2. GOOD RULERS AND BAD RULERS

 

That ruler stays long in power, who acts like a skilled gardener:  rehabilitating uprooted ones, watching the blooming ones,  strengthening the weak, bending down the too tall ones, weakening  the excessively strong ones, separating the clustered ones,   trimming the thorny ones and protecting the ones that have come  up by themselves.

 

A ruler who follows the right path would be like Lord Krishna: evil  designs of enemies would be warded off by God's grace.

 

The good quality of a ruler and a servant is that which fills the  treasury and the storeroom (respectively).

 

The spendthrift, the orphan, the quarrelsome, the sick, the one who  eats everything indiscriminately perish fast.

 

It is better not to have a ruler rather than have a bad ruler.

It is better not to have a friend rather than have a bad friend.

It is better not to have a disciple rather than have a bad disciple.

It is better not to have a wife rather than have a bad wife.

 

Where is happiness for the people in a state ruled by a bad ruler? 

Where is happiness from a bad friend?

Where is pleasure in a home from a bad wife?

Where is fame to one who teaches a bad disciple?

 

Rulers are like snakes: both are hooded, fond of enjoyment and  protective covering, cruel and crooked in movement, but are  controllable by counsel

(as snakes are controlled by mantras).

 

There is no trust in a bad friend,  no pleasure in a bad wife, no  happiness under a bad ruler, no life in a bad country.