Shloka 18
Virtue and Vice — Chanakya Niti
संसारविषवृक्षस्य द्वे फलेऽमृतोपमे ।
सुभाषितं च सुस्वादु सङ्गतिः सज्जने जने ॥
saṃsāraviṣavṛkṣasya dve phale'mṛtopame |
subhāṣitaṃ ca susvādu saṅgatiḥ sajjane jane ||
Worldly life is a poison-tree, yet it bears two fruits like nectar: sweet, well-spoken words and the pleasant company of the virtuous.
FAQs
In the broader Sanskrit nīti tradition, compact aphoristic verses often frame social life (saṃsāra) as morally and emotionally hazardous, while highlighting stabilizing goods such as cultivated speech and association with reputable persons. Such formulations circulated in didactic settings—courtly, scholastic, and household—where normative ideals of conduct were summarized through memorable metaphors.
The verse identifies two valued cultural goods: subhāṣita (well-formed, appropriate, and pleasing speech) and saṅgati with sajjana (companionship/association within circles regarded as virtuous). It presents these as rare counterweights to the dangers implied by the metaphor of worldly life as a poison-bearing tree.
The compound संसारविषवृक्ष (saṃsāra-viṣa-vṛkṣa) compresses an evaluative worldview into a single image: saṃsāra as a tree whose default yield is ‘poison.’ Against this, ‘two fruits’ (द्वे फले) are singled out and intensified by अमृतोपमे (‘nectar-like’), a common Sanskrit superlative metaphor. The pairing of subhāṣita with sajjana-saṅga reflects a recurring nīti motif linking ethical speech and moral community as mutually reinforcing markers of cultivated life.