(23.1–14)
320. Just as an elephant in battle
Endures arrows shot from the bow
I will endure abusive speech –
For people in general are ill behaved.
321. Folk take the tamed one into battle;
The king mounts the tamed one.
The tamed one, who endures abusive speech,
Is the best among human beings.
322. Fine are tamed mules
And thoroughbreds from Sindh
And great tusker elephants;
But the self-tamed is finer than these.
323. Not by these mounts
Can you go to the place where none has gone
As you’ll go by a well-tamed self,
Tamed by means of tamed.
324. The tusker called Dhanapālaka
Hard to control, exuding pungent must,
Eats not a morsel in captivity.
The tusker remembers the elephant-forest.
325. While he is lazy, gluttonous,
A sleeper, rolling about as he lies,
Like a great boar fed on grain,
The fool comes to a womb again and again.
326. Once this mind roamed about
As it wished, as it wanted, as it liked.
Today I will control it properly
As a mahout controls an elephant in must.
327. Take delight in awareness:
Guard your own minds.
Lift yourselves out of the bad road
Like the tusker sunk in the mud.
328. If you find a skilful companion
Who walks with you, well behaved and wise,
You should walk with him, joyful and mindful,
Overcoming all dangers.
329. If you don’t find a skilful companion
Who walks with you, well behaved and wise,
Then, like a king leaving conquered territory,
You should walk alone, like an elephant in an elephant-forest.
330. It’s better to walk alone:
There’s no companionship with fools.
You should walk alone and do no evil,
With few wants, like an elephant in an elephant-forest.
331. When need arises, companions are pleasant;
Pleasant is contentment with this and that;
At life’s end, merit is pleasant;
Pleasant is the abandoning of all suffering.
332. Pleasant in the world is caring for your mother;
Pleasant, too, caring for your father;
Pleasant in the world is caring for wanderers;
Pleasant, too, caring for Brahmins.
333. Pleasant is good conduct continued to old age;
Pleasant is firm faith;
Pleasant is the winning of wisdom;
Pleasant is not doing evil.