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Gems From The East: A Birthday Book

By H.P. Blavatsky

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August

"Death has no power th' immortal soul to slay,
That, when its present body turns to clay
Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might
Inspires another frame with life and light.
So I myself (well I the past recall),
When the fierce Greeks begirt Troy's holy wall,
Was brave Euphorbus: and in conflict drear
Poured forth my blood beneath Atrides' spear.
The shield this arm did bear I lately saw
In Juno's shrine, a trophy of that war."
— DRYDEN'S OVID
1 The man who neglects the truth he finds in his soul, in order to follow its dead-letter, is a time-server.

2 He who does not recognize the bread and salt is worse than a wild wolf.

3 Man who has not hesitated to project his image in space and call it the Creator, sculpted not to endow God with his own vices.

4 He who has been once deceived, dreads evil, and suspects it even in truth.

5 Krishna, the golden-haired god, replied not to the reviling of the King of Chedi. To the roar of the tempest, and not to the jackal's howl, the elephant trumpets a reply.

6 Not the tender pliant grass is uprooted by the storm, but the lofty trees. The mighty war only with the mighty.

7 The sandal tree has snakes; the lotus tank, alligators; in happiness there is envy. There are no unmixed pleasures.

8 No creature, no thing is free from evil. The sandal tree has its roots sapped by snakes, its blossoms attacked by bees, its branches broken by monkeys, its top eaten by bears. No part of it is secure from pain.

9 Grieve not about thy sustenance; nature will supply it. When a creature is born, the mother's breast supplies milk.

10 Who gave the swan his whiteness, the parrot his wings of golden green, the peacock his iris-hues? Will not that which provided for them provide for thee?

11 All good fortune belongs to him of contented mind. Is not the whole earth leather-covered for him who wears shoes?

12 This world is a venomous tree, bearing two honey-sweet fruits: the divine essence of poetry and the friendship of the noble.

13 By the fall of water-drops the pitcher is gradually filled; this is the cause of wisdom, of virtue, and of wealth.

14 Let one who would live in the memory of his fellow men, make every day fruitful by generosity, study, and noble arts.

15 No plunge in clear cool water delights so much the heat-oppressed, no pearl necklace the maiden, as the words of the good delight the good.

16 Good men vary. Some are like cocoanuts, full of sweet milk; others, like the jujube, externally pleasing.

17 Like an earthen vessel, easy to break, hard to reunite, are the wicked; the good are like vessels of gold, hard to break and quickly united.

18 Be not a friend to the wicked — charcoal when hot, burns; when cold, it blackens the fingers.

19 Shun him who secretly slanders, and praises openly; he is like a cup of poison, with cream on the surface.

20 A chariot cannot go on one wheel alone; so destiny fails unless men's acts co-operate.

21 The noble delight in the noble; the base do not; the bee goes to the lotus from the wood; not so the frog, though living in the same lake.

22 Like moonbeams trembling on water, truly such is the life of mortals. Knowing this, let duty be performed.

23 Bathe in the river of the soul, O man, for not with water is the soul washed clean.

24 The pure soul is a river whose holy source is self-control, whose water is truth, whose bank is righteousness, whose waves are compassion.

25 Of a gift to be received or given, of an act to be done, time drinks up the flavor, unless it be quickly performed.

26 When the weak-minded is deprived of wealth, his actions are destroyed, like rivulets dried up in hot seasons.

27 He who wants a faultless friend, must remain friendless.

28 Eat and drink with your friends, but do not trade with them.

29 Without trouble one gets no honey. Without grief and sorrow no one passes his life.

30 Vinegar does not catch a fly, but honey. A sweet tongue draweth the snake forth from the earth.

31 What good is advice to a fool?