

微微一笑很倾城，顾漫

未完的梦，李乔

向左走，向右走，几米

小和尚的白粥馆2

西游记，吴承恩

叶芸的色铅笔画画课，叶芸

一学就会最实用最经典的博弈课堂

印光法师：上海护国消灾法语

于丹《论语》心得

宇宙探索：中小学生科普读物

佐贺的超级阿嫲，岛田洋七

《庄子》心得，于丹

Castres un Autre Regard

Cendrillon

Chronique des sept misères by Patrick Chamoiseau

Cours de francais, Linguaphone Institute

Les Penseurs Grecs Avant Socrate de Thalès de Milet A Prodicos

Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau

다람쥐와첫눈

두근두근 내인생 장편소설

하회탈, 다시살아나다 by 무돌

질문 상자 (Det spørs)

캐비닛 김언수 장편소설

Le Petit Prince (in Korean)

설계자들 김언수 장편소설

Hua Lo Puu by Murti Bunanta (in English and Indonesian)

Legenda Pohon Beringan (The Legend of the Banyan Tree) by Murti Bunanta, illustrated by Hardiyono (in English and Indonesian)

Weekly Shonen Jump 1月8日9日号

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Chanakya was an ancient Indian teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise, the Arthashastra, a text dated to roughly between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. As such, he is considered the pioneer of the field of political science and economics in India, and his work is thought of as an important precursor to classical economics. His works were lost near the end of the Gupta Empire and not rediscovered until the early twentieth century.Chanakya assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta in his rise to power. He is widely credited for having played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire. Chanakya served as the chief advisor to both Emperors Chandragupta and his son Bindusara.

Contents

Chapter One

1. Humbly bowing down before the almighty Lord Sri Vishnu, the Lord of the three worlds, I recite maxims of the science of political ethics (niti) selected from the various satras (scriptures)

2. That man who by the study of these maxims from the satras acquires a knowledge of the most celebrated principles of duty, and understands what ought and what ought not to be followed, and what is good and what is bad, is most excellent.

3. Therefore with an eye to the public good, I shall speak that which, when understood, will lead to an understanding of things in their proper perspective.

4. Even a pandit comes to grief by giving instruction to a foolish disciple, by maintaining a wicked wife, and by excessive familiarity with the miserable.

5. A wicked wife, a false friend, a saucy servant and living in a house with a serpent in it are nothing but death.

6. One should save his money against hard times, save his wife at the sacrifice of his riches, but invariably one should save his soul even at the sacrifice of his wife and riches.

7. Save your wealth against future calamity. Do not say, "What fear has a rich man, of calamity?" When riches begin to forsake one even the accumulated stock dwindles away.

8. Do not inhabit a country where you are not respected, cannot earn your livelihood, have no friends, or cannot acquire knowledge.

9. Do not stay for a single day where there are not these five persons: a wealthy man, a brahmin well versed in Vedic lore, a king, a river and a physician

10. Wise men should never go into a country where there are no means of earning one's livelihood, where the people have no dread of anybody, have no sense of shame, no intelligence, or a charitable disposition.

11. Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.

12. He is a true friend who does not forsake us in time of need, misfortune, famine, or war, in a king's court, or at the crematorium (smasana).

13. He who gives up what is imperishable for that which is perishable, loses that which is imperishable; and doubtlessly loses that which is perishable also.

14. A wise man should marry a virgin of a respectable family even if she is deformed. He should not marry one of a low-class family, through beauty. Marriage in a family of equal status is preferable.

15. Do not put your trust in rivers, men who carry weapons, beasts with claws or horns, women, and members of a royal family

16. Even from poison extract nectar, wash and take back gold if it has fallen in filth, receive the highest knowledge (Krsna consciousness) from a low born person; so also a girl possessing virtuous qualities (stri-ratna) even if she were born in a disreputable family.

17. Women have hunger two-fold, shyness four-fold, daring six-fold, and lust eight-fold as compared to men

Chapter Two

1. Untruthfulness, rashness, guile, stupidity, avarice, uncleanliness and cruelty are a woman's seven natural flaws

2. To have ability for eating when dishes are ready at hand, to be robust and virile in the company of one's religiously wedded wife, and to have a mind for making charity when one is prosperous are the fruits of no ordinary austerities.

3. He whose son is obedient to him, whose wife's conduct is in accordance with his wishes, and who is content with his riches, has his heaven here on earth.

4. They alone are sons who are devoted to their father. He is a father who supports his sons. He is a friend in whom we can confide, and she only is a wife in whose company the husband feels contented and peaceful.

5. Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher of poison with milk on top.

6. Do not put your trust in a bad companion nor even trust an ordinary friend, for if he should get angry with you, he may bring all your secrets to light.

7. Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise counsel keep it secret, being determined to carry it into execution.

8. Foolishness is indeed painful, and verily so is youth, but more painful by far than either is being obliged in another person's house.

9. There does not exist a pearl in every mountain, nor a pearl in the head of every elephant; neither are the sadhus to be found everywhere, nor sandal trees in every forest. [Note: Only elephants in royal palaces are seen decorated with pearls (precious stones) on their heads].

10. Wise men should always bring up their sons in various moral ways, for children who have knowledge of niti-sastra and are well behaved become a glory to their family.

11. Those parents who do not educate their sons are their enemies; for as is a crane among swans, so are ignorant sons in a public assembly>

12. Many a bad habit is developed through over indulgence, and many a good one by chastisement, therefore beat your son as well as your pupil; never indulge them. ("Spare the rod and spoil the child."

13. Let not a single day pass without your learning a verse, half a verse, or a fourth of it, or even one letter of it; nor without attending to charity, study and other pious activity.

14. Separation from the wife, disgrace from one's own people, an enemy saved in battle, service to a wicked king, poverty, and a mismanaged assembly: these six kinds of evils, if afflicting a person, burn him even without fire

15. Trees on a riverbank, a woman in another man's house, and kings without counsellors go without doubt to swift destruction.

16. A brahmin's strength is in his learning, a king's strength is in his army, a vaishya's strength is in his wealth and a shudra's strength is in his attitude of service

17. The prostitute has to forsake a man who has no money, the subject a king that cannot defend him, the birds a tree that bears no fruit, and the guests a house after they have finished their meals.

18. Brahmins quit their patrons after receiving alms from them, scholars leave their teachers after receiving education from them, and animals desert a forest that has been burnt down.

19. He who befriends a man whose conduct is vicious, whose vision impure, and who is notoriously crooked, is rapidly ruined.

20. Friendship between equals flourishes, service under a king is respectable, it is good to be business-minded in public dealings, and a handsome lady is safe in her own home.

Chapter Three

1. In this world, whose family is there without blemish? Who is free from sickness and grief? Who is forever happy?

2. A man's descent may be discerned by his conduct, his country by his pronunciation of language, his friendship by his warmth and glow, and his capacity to eat by his body.

3. Give your daughter in marriage to a good family, engage your son in learning, see that your enemy comes to grief, and engage your friends in dharma. (Krsna consciousness).

4. Of a rascal and a serpent, the serpent is the better of the two, for he strikes only at the time he is destined to kill, while the former at every step.

5. Therefore kings gather round themselves men of good families, for they never forsake them either at the beginning, the middle or the end.

6. At the time of the pralaya (universal destruction) the oceans are to exceed their limits and seek to change, but a saintly man never changes.

7. Do not keep company with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged beast. Like an unseen thorn he pierces the heart with his sharp words.

8. Though men be endowed with beauty and youth and born in noble families, yet without education they are like the palasa flower, which is void of sweet fragrance.

9. The beauty of a cuckoo is in its notes that of a woman in her unalloyed devotion to her husband, that of an ugly person in his scholarship, and that of an ascetic in his forgiveness.

10. Give up a member to save a family, a family to save a village, a village to save a country, and the country to save yourself.

11. There is no poverty for the industrious. Sin does not attach itself to the person practicing japa (chanting of the holy names of the Lord). Those who are absorbed in maunam (silent contemplation of the Lord) have no quarrel with others. They are fearless who remain always alert.

12.-13.

What is too heavy for the strong and what place is too distant for those who put forth effort? What country is foreign to a man of true learning? Who can be inimical to one who speaks pleasingly?

14. As a whole forest becomes fragrant by the existence of a single tree with sweet-smelling blossoms in it, so a family becomes famous by the birth of a virtuous son.

15. As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.

16. As night looks delightful when the moon shines, so is a family gladdened by even one learned and virtuous son.

17. What is the use of having many sons if they cause grief and vexation? It is better to have only one son from whom the whole family can derive support and peacefulness.

18. Fondle a son until he is five years of age, and use the stick for another ten years, but when he has attained his sixteenth year treat him as a friend.

19. He who runs away from a fearful calamity, a foreign invasion, a terrible famine, and the companionship of wicked men is safe.

20. He who has not acquired one of the following: religious merit (dharma), wealth (artha), satisfaction of desires (kama), or liberation (moksa) is repeatedly born to die

21. Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, comes of Her own accord where fools are not respected, grain is well stored up, and the husband and wife do not quarrel.

Chapter Four

1. These five: the life span, the type of work, wealth, learning and the time of one's death are determined while one is in the womb.

2. Offspring, friends and relatives flee from a devotee of the Lord: yet those who follow him bring merit to their families through their devotion.

3. Fish, tortoises, and birds bring up their young by means of sight, attention and touch; so do saintly men afford protection to their associates by the same means.

4. As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is imminent what can you do?

5. Learning is like a cow of desire. It, like her, yields in all seasons. Like a mother, it feeds you on your journey. Therefore learning is a hidden treasure.

6. A single son endowed with good qualities is far better than a hundred devoid of them. For the moon, though one, dispels the darkness, which the stars, though numerous, cannot.

7. A stillborn son is superior to a foolish son endowed with a long life. The first causes grief for but a moment while the latter like a blazing fire consumes his parents in grief for life.

8. Residing in a small village devoid of proper living facilities, serving a person born of a low family, unwholesome food, a frowning wife, a foolish son, and a widowed daughter burn the body without fire.

9. What good is a cow that neither gives milk nor conceives? Similarly, what is the value of the birth of a son if he becomes neither learned nor a pure devotee of the Lord?

10. When one is consumed by the sorrows of life, three things give him relief: offspring, a wife, and the company of the Lord's devotees.

11. Kings speak for once, men of learning once, and the daughter is given in marriage once. All these things happen once and only once.

12. Religious austerities should be practiced alone, study by two, and singing by three. A journey should be undertaken by four, agriculture by five, and war by many together.

13. She is a true wife who is clean (suci), expert, chaste, pleasing to the husband, and truthful.

14. The house of a childless person is a void, all directions are void to one who has no relatives, the heart of a fool is also void, but to a poverty-stricken man all is void.

15. Scriptural lessons not put into practice are poison; a meal is poison to him who suffers from indigestion; a social gathering is poison to a poverty-stricken person; and a young wife is poison to an aged man.

16. That man who is without religion and mercy should be rejected. A guru without spiritual knowledge should be rejected. The wife with an offensive face should be given up, and so should relatives who are without affection.

17. Constant travel brings old age upon a man; a horse becomes old by being constantly tied up; lack of sexual contact with her husband brings old age upon a woman; and garments become old through being left in the sun.

18. Consider again and again the following: the right time, the right friends, the right place, the right means of income, the right ways of spending, and from whom you derive your power.

19. For the twice born the fire (Agni) is a representative of God. The Supreme Lord resides in the heart of His devotees. Those of average intelligence (alpa-buddhi or kanista-adhikari) see God only in His sri-murti, but those of broad vision see the Supreme Lord everywhere.

Chapter Five

1. Agni is the worshipable person for the twice born; the brahmana for the other castes; the husband for the wife; and the guest who comes for food at the midday meal for all.

2. As gold is tested in four ways by rubbing, cutting, heating and beating -- so a man should be tested by these four things: his renunciation, his conduct, his qualities and his actions.

3. A thing may be dreaded as long as it has not overtaken you, but once it has come upon you, try to get rid of it without hesitation.

4. Though persons be born from the same womb and under the same stars, they do not become alike in disposition as the thousand fruits of the badari tree.

5. He whose hands are clean does not like to hold an office; he who desires nothing cares not for bodily decorations; he who is only partially educated cannot speak agreeably; and he who speaks out plainly cannot be a deceiver.

6. The learned are envied by the foolish; rich men by the poor; chaste women by adulteresses; and beautiful ladies by ugly ones

7. Indolent application ruins study; money is lost when entrusted to others; a farmer who sows his seed sparsely is ruined; and an army is lost for want of a commander.

8. Learning is retained through putting into practice; family prestige is maintained through good behaviour; a respectable person is recognised by his excellent qualities; and anger is seen in the eyes.

9. Religion is preserved by wealth; knowledge by diligent practice; a king by conciliatory words; and a home by a dutiful housewife.

10. Those who blaspheme Vedic wisdom, who ridicule the life style recommended in the satras, and who deride men of peaceful temperament, come to grief unnecessarily.

11. Charity puts and end to poverty; righteous conduct to misery; discretion to ignorance; and scrutiny to fear.

12. There is no disease (so destructive) as lust; no enemy like infatuation; no fire like wrath; and no happiness like spiritual knowledge.

13. A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.

14. Heaven is but a straw to him who knows spiritual life (Krsna consciousness); so is life to a valiant man; a woman to him who has subdued his senses; and the universe to him who is without attachment for the world.

15. Learning is a friend on the journey; a wife in the house; medicine in sickness; and religious merit is the only friend after death.

16. Rain which falls upon the sea is useless; so is food for one who is satiated; in vain is a gift for one who is wealthy; and a burning lamp during the daytime is useless.

17. There is no water like rainwater; no strength like one's own; no light like that of the eyes; and no wealth more dear than food grain.

18. The poor wish for wealth; animals for the faculty of speech; men wish for heaven; and godly persons for liberation.

19. The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sunshine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth.

20. The Goddess of wealth is unsteady (chanchala), and so is the life breath. The duration of life is uncertain, and the place of habitation is uncertain; but in all this inconsistent world religious merit alone is immovable.

21. Among men the barber is cunning; among birds the crow; among beasts the jackal; and among women, the malin (flower girl).

22. These five are your fathers; he who gave you birth, girdled you with sacred thread, teaches you, provides you with food, and protects you from fearful situations.

23. These five should be considered as mothers; the king's wife, the preceptor's wife, the friend's wife, your wife's mother, and your own mother.

Chapter Six

1. By means of hearing one understands dharma, malignity vanishes, knowledge is acquired, and liberation from material bondage is gained.

2. Among birds the crow is vile; among beasts the dog; the ascetic whose sins is abominable, but he who blasphemes others is the worst chandala.

3. Brass is polished by ashes; copper is cleaned by tamarind; a woman, by her menses; and a river by its flow.

4. The king, the brahmana, and the ascetic yogi who go abroad are respected; but the woman who wanders is utterly ruined.

5. He who has wealth has friends. He who is wealthy has relatives. The rich one alone is called a man, and the affluent alone are respected as pandits

6. As is the desire of Providence, so functions one's intellect; one's activities are also controlled by Providence; and by the will of Providence one is surrounded by helpers.

7. Time perfects all living beings as well as kills them; it alone is awake when all others are asleep. Time is insurmountable.

8. Those born blind cannot see; similarly blind are those in the grip of lust. Proud men have no perception of evil; and those bent on acquiring riches see no sin in their actions.

9. The spirit soul goes through his own course of karma and he himself suffers the good and bad results thereby accrued. By his own actions he entangles himself in samsara, and by his own efforts he extricates himself.

10. The king is obliged to accept the sins of his subjects; the purohit (priest) suffers for those of the king; a husband suffers for those of his wife; and the guru suffers for those of his pupils.

11. A father who is a chronic debtor, an adulterous mother, a beautiful wife, and an unlearned son are enemies ( in one's own home).

12. Conciliate a covetous man by means of a gift, an obstinate man with folded hands in salutation, a fool by humouring him, and a learned man by truthful words.

13. It is better to be without a kingdom than to rule over a petty one; better to be without a friend than to befriend a rascal; better to be without a disciple than to have a stupid one; and better to be without a wife than to have a bad one.

14. How can people be made happy in a petty kingdom? What peace can we expect from a rascal friend? What happiness can we have at home in the company of a bad wife? How can renown be gained by instructing an unworthy disciple?

15. Learn one thing from a lion; one from a crane; four a cock; five from a crow; six from a dog; and three from an ass.

16. The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.

17. The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.

18. To wake at the proper time; to take a bold stand and fight; to make a fair division (of property) among relations; and to earn one's own bread by personal exertion are the four excellent things to be learned from a cock.

19. Union in privacy (with one's wife); boldness; storing away useful items; watchfulness; and not easily trusting others; these five things are to be learned from a crow.

20. Contentment with little or nothing to eat although one may have a great appetite; to awaken instantly although one may be in a deep slumber; unflinching devotion to the master; and bravery; these six qualities should be learned from the dog.

21. Although an ass is tired, he continues to carry his burden; he is unmindful of cold and heat; and he is always contented; these three things should be learned from the ass.

22. He who shall practice these twenty virtues shall become invincible in all his undertakings.

Chapter Seven

1. A wise man should not reveal his loss of wealth, the vexation of his mind, the misconduct of his own wife, base words spoken by others, and disgrace that has befallen him.

2. He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in business, becomes happy.

3. The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.

4. One should feel satisfied with the following three things; his own wife, food given by Providence and wealth acquired by honest effort; but one should never feel satisfied with the following three; study, chanting the holy names of the Lord (japa) and charity.

5. Do not pass between two brahmanas, between a brahmana and his sacrificial fire, between a wife and her husband, a master and his servant, and a plough and an ox.

6. Do not let your foot touch fire, the spiritual master or a brahmana; it must never touch a cow, a virgin, an old person or a child.

7. Keep one thousand cubits away from an elephant, a hundred from a horse, ten from a horned beast, but keep away from the wicked by leaving the country.

8. An elephant is controlled by a goad (ankusha), a horse by a slap of the hand, a horned animal with the show of a stick, and a rascal with a sword.

9. Brahmanas find satisfaction in a good meal, peacocks in the peal of thunder, a sadhu in seeing the prosperity of others, and the wicked in the misery of others.

10. Conciliate a strong man by submission, a wicked man by opposition, and the one whose power is equal to yours by politeness or force.>

11. The power of a king lies in his mighty arms; that of a brahmana in his spiritual knowledge; and that of a woman in her beauty youth and sweet words.

12. Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.

13. Swans live wherever there is water, and leave the place where water dries up; let not a man act so -- and comes and goes as he pleases.

14. Accumulated wealth is saved by spending just as incoming fresh water is saved by letting out stagnant water.

15. He who has wealth has friends and relations; he alone survives and is respected as a man.

16. The following four characteristics of the denizens of heaven may be seen in the residents of this earth planet; charity, sweet words, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and satisfying the needs of brahmanas.

17. The following qualities of the denizens of hell may characterise men on earth; extreme wrath, harsh speech, enmity with one's relations, the company with the base, and service to men of low extraction.

18. By going to the den of a lion pearls from the head of an elephant may be obtained; but by visiting the hole of a jackal nothing but the tail of a calf or a bit of the hide of an ass may be found.

19. The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog, which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects.

20. Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and a compassionate heart are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform.

21. As you seek fragrance in a flower, oil in the sesamum seed, fire in wood, ghee (butter) in milk, and jaggery (guda) in sugarcane; so seek the spirit that is in the body by means of discrimination.>

Chapter Eight

1-2. Low class men desire wealth; middle class men both wealth and respect; but the noble, honour only; hence honour is the noble man's true wealth.

3. The lamp eats up the darkness and therefore it produces blackened lamp; in the same way according to the nature of our diet (sattva, rajas, or tamas) we produce offspring in similar quality.

4. O wise man! Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea received by the clouds is always sweet. The rainwater enlivens all living beings of the earth both movable (insects, animals, humans, etc.) and immovable (plants, trees, etc.), and then returns to the ocean where its value is multiplied a million fold.

5. The wise who discern the essence of things have declared that the yavana (meat eater) is equal in baseness to a thousand candalas (the lowest class), and hence a yavana is the basest of men; indeed there is no one more base.

6. After having rubbed oil on the body, after encountering the smoke from a funeral pyre, after sexual intercourse, and after being shaved, one remains a chandala until he bathes.

7. Water is the medicine for indigestion; it is invigorating when the food that is eaten is well digested; it is like nectar when drunk in the middle of a dinner; and it is like poison when taken at the end of a meal.

8. Knowledge is lost without putting it into practice; a man is lost due to ignorance; an army is lost without a commander; and a woman is lost without a husband.

9. A man who encounters the following three is unfortunate; the death of his wife in his old age, the entrusting of money into the hands of relatives, and depending upon others for food.

10. Chanting of the Vedas without making ritualistic sacrifices to the Supreme Lord through the medium of Agni, and sacrifices not followed by bountiful gifts are futile. Perfection can be achieved only through devotion (to the Supreme Lord) for devotion is the basis of all success.

13. There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.

14. Anger is a personification of Yama (the demigod of death); thirst is like the hellish river Vaitarani; knowledge is like a kamadhenu (the cow of plenty); and contentment is like Nandanavana (the garden of Indra).

15. Moral excellence is an ornament for personal beauty; righteous conduct, for high birth; success for learning; and proper spending for wealth.

16. Beauty is spoiled by an immoral nature; noble birth by bad conduct; learning, without being perfected; and wealth by not being properly utilised.

17. Water seeping into the earth is pure; and a devoted wife is pure; the king who is the benefactor of his people is pure; and pure is the brahmana who is contented.

18. Discontented brahmanas, contented kings, shy prostitutes, and immodest housewives are ruined.

19. Of what avail is a high birth if a person is destitute of scholarship? A man who is of low extraction is honoured even by the demigods if he is learned.

20. A learned man is honoured by the people. A learned man commands respect everywhere for his learning. Indeed, learning is honoured everywhere.

21. Those who are endowed with beauty and youth and who are born of noble families are worthless if they have no learning. They are just like the kimshuka blossoms ( flowers of the palasa tree) which, though beautiful, have no fragrance.

22. The earth is encumbered with the weight of the flesh-eaters, wine-bibblers, dolts (dull and stupid) and blockheads, who are beasts in the form of men.

23. There is no enemy like a yajna (sacrifice) which consumes the kingdom when not attended by feeding on a large scale; consumes the priest when the chanting is not done properly; and consumes the yajaman (the responsible person) when the gifts are not made.

Chapter Nine

1. My dear child, if you desire to be free from the cycle of birth and death, then abandon the objects of sense gratification as poison. Drink instead the nectar of forbearance, upright conduct, mercy, cleanliness and truth.

2. Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others destroy themselves like serpents that stray onto anthills.>

3. Perhaps nobody has advised Lord Brahma, the creator, to impart perfume to gold; fruit to the sugarcane; flowers to the sandalwood tree; wealth to the learned; and long life to the king

4. Nectar (amrita) is the best among medicines; eating good food is the best of all types of material happiness; the eye is the chief among all organs; and the head occupies the chief position among all parts of the body.

5. No messenger can travel about in the sky and no tidings come from there. The voice of its inhabitants is never heard, nor can any contact be established with them. Therefore the brahmana who predicts the eclipse of the sun and moon, which occur in the sky, must be considered as a vidwan (man of great learning).

6. The student, the servant, the traveller, the hungry person, the frightened man, the treasury guard, and the steward: these seven ought to be awakened if they fall asleep.

7. The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.

8. Of those who have studied the Vedas for material rewards, and those who accept foodstuffs offered by shudras, what potency have they? They are just like serpents without fangs.

9. He who neither rouses fear by his anger, nor confers a favour when he is pleased can neither control nor protect. What can he do?

10. The serpent may, without being poisonous, raise high its hood, but the show of terror is enough to frighten people -- whether he be venomous or not.

11. Wise men spend their mornings in discussing gambling, the afternoon discussing the activities of women, and the night hearing about the activities of theft. (The first item above refers to the gambling of King Yudhisthira, the great devotee of Krsna. The second item refers to the glorious deeds of mother Sita, the consort of Lord Ramachandra. The third item hints at the adorable childhood pastimes of Sri Krsna who stole butter from the elderly cowherd ladies of Gokula. Hence Chanakya Pandita advises wise persons to spend the morning absorbed in Mahabharata, the afternoon studying Ramayana, and the evening devotedly hearing the Srimad-Bhagvatam.)

12. By preparing a garland for a Deity with one's own hand; by grinding sandal paste for the Lord with one's own hand; and by writing sacred texts with one's own hand -- one becomes blessed with opulence equal to that of Indra.

14. Poverty is set off by fortitude; shabby garments by keeping them clean; bad food by warming it; and ugliness by good behaviour.

Chapter Ten

1. One destitute of wealth is not destitute, he is indeed rich (if he is learned); but the man devoid of learning is destitute in every way.

2. We should carefully scrutinise that place upon which we step (having it ascertained to be free from filth and living creatures like insects, etc.); we should drink water, which has been filtered (through a clean cloth); we should speak only those words, which have the sanction of the satras; and do that act which we have carefully considered.

3. He who desires sense gratification must give up all thoughts of acquiring knowledge; and he who seeks knowledge must not hope for sense gratification. How can he who seeks sense gratification acquire knowledge, and he who possesses knowledge enjoy mundane sense pleasure?

4. What is it that escapes the observation of poets? What is that act women are incapable of doing? What will drunken people not prate? What will not a crow eat?

5. Fate makes a beggar a king and a king a beggar. He makes a rich man poor and a poor man rich

6. The beggar is a miser's enemy; the wise counsellor is the fool's enemy; her husband is an adulterous wife's enemy; and the moon is the enemy of the thief.

7. Those who are destitute of learning, penance, knowledge, good disposition, virtue and benevolence are brutes wandering the earth in the form of men. They are burdensome to the earth.

8. Those that are empty-minded cannot be benefited by instruction. Bamboo does not acquire the quality of sandalwood by being associated with the Malaya Mountain.

9. What good can the scriptures do to a man who has no sense of his own? Of what use is as mirror to a blind man?

10. Nothing can reform a bad man, just as the posteriors cannot become a superior part of the body though washed one hundred times.

11. By offending a kinsman, life is lost; by offending others, wealth is lost; by offending the king, everything is lost; and by offending a brahmana (Brahmin) one's whole family is ruined.

12. It is better to live under a tree in a jungle inhabited by tigers and elephants, to maintain oneself in such a place with ripe fruits and spring water, to lie down on grass and to wear the ragged barks of trees than to live amongst one's relations when reduced to poverty.

13. The brahmana (Brahmin) is like a tree; his prayers are the roots, his chanting of the Vedas are the branches, and his religious acts are the leaves. Consequently effort should be made to preserve his roots for if the roots are destroyed there can be no branches or leaves.

14. My mother is Kamala devi (Lakshmi), my father is Lord Janardana (Vishnu), my kinsmen are the Vishnu-bhaktas (Vaisnavas) and, my homeland is all the three worlds.

15. (Through the night) a great many kinds of birds perch on a tree but in the morning they fly in all the ten directions. Why should we lament for that? (Similarly, we should not grieve when we must inevitably part company from our dear ones)

16. He who possesses intelligence is strong; how can the man that is unintelligent be powerful? The elephant of the forest having lost his senses by intoxication was tricked into a lake by a small rabbit. (This verse refers to a famous story from the niti-sastra called pancatantra compiled by the pandit Vishnusharma 2500 years ago).

17. Why should I be concerned for my maintenance while absorbed in praising the glories of Lord Vishwambhara (Vishnu), the supporter of all? Without the grace of Lord Hari, how could milk flow from a mother's breast for a child's nourishment? Repeatedly thinking only in this way, O Lord of the Yadus, O husband of Lakshmi, all my time is spent in serving Your lotus feet.

Chapter Eleven

1. Generosity, pleasing address, courage and propriety of conduct are not acquired, but are inbred qualities.

2. He who forsakes his own community and joins another perishes as the king who embraces an unrighteous path.

3. The elephant has a huge body but is controlled by the ankusha (goad): yet, is the goad as large as the elephant? A lighted candle banishes darkness: is the candle as vast as the darkness.

4. A mountain is broken even by a thunderbolt: is the thunderbolt therefore as big as the mountain? No, he whose power prevails is really mighty; what is there in bulk?

5. He who is engrossed in family life will never acquire knowledge; there can be no mercy in the eater of flesh; the greedy man will not be truthful; and purity will not be found in a woman or a hunter.

6. The wicked man will not attain sanctity even if he is instructed in different ways, and the Nim tree will not become sweet even if it is sprinkled from the top to the roots with milk and ghee.

7. Mental dirt cannot be washed away even by one-hundred baths in the sacred waters, just as a wine pot cannot be purified even by evaporating all the wine by fire.

8. It is not strange if a man reviles a thing of which he has no knowledge, just as a wild hunter's wife throws away the pearl that is found in the head of an elephant, and picks up a gunj (a type of seed which poor tribals wear as ornaments).

9. He who for one year eats his meals silently (inwardly meditating upon the Lord's prasadam); attains to the heavenly planets for a thousand crore of years. ( Note: one crore equals ten million)

10. The student (brahmacari) should completely renounce the following eight things -- his lust, anger, greed, desire for sweets, sense of decorating the body, excessive curiosity, excessive sleep, and excessive endeavour for bodily maintenance.

12. He alone is a true brahmana (dvija or "twice-born") who is satisfied with one meal a day, who has the six samskaras (or acts of purification such as garbhadhana, etc.) performed for him, and who cohabits with his wife only once in a month on an auspicious day after her menses.

13. The brahmana who is engrossed in worldly affairs, brings up cows and is engaged in trade is really called a vaishya.

14. The brahmana who deals in lac-die, articles, oil, indigo, silken cloth, honey, clarified butter, liquor, and flesh is called a shudra.

15. The brahmana who thwarts the doings of others, who is hypocritical, selfish, and a deceitful hater, and while speaking mildly cherishes cruelty in his heart, is called a cat.

16. The brahmana who destroys a pond, a well, a tank, a garden and a temple is called a mleccha.

17. The brahmana who steals the property of the Deities and the spiritual preceptor, who cohabits with another's wife, and who maintains himself by eating anything and everything s called a chandala.

18. The meritorious should give away in charity all that they have in excess of their needs. By charity only Karna, Bali and King Vikramaditya survive even today. Just see the plight of the honeybees beating their legs in despair upon the earth. They are saying to themselves, "Alas! We neither enjoyed our stored-up honey nor gave it in charity, and now someone has taken it from us in an instant."

Chapter Twelve

1. He is a blessed grhasta (householder) in whose house there is a blissful atmosphere, whose sons are talented, whose wife speaks sweetly, whose wealth is enough to satisfy his desires, who finds pleasure in the company of his wife, whose servants are obedient, in whose house hospitality is shown, the auspicious Supreme Lord is worshiped daily, delicious food and drink is partaken, and who finds joy in the company of devotees.

2. One who devotedly gives a little to a brahmana who is in distress is recompensed abundantly. Hence, O Prince, what is given to a good brahmana is got back not in an equal quantity, but in an infinitely higher degree.

3. Those men who are happy in this world, who are generous towards their relatives, kind to strangers, indifferent to the wicked, loving to the good, shrewd in their dealings with the base, frank with the learned, courageous with enemies, humble with elders and stern with the wife.

4. O jackal, leave aside the body of that man at once, whose hands have never given in charity, whose ears have not heard the voice of learning, whose eyes have not beheld a pure devotee of the Lord, whose feet have never traversed to holy places, whose belly is filled with things obtained by crooked practices, and whose head is held high in vanity. Do not eat it, O jackal, otherwise you will become polluted.

5. "Shame upon those who have no devotion to the lotus feet of Sri Krsna, the son of mother Yasoda; who have no attachment for the descriptions of the glories of Srimati Radharani; whose ears are not eager to listen to the stories of the Lord's lila." Such is the exclamation of the mrdanga sound of dhik-tam dhik-tam dhigatam at kirtana.

6. What fault of spring that the bamboo shoot has no leaves? What fault of the sun if the owl cannot see during the daytime? Is it the fault of the clouds if no raindrops fall into the mouth of the chatak bird? Who can erase what Lord Brahma has inscribed upon our foreheads at the time of birth?

7. A wicked man may develop saintly qualities in the company of a devotee, but a devotee does not become impious in the company of a wicked person. The earth is scented by a flower that falls upon it, but the flower does not contact the odour of the earth.

8. One indeed becomes blessed by having darshan of a devotee; for the devotee has the ability to purify immediately, whereas the sacred tirtha gives purity only after prolonged contact.

9. A stranger asked a brahmana, "Tell me, who is great in this city?" The brahmana replied, "The cluster of palmyra trees is great." Then the traveller asked, "Who is the most charitable person?" The brahmana answered, "The washer man who takes the clothes in the morning and gives them back in the evening is the most charitable." He then asked, "Who is the ablest man?" The brahmana answered, "Everyone is expert in robbing others of their wives and wealth." The man then asked the brahmana, "How do you manage to live in such a city?" The brahmana replied, "As a worm survives while even in a filthy place so do I survive here!"

10. The house in which the lotus feet of brahmanas are not washed, in which Vedic mantras are not loudly recited, and in which the holy rites of svaha (sacrificial offerings to the Supreme Lord) and swadha (offerings to the ancestors) are not performed, is like a crematorium.

11. (It is said that a sadhu, when asked about his family, replied thusly): truth is my mother, and my father is spiritual knowledge; righteous conduct is my brother, and mercy is my friend, inner peace is my wife, and forgiveness is my son: these six are my kinsmen.

12. Our bodies are perishable, wealth is not at all permanent and death is always nearby. Therefore we must immediately engage in acts of merit.

13. Arjuna says to Krsna. "Brahmanas find joy in going to feasts, cows find joy in eating their tender grass, wives find joy in the company of their husbands, and know, O Krsna, that in the same way I rejoice in battle.

14. He who regards another's wife as his mother, the wealth that does not belong to him as a lump of mud, and the pleasure and pain of all other living beings as his own -- truly sees things in the right perspective, and he is a true pandit.

15. O Raghava, the love of virtue, pleasing speech, and an ardent desire for performing acts of charity, guileless dealings with friends, humility in the guru's presence, deep tranquillity of mind, pure conduct, discernment of virtues, realised knowledge of the sastras, beauty of form and devotion to God are all found in you." (The great sage Vasistha Muni, the spiritual preceptor of the dynasty of the sun, said this to Lord Ramachandra at the time of His proposed coronation)

16. Kalpataru (the wish fulfilling tree) is but wood; the golden Mount Meru is motionless; the wish-fulfilling gem chintamani is just a stone; the sun is scorching; the moon is prone to wane; the boundless ocean is saline; the demigod of lust lost his body (due to Shiva's wrath); Bali Maharaja, the son of Diti, was born into a clan of demons; and Kamadhenu (the cow of heaven) is a mere beast. O Lord of the Raghu dynasty! I cannot compare you to any one of these (taking their merits into account).

17. Realised learning (vidya) is our friend while travelling, the wife is a friend at home, medicine is the friend of a sick man, and meritorious deeds are the friends at death.

18. Courtesy should be learned from princes, the art of conversation from pandits, lying should be learned from gamblers and deceitful ways should be learned from women.

19. The unthinking spender, the homeless urchin, the quarrel monger, the man who neglects his wife and is heedless in his actions -- all these will soon come to ruination.

20. The wise man should not be anxious about his food; he should be anxious to be engaged only in dharma (Krsna consciousness). The food of each man is created for him at his birth.

21. He who is not shy in the acquisition of wealth, grain and knowledge, and in taking his meals, will be happy

22. As centesimal droppings will fill a pot so also are knowledge, virtue and wealth gradually obtained.

23. The man who remains a fool even in advanced age is really a fool, just as the Indra-Varuna fruit does not become sweet no matter how ripe it might become.

Chapter Thirteen

1. A man may live but for a moment, but that moment should be spent in doing auspicious deeds. It is useless living even for a kalpa (4,320,000 *1000 years) and bringing only distress upon the two worlds (this world and the next).

2. We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.

3. It certainly is nature of the demigods, men of good character, and parents to be easily pleased. Near and distant relatives are pleased when they are hospitably received with bathing, food, and drink; and pandits are pleased with an opportunity for giving spiritual discourse.

4 Even as the unborn babe is in the womb of his mother, these five are fixed as his life destiny: his life span, his activities, his acquisition of wealth and knowledge, and his time of death.

5. Oh, see what a wonder it is! The doings of the great are strange: they treat wealth as light as a straw, yet, when they obtain it, they bend under its weight

6. He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.

7. He who is prepared for the future and he who deals cleverly with any situation that may arise are both happy; but the fatalistic man who wholly depends on luck is ruined.

8. If the king is virtuous, then the subjects are also virtuous. If the king is sinful, then the subjects also become sinful. If he is mediocre, then the subjects are mediocre. The subjects follow the example of the king. In short, as is the king so are the subjects.

9. I consider him who does not act religiously as dead though living, but he who dies acting religiously unquestionably lives long though he is dead.

10. He who has acquired neither virtue, wealth, satisfaction of desires nor salvation (dharma, artha, kama, moksa), lives an utterly useless life, like the "nipples" hanging from the neck of a goat.

11. The hearts of base men burn before the fire of other's fame, and they slander them being themselves unable to rise to such a high position.

12. Excessive attachment to sense pleasures leads to bondage, and detachment from sense pleasures leads to liberation; therefore it is the mind alone that is responsible for bondage or liberation

13. He who sheds bodily identification by means of knowledge of the indwelling Supreme Self (Paramatma), will always be absorbed in meditative trance (samadhi) wherever his mind leads him.

14. Who realises all the happiness he desires? Everything is in the hands of God. Therefore one should learn contentment.

15. As a calf follows its mother among a thousand cows, so the (good or bad) deeds of a man follow him.

16. He whose actions are disorganised has no happiness either in the midst of men or in a jungle -- in the midst of men his heart burns by social contacts, and his helplessness burns him in the forest.

17. As the man who digs obtains underground water by use of a shovel, so the student attains the knowledge possessed by his preceptor through his service

18. Men reap the fruits of their deeds, and intellects bear the mark of deeds performed in previous lives; even so the wise act after due circumspection.

19. Even the man who has taught the spiritual significance of just one letter ought to be worshiped. He who does not give reverence to such a guru is born as a dog a hundred times, and at last takes birth as a chandala (dog-eater).

20. At the end of the yuga, Mount Meru may be shaken; at the end of the kalpa, the waters of the seven oceans may be disturbed; but a sadhu will never swerve from the spiritual path.

21. There are three gems upon this earth; food, water, and pleasing words -- fools (mudhas) consider pieces of rocks as gems.

Chapter Fourteen

1. Poverty, disease, sorrow, imprisonment and other evils are the fruits borne by the tree of one's own sins.

2. Wealth, a friend, a wife, and a kingdom may be regained; but this body when lost may never be acquired again.

3. The enemy can be overcome by the union of large numbers, just as grass through its collectiveness wards off erosion caused by heavy rainfall.

4. Oil on water, a secret communicated to a base man, a gift given to a worthy receiver, and scriptural instruction given to an intelligent man spread out by virtue of their nature.

5. If men should always retain the state of mind they experience when hearing religious instruction, when present at a crematorium ground, and when in sickness -- then who could not attain liberation.

6. If a man should feel before, as he feels after, repentance -- then who would not attain perfection?

7. We should not feel pride in our charity, austerity, valour, scriptural knowledge, modesty and morality for the world is full of the rarest gems.

8. He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our heart is far though he may really be nearby.

9. We should always speak what would please the man of whom we expect a favour, like the hunter who sings sweetly when he desires to shoot a deer.

10. It is ruinous to be familiar with the king, fire, the religious preceptor, and a woman. To be altogether indifferent to them is to be deprived of the opportunity to benefit ourselves, hence our association with them must be from a safe distance.

11. We should always deal cautiously with fire, water, women, foolish people, serpents, and members of a royal family; for they may, when the occasion presents itself, at once bring about our death.

12. He should be considered to be living who is virtuous and pious, but the life of a man who is destitute of religion and virtues is void of any blessing.

13. If you wish to gain control of the world by the performance of a single deed, then keep the following fifteen, which are prone to wander here and there, from getting the upper hand of you: the five sense objects (objects of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch); the five sense organs (ears, eyes, nose, tongue and skin) and organs of activity (hands, legs, mouth, genitals and anus).

14. He is a pandit (man of knowledge) who speaks what is suitable to the occasion, who renders loving service according to his ability, and who knows the limits of his anger.

15 One single object (a woman) appears in three different ways: to the man who practices austerity it appears as a corpse, to the sensual it appears as a woman, and to the dogs as a lump of flesh.

16. A wise man should not divulge the formula of a medicine which he has well prepared; an act of charity which he has performed; domestic conflicts; private affairs with his wife; poorly prepared food he may have been offered; or slang he may have heard.

17. The cuckoos remain silent for a long time (for several seasons) until they are able to sing sweetly (in the Spring) so as to give joy to all.

18. We should secure and keep the following: the blessings of meritorious deeds, wealth, grain, the words of the spiritual master, and rare medicines. Otherwise life becomes impossible.

19. Eschew wicked company and associate with saintly persons. Acquire virtue day and night, and always meditate on that which is eternal forgetting that which is temporary.

Chapter Fifteen

1. For one whose heart melts with compassion for all creatures; what is the necessity of knowledge, liberation, matted hair on the head, and smearing the body with ashes?

2. There is no treasure on earth the gift of which will cancel the debt a disciple owes his guru for having taught him even a single letter (that leads to Krsna consciousness).

3. There are two ways to get rid of thorns and wicked persons; using footwear in the first place and in the second shaming them so that they cannot raise their faces again thus keeping them at a distance.

4. He who wears unclean garments, has dirty teeth, is a glutton, speaks unkindly and sleeps after sunrise -- although he may be the greatest personality -- will lose the favour of Lakshmi.

5. He who loses his money is forsaken by his friends, his wife, his servants and his relations; yet when he regains his riches those who have forsaken him come back to him. Hence wealth is certainly the best of relations.

6. Sinfully acquired wealth may remain for ten years; in the eleventh year it disappears with even the original stock.

7. A bad action committed by a great man is not censured (as there is none that can reproach him), and a good action performed by a low-class man comes to be condemned (because none respects him). Just see: the drinking of nectar is excellent, but it became the cause of Rahu's demise; and the drinking of poison is harmful, but when Lord Shiva (who is exalted) drank it, it became an ornament to his neck (nila-kantha).

8. A true meal is that which consists of the remnants left after a brahmana's meal. Love, which is shown to others, is true love, not that which is cherished for one's own self. To abstain from sin is true wisdom. That is an act of charity, which is performed without ostentation.

9. For want of discernment the most precious jewels lie in the dust at the feet of men while bits of glass are worn on their heads. But we should not imagine that the gems have sunk in value, and the bits of glass have risen in importance. When a person of critical judgement shall appear, each will be given its right position.

10. Sastric (scriptural) knowledge is unlimited, and the arts to be learned are many; the time we have is short, and our opportunities to learn are beset with obstacles. Therefore select for learning that which is most important, just as the swan drinks only the milk in water.

11. He is a chandala who eats his dinner without entertaining the stranger who has come to his house quite accidentally, having travelled from a long distance and is wearied.

12. One may know the four Vedas and the Dharma-sastras, yet if he has no realisation of his own spiritual self, he can be said to be like the ladle (spoon) which stirs all kinds of foods but knows not the taste of any.

13. Those blessed souls are certainly elevated who, while crossing the ocean of life, take shelter of a genuine brahmana, who is likened unto a boat. They are unlike passengers aboard an ordinary ship that runs the risk of sinking.

14. The moon, who is the abode of nectar and the presiding deity of all medicines, although immortal like amrta and resplendent in form, loses the brilliance of his rays when he repairs to the abode of the sun (day time). Therefore, will not an ordinary man be made to feel inferior by going to live at the house of another?

15. This humble bee, which always resides among the soft petals of the lotus and drinks abundantly its sweet nectar, is now feasting on the flower of the ordinary kutaja. Being in a strange country where the lotuses do not exist, he is considering the pollen of the kutaja to be nice.

16. (Lord Visnu asked His spouse Lakshmi why She did not care to live in the house of a brahmana.She replied:)" O Lord a rishi named Agastya drank up My father (the ocean) in anger; Brighu Muni kicked You; brahmanas pride themselves on their learning having sought the favour of My competitor Sarasvati; and lastly they pluck each day the lotus which is My abode, and therewith worship Lord Shiva. Therefore, O Lord, I fear to dwell with a brahmana".

17. There are many ways of binding by which one can be dominated and controlled in this world, but the bond of affection is the strongest. For example, take the case of the humble bee, which, although expert at piercing hardened wood, becomes caught in the embrace of its beloved flowers (as the petals close at dusk).

18. Although sandalwood is cut, it does not forsake its natural quality of fragrance; so also the elephant does not give up sportiveness though he should grow old. The sugarcane does not cease to be sweet though squeezed in a mill; so the man of noble extraction does not lose his lofty qualities, no matter how pinched he is by poverty.

Chapter Sixteen

1. The heart of a woman is not united; it is divided. While she is talking with one man, she looks lustfully at another and thinks fondly of a third in her heart.

2. The fool (mudha) who fancies that a charming young lady loves him, becomes her slave and he dances like a shakuntal bird tied to a string.

3. Who is there who, having become rich, has not become proud? What licentious man has put an end to his calamities? What man in this world has not been overcome by a woman? Who is always loved by the king? Who is there who has not been overcome by the ravages of time? What beggar has attained glory? Who has become happy by contracting the vices of the wicked?

4. A man attains greatness by his merits, not simply by occupying an exalted seat. Can we call a crow an eagle (garuda) simply because he sits on the top of a tall building.

5. The man who is praised by others as great is regarded as worthy though he may be really void of all merit. But the man who sings his own praises lowers himself in the estimation of others though he should be Indra (the possessor of all excellences).

6. If good qualities should characterize a man of discrimination, the brilliance of his qualities will be recognized just as a gem, which is essentially bright, really shines when fixed in an ornament of gold.

7. Even one who by his qualities appears to be all knowing suffers without patronage; the gem, though precious, requires a gold setting.

8. I do not deserve that wealth which is to be attained by enduring much suffering, or by transgressing the rules of virtue, or by flattering an enemy.

9. Those who were not satiated with the enjoyment of wealth, food and women have all passed away; there are others now passing away who have likewise remained unsatiated; and in the future still others will pass away feeling themselves unsatiated.

10. All charities and sacrifices (performed for fruitive gain) bring only temporary results, but gifts made to deserving persons and protection offered to all creatures shall never perish

11. A blade of grass is light, cotton is lighter, and the beggar is infinitely lighter still. Why then does not the wind carry him away? Because it fears that he may ask alms of him.

12. It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a moment's grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one's life.

13. All the creatures are pleased by loving words; and therefore we should address words that are pleasing to all, for there is no lack of sweet words.

14. There are two nectarine fruits hanging from the tree of this world: one is the hearing of sweet words (such as Krsna-katha) and the other, the society of saintly men.

15. The good habits of charity, learning and austerity practised during many past lives continue to be cultivated in this birth by virtue of the link (yoga) of this present life to the previous ones.

19. One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.

Chapter Seventeen

1. The scholar who has acquired knowledge by studying innumerable books without the blessings of a bonafide spiritual master does not shine in an assembly of truly learned men just as an illegitimate child is not honoured in society.

2. We should repay the favours of others by acts of kindness; so also should we return evil for evil in which there is no sin, for it is necessary to pay a wicked man in his own coin.

3. That thing which is distant, that thing which appears impossible, and that which is far beyond our reach, can be easily attained through tapasya (religious austerity), for nothing can surpass austerity.

4. What vice could be worse than covetousness? What is more sinful than slander? For one who is truthful, what need is there for austerity? For one who has a clean heart, what is the need for pilgrimage? If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation? What need is there for wealth for the man of practical knowledge? And if a man is dishonoured, what could there be worse than death?

5. Though the sea, which is the reservoir of all jewels, is the father of the conch shell, and the Goddess of fortune Lakshmi is conch's sister, still the conch must go from door to door for alms (in the hands of a beggar). It is true, therefore, that one gains nothing without having given in the past.

6. When a man has no strength left in him he becomes a sadhu, one without wealth acts like a brahmacari, a sick man behaves like a devotee of the Lord, and when a woman grows old she becomes devoted to her husband.

7. There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.

8. The woman who fasts and observes religious vows without the permission of her husband shortens his life, and goes to hell.

8. A woman does not become holy by offering charity, by observing hundreds of fasts, or by sipping sacred water, as by sipping the water used to wash her husbands feet.

9. The hand is not so well adorned by ornaments as by charitable offerings; one does not become clean by smearing sandalwood paste upon the body as by taking a bath; one does not become so much satisfied by dinner as by having respect shown to him; and salvation is not attained by self-adornment as by cultivation of spiritual knowledge.

10. The eating of tundi fruit deprives a man of his sense, while the vacha root administered revives his reasoning immediately. A woman at once robs a man of his vigour while milk at once restores it.

11. He who nurtures benevolence for all creatures within his heart overcomes all difficulties and will be the recipient of all types of riches at every step.

12. What is there to be enjoyed in the world of Lord Indra for one whose wife is loving and virtuous, who possesses wealth, who has a well-behaved son endowed with good qualities, and who has grandchildren born of his children?

13. Men have eating, sleeping, fearing and mating in common with the lower animals. That in which men excel the beasts is discretionary knowledge; hence, indiscreet men who are without knowledge should be regarded as beasts.

14. If the bees that seek the liquid oozing from the head of a lust-intoxicated elephant are driven away by the flapping of his ears, then the elephant has lost only the ornament of his head. The bees are quite happy in the lotus filled lake.

15. A king, a prostitute, Lord Yamaraja, fire, a thief, a young boy, and a beggar cannot understand the suffering of others. The eighth of this category is the tax collector.

16. O lady, why are you gazing downward? Has something of yours fallen on the ground? (She replies) O fool, can you not understand the pearl of my youth has slipped away?

17. O ketki flower! Serpents live in your midst, you bear no edible fruits, your leaves are covered with thorns, you are crooked in growth, you thrive in mud, and you are not easily accessible. Still for your exceptional fragrance you are as dear as kinsmen to others. Hence, a single excellence overcomes a multitude of blemishes.

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True Christianity

The scribes and the Pharisees of Jesus' day lived very holy lives. They lived up to a rigorous standard of outward behaviors, but it was just religion. They dressed a certain way. They blew trumpets before them when they gave away their alms. They prayed on the street corner where everyone could see them. They did all of these rituals, but they didn't know the Lord. Jesus called them hypocrites and white washed tombs that looked good from the outside but were full of dead men's bones (Matthew 23:27). Obviously, not every person who acknowledges that God is real has a relationship with Him.

Scripture makes this clear in the book of James, which says, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble" (James 2:19).

That is one of the most sarcastic statements in the entire Bible. It says you believe that there's one God, good job, but you haven't done anything that the devil hasn't done. Satan believes in God, yet we know he isn't in right standing with Him. Satan isn't saved; he's going to spend eternity in the lake of fire that was prepared for him and his angels where they will be tormented day and night forever (Matthew 25:41 and Revelation 20:10).The devil believes in God, but his entire life and everything he does is in rebellion against God. So, just believing God exists doesn't put you in right standing.

To be in right relationship with God you have to yield to Him. You have to submit yourself to Him in order to receive relationship.

One night, a religious leader named Nicodemus went to see Jesus to ask Him some questions about the things He was teaching. Nicodemus didn't want to speak with Jesus openly during the day because of the criticism he would suffer, but his heart was sincere enough that he sought Jesus out at night. He was in conflict because he saw the anointing of God in the miracles Jesus was doing, but Jesus himself was contrary to everything that the religious system of his day was educating people to believe. After Nicodemus questioned Jesus, He replied, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3

This is an amazing statement, and Nicodemus was overwhelmed. He asked Jesus, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" (John 3:4). Nicodemus was thinking about a physical birth, but Jesus went on to say, Verify, verify, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

Some debate the meaning of being "born of water,"but I believe it is simply a reference to natural birth. A woman about to give birth is said to have her "water break," meaning that the amniotic fluid that surrounds a baby in the womb has dispersed in preparation for childbirth. This scripture is saying that unless you have a natural birth—when you were born in water—and then the second birth when you are born of the Spirit of God, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The second birth is what we call being "born again." So, just as surely as people have to be born physically to exist in this world, you have to be born again of the Spirit to enter into the kingdom of God. In fact, some Bible translations actually render this verse "born from above" or "born of God."

When God created Adam, He made his body and then He breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). The same Hebrew word that is translated "breath" is the word that was used for "spirit" all the way through the Old Testament. In other words, when God breathed into man, He literally put His Spirit into him. I'm sure that if we could have looked at Adam's physical body before God blew the breath of life into him, it would have looked just like our physical body looks. But there was no life in it until God put His Spirit in him.

Your spirit is the life-giving part of you. The New Testament confirms this fact when it says that it is the spirit that gives life to the body (James 2:26). Most of society is missing out on what life is all about because they are focused on the wrong thing. They give all of their attention to the body by indulging and attempting to satisfy every appetite and emotion that comes along. The body is not the most important part of life. The spirit is the real, life- giving part of a person—that's the reason someone can have all of the money, fame, and possessions imaginable and still be miserable. It's why people tarn to drugs and other addictions. They are trying to find life and happiness in the flesh, not realizing that what they are seeking only comes through the spirit.

When man was created, his spirit was alive because it was born of God, but the spirit of man died when he sinned. The Lord told Adam that in the day he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die (Genesis 2:17). Yet Adam and Eve lived for hundreds of years after they ate of the tree, so it wasn't physical death God was talking about. They died spiritually when they sinned, not physically.

The word "death" has come to mean a variety of things to different people. Some people interpret death to mean that you cease to exist, but in reality you never cease to exist. Although the physical body dies and ultimately decays, our spirit and our soul go on to exist eternally somewhere - for those who have been born again, we will be with the Lord. We also have a promise that God will one day resurrect our bodies, and our bodies will be reunited with our spirit and our soul (1 Corinthians 15). The natural mind thinks of death as the end, but the Bible teaches that there is no end.

Scripturally, death means separation. When Adam sinned, he died spiritually. His spirit didn't cease to exist, but it was separated from God. He no longer had the life of God inside of him. Originally, humans were created to be God dependent (Jeremiah 10:23). We were in union with Him. Sin, however, caused a separation, and the spirit that was within us died. After sin entered the world, we were abandoned to our own wisdom. The very nature of man became dominated and controlled by the devil. It became lustful, selfish, and full of hatred and misery. The sin nature present in man means that hurt, pain, and negative influences don't originate from an outside source; they come from the inside.

After Adam and Eve sinned, they began to produce children and they passed on their sin nature to every person who has ever been born of the flesh —which excludes Jesus. Since Jesus was born of a virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14 and Luke 1:26-38), He is excluded from this sin nature. He didn't get His life through man. He received a physical body through a woman, but His life came directly from God. So, with the exception of Jesus, every person who has ever been born on this earth has been born into sin with a nature that is separated from God and corrupted. This explains why Jesus said you must be "born again," because the spirit of every person who has not accepted Jesus as their Lord is still dead.

Man's separation from God isn't about individual actions, or sins; your actions of sin are a result of your sin nature. You don't have to teach a child to do evil; he or she will do it naturally. The sins we commit don't give us a sin nature. It's the other way around: the sin nature we were born with makes us sin. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12

True Christianity is not behavioral modification. It isn't merely learning to control your actions. It isn't possible to behave perfectly, and God doesn't grade on a curve, so you can't just live better than somebody else and earn salvation. You either have to be perfect, or you have to trust a Savior who was perfect for you. There is no other option. Even if you could behave perfectly from this moment on, it wouldn't change the fact that you sinned in the past. Most people think that God has a scale on which He will weigh their good actions against their bad actions, and if the good actions outweigh the bad, then they'll be accepted. That isn't what Scripture teaches. Salvation is not the result of doing the right things or living a good life.

The Bible says that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). God isn't asking us to meet some minimum standard of holiness. He created man to be perfect, and all of us have sinned and fallen short of that standard. Jesus is the perfect representation of the perfect standard of God, and none of us meets that standard. The payment for the sin we've committed is death. Somebody has to pay, and you can't pay for your own sins, so God sent us a Savior.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

This is where true Christianity and religious Christianity, or any other religion for that matter, diverge. The majority of religions teach that there is a supreme being who created all things, and he is an angry god. To appease this angry god and overcome his wrath at you for your sins, you must promise to behave rightly and deny yourself. In a sense, these religions put the burden of salvation on your back; it's all up to you whether or not you can live holy enough to earn salvation.

Every other major religion, and even a large portion of what is called Christianity, is preaching that you have to earn relationship with God by being good. I'm making a distinction here because not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a true Christian. True Christianity teaches that we could never pay the debt we owe for sin, so God himself became a man and paid the debt for us.

Jesus Christ was God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), and He lived a sinless life (1 Peter 2:21-22). He earned relationship with God through His own goodness. Although Jesus had done no wrong, He was killed on the cross and suffered for our sins. He took our punishment. He sacrificed himself for us. God's anger against sin fell upon Jesus, and He forever satisfied the wrath of God against the sin of the human race. Jesus has paid for all sin for all time, and because of that, you and I can have eternal life. Not by being good, not by earning it ourselves, but by receiving the salvation paid for by Jesus. Scripture says, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Jesus has already paid for your sins. The extent of your sin or how good you've been are not the issue. There is only one sin that separates you from God, and that is failing to believe in Jesus (John 16:9).

Salvation comes down to one thing: will you accept what Jesus has done for you?

False Christianity and false religions teach that you have to try to maintain your own goodness and somehow earn relationship with God, but it can't be done. Imagine the time when you will stand before God. If He asks, "Why should I accept you into heaven instead of banishing you to an eternity in hell," what are you going to say? I was a good person? I wore a saffron robe? I went to church and paid my tithes? I read the Bible and tried to be as holy as I could? Any of those answers will cause you to be rejected and sent to hell. The only correct answer is, "I put my faith in Jesus." You might have lived a good life, but without Jesus you can't be saved. And who wants to be the best sinner that ever went to hell?

If you try to stand before God in your own goodness, you are going to come up short. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The only thing that will make you worthy to enter heaven is that Jesus paid for your sins, and you have claimed Him to be your Lord and Savior. You have to put your faith in the goodness of God through Jesus. Everyone who trusts in Jesus will be made in right standing with God. Anyone attempting to trust in their own goodness will never be able to live up to God's standard of perfection. The only way to have relationship with God is to have it through faith in Jesus.

Relationship with God is something you receive; it isn't something you earn. When you accept Jesus, you get changed on the inside—you are born again from above. Now, true Christianity does preach that you should live a good life, but a good life isn't the root of your relationship with God—it's the fruit of relationship with Him. You start living holy as a result of having a relationship with God, not as a means of obtaining it. Those are subtle distinctions, but the difference is profound, and it is what divides true Christianity from every other religion in this world.

Salvation and eternal life are all about Jesus. Some people try to say that Jesus was a great example of love, but that He is only one way to God. Jesus isn't a way; He is the only way to the Father. The Bible says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

Jesus said of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Jesus proclaimed that He was absolutely the only way, so either He is who He claimed to be, or He was a deceiver and a charlatan. There are no other options. You can't merely look at Jesus as a good man. Either He is God, or He was a liar.

My testimony, and the testimony of countless others, is that Jesus is Lord. He is exactly who He said He was: the Son of God. The miracles He performed, the prophecies He fulfilled, and the testimony of God the Father all prove that Jesus is our Savior. Jesus is real, and He is alive. He changed my life, and He can change yours. You can know Jesus as your personal Savior and be born again today.

The Word says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Notice that it has to be more than an internal decision. Jesus said that whoever confesses Him before men, He will confess before the Father. But whoever denies Him before men, He will deny before the Father (Matthew 10:32-33). Receiving salvation has to be real enough that you live it and share it with other people.

Choosing to receive Jesus as your Savior and be born again from above is the most important decision you will ever make. Everything that is seen in this world is going to pass away, but those who know Jesus as Lord will never die (John 11:25-26). If you have come to realize what true salvation is and you're ready to receive it, then say this prayer out loud and you will be born again. It's that simple.

Father, I'm sorry for my sins. I believe Jesus died to forgive my sin, and I receive that forgiveness. Jesus, I make You my Lord. I believe that You are alive and that You now live in me. I am saved. I am forgiven. Thank You, Jesus!

If you said that prayer and believed it in your heart, then you are born again! You might look the same on the outside, but you are a whole new person. Your spirit is now alive with the life of God. You have been set free from the powers of darkness, and delivered into the kingdom of God's dear Son.

Being born again is about more than just getting into heaven when you die. Jesus died to give you eternal life, and eternal life is relationship with God —relationship that begins the moment you are born again (John 17:3). Now that you are born again, it is essential that you learn your new identity in Christ so that you can walk in victory and fulfill the plans God has for your life. God desires to pour out His blessings upon you, but you have to know how to cooperate with Him to receive all that He has for you. So, don't stop here; there is a lot more to learn. In the meantime, go tell someone about the decision you have made.

Andrew Wommack (from “Sharper than a Two-Edged Sword”)

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