Shloka 26

Devanagari script

नून॑ त्वां सुगुणर्युक्ते पूजयानं सुह्ृद्ध्रुवम्‌ । ममार्थ इति जानीते तेनासि हरिण: कृश:

Transliteration

nūnaṃ tvāṃ suguṇa-yukte pūjayānaṃ suhṛd dhruvam | mamārtha iti jānīte tenāsi hariṇaḥ kṛśaḥ ||

Translation

“நிச்சயமாக, நற்குணங்களால் நிறைந்ததால் பிறர் உன்னை வணங்கி மதிக்கிறார்கள்; ஆனால் உன் நண்பன் உறுதியாக—‘இந்த மரியாதை என் செல்வாக்கினால்தான்’ என்று எண்ணுகிறான். அந்த மனக்கவலையால், ஓ மானே, நீ மெலிந்து வெளிறுகிறாய்.”

Word by Word

• {'nūnam': 'surely, indeed', 'tvām': 'you', 'suguṇa-yukte': 'endowed with good qualities

• possessing virtues', 'pūjayānam': 'being honored, being worshipfully respected', 'suhṛt': 'friend, well-wisher', 'dhruvam': 'certainly

• as a fixed notion', 'mama-arthaḥ': 'for my sake

• my benefit/credit', 'iti': 'thus', 'jānīte': 'thinks, believes, understands', 'tena': 'therefore

• because of that', 'asi': 'you are', 'hariṇaḥ': 'a deer', 'kṛśaḥ': 'thin, emaciated'}

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• ब्राह्मण (speaker)
• सুহृत् (friend)
• हरिण (deer, as simile)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse warns against ego-driven appropriation of another’s merit: when a person is honored for genuine virtues, a possessive friend may claim the credit (“because of me”), creating suffering and anxiety. Ethical conduct includes recognizing others’ qualities without jealousy or self-serving attribution.

What is happening in the narrative?

A brāhmaṇa addresses a virtuous person who is being respected by others. The speaker observes that the person’s friend wrongly believes the honor arises from the friend’s own influence, and this situation has made the virtuous person anxious—hence thin and pale, compared to a deer.