Sumathi Sataka - Its relevance for Modern Living (3)

Today will be discussing about some of the situations which result in disaster for the person concerned

The original poem is

“Appukoni cheyu vibhavam

Muppuna brayamputalu, moorkhuni tapamun

dapparani nrupu rajyam

depparami keedu thechhura Sumathi”

The English translation is something like this

“Living Beyond means (or Living luxuriously) on loans

Marriage at a very old age to an young lady, worship of an idiot

A kingdom where the king does not have proper control

definitely results in disasters”

Well not much explanation is required for the above poem.

A person living beyond his means very luxuriously will definitely end up bankrupt after sometime bring a financial disaster onto himself / herself and the family. This is applicable even to the nations. A nation which is living beyond its means by borrowing more and more ultimately ends up defaulting its loans. One can identify a person or a nation living beyond its means by looking at what they are buying (or importing). Many of the families nowadays have multiple credit cards (there are some cases where some are holding a credit card from almost all the issuing entities), latest gadgets which are changed once in 1-2 years every time there is a new model in the market, higher end mobile phones, higher end cars etc. Many of these purchased on loans which are offered by the so called new age banks without even the proper documentation. They look at the payslips of a person for last 3-6 months and decide how much he can borrow. There is no guarantee that the person has borrowed much more from outside than what is disclosed on payslips. Ultimately many of these loans end up with bounced EMI cheques, repossession of the items purchased with the loans whose market value will be much lower than the loan amount, write off the balances (or protracted and costly legal procedures). All these together result in financial losses for the individuals, the banks and ultimately to the nation. Similarly a country whose import bill is going up quarter on quarter with most of the amount is from import of consumer durables and luxurious items is a sure shot recipe for economic disaster. Other countries / World Bank and the economists may argue that these nations are so called “young tigers” and fast growing economies. However if the spend is not going towards improving the income streams there is every possibility that the country will be borrowing more and more domestically and abroad to finance this expenditure. These ultimately result in loans defaults by nations. Many of the Latin American countries went through this cycle many times. Iceland which is an European country also went through this recently.

The second line talks about marrying young lady at a very old age. This is sure recipe for disaster. There were many crimes / murders which happened due to this type where the husband is very old compared to the wife. May be the other way which is not common in India (Old wife and young husband) also will be recipe for failure.

The worship of an idiot is another sure thing for disaster for himself and his family. Such a person will not be able to decide what is good and what is not and by worshipping or adoring useless things will not concentrate on the good things. These people often turn to crime when they could not achieve what they are aiming for. There were several cases of stabbing, acid throwing incidents where the girls rejected the amorous advances of such idiots.

The last recipe for disaster is more catastrophic. An inept king who cannot rule properly bring on increasing taxes which result in many sufferings / deaths and hardships to the common people. These sufferings in turn may end up with uprisings and revolutions. There are many examples for these kind of things.