लिङ्गमेवाश्रमख्यातावन्योन्यापत्तिकारणम् । अवृत्त्या न्यायदौर्बल्यं पाण्डित्ये चापलं वच: ॥ ४ ॥
liṅgam evāśrama-khyātāv anyonyāpatti-kāraṇam avṛttyā nyāya-daurbalyaṁ pāṇḍitye cāpalaṁ vacaḥ
- liṅgam
- the external symbol
- eva
- merely
- āśrama-khyātau
- in knowing a person’s spiritual order
- anyonya
- mutual
- āpatti
- of exchange
- kāraṇam
- the cause
- avṛttyā
- by lack of livelihood
- nyāya
- in credibility
- daurbalyam
- the weakness
- pāṇḍitye
- in scholarship
- cāpalam
- tricky
- vacaḥ
- words
A person’s spiritual position will be ascertained merely according to external symbols, and on that same basis people will change from one spiritual order to the next. A person’s propriety will be seriously questioned if he does not earn a good living. And one who is very clever at juggling words will be considered a learned scholar.