Destiny and Endeavour

 

_यद्धात्रा निजफालपत्रलिखितम् स्तोकम महद्वा धनम् तत्प्राप्नोति मरुस्थोऽपि नितराम् मेरौ ततो नाधिकम् तद्धीरो भव वित्तवत्सु कॄपनाम वॄत्तिम् वॄथा मा कॄथा: कूपे पश्य पयोनिधावपि घट: प्राप्नोति तुल्यम जलम्_

 

On your forehead, by Brahma written, is your destiny;

 That's what decides if you have little or lots of money;

It matters not whether you seek in a desert or mountain of gold;

Don't kneel and crawl before the rich, don't be pitied, be bold.

 Just watch the water a pail can get from a well or mighty sea;

The source, you go to, makes no difference in a pail's capacity.

 

It is destiny that determines one becomes wealthy or poor. So, it does not matter where you seek wealth. Therefore, do not go begging or acting servile and pitiably with the rich. It does not matter whether you go to a well or the ocean. The amount of water you can gather depends only on the size of your pail. Reference to destiny here does not imply fatalism,. It indicates the observation by the poet that everything in life is not under one's control , and that even after making one's best efforts, what one can attain in life depends on one's own innate capabilities .Hence the reference to a pail's capacity to hold water.

:ANONYMOUS