Chapter 4: Asserting Virtue’s Power

Verse 31
There are different virtues as we age from youth to adulthood to advanced age. The elderly woman is surrounded by family, the fruits of her virtuous life. Two devas shower flower petals from above to bless her virtue.

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Weaver’s Wisdom

Verse 31

Virtue yields Heaven’s honor and Earth’s wealth.
What is there then that is more fruitful for a man?

Verse 32

There is nothing more rewarding than virtue,
nor anything more ruinous than its neglect.

Verse 33

Be unremitting in the doing of good deeds;
do them with all your might and by every possible means.

Verse 34

Keep the mind free of impurity. That alone is
the practice of virtue. All else is nothing but empty display.

Verse 35

Virtue is living in such a way that one does not fall
into these four: envy, anger, greed and unsavory speech.

Verse 36

Don’t tell yourself you’ll be wise enough to practice virtue tomorrow.
Do it now, for it will be your deathless companion when you die.

Verse 37

It is utterly superfluous to inquire about virtue’s benefits, so
evident in the difference between the palanquin’s rider and bearer.

Verse 38

Not allowing a day to pass without doing some good
is a boulder that will block your passage on the path to rebirth.

Verse 39

Only virtuous deeds abound in true joy.
All other deeds are empty and devoid of distinction.

Verse 40

Virtue is merely that which should be done in life,
and vice is merely that which should be avoided.