[19] Here in this radiant forest,
frequented by throngs of gandhabbas and heavenly nymphs (devaccharā),
this immemorial abode of seers,
may you not come to such discontent (arati).
Friends come to be, and then they are no more;
it is on kinsmen and friends that people bestow their affection;
but this wretch — why does he lie settled here by day,
he who does not even know whence I have come?
For it is by living together
that friendships are knit, time and again;
that very friend, when one meets him no more,
withers away through living together no longer.
If you see the brahmacārī (one who lives the celibate holy life),
if you converse with the brahmacārī,
then, as a ripened crop [is ruined] by a great flood,
you will swiftly cast away this merit of austerity (tapoguṇa).
If yet again you see the brahmacārī,
if yet again you converse with the brahmacārī,
then, as a ripened crop [is ruined] by a great flood,
you will swiftly cast away this ascetic fervor (usmāgata).
Dear son, these are creatures (bhūta) that roam
about the human world in many a strange form;
a man of wisdom would not consort with them —
through contact with them the brahmacārī comes to ruin.
The Nalinikā Jātaka, the first.
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The Ummadantī Jātaka
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.