Worldly Wisdom

Five Discourses on Worldly Wisdom is a collection of stories that teach people of all ages morals of living. The book uses a very lively style of writing and colorful imagery to get it point across. Book IV entitled “On Losing What You’ve Gained,” tells the story of an old monkey king named Vali-Vadnaka who is exiled from his kingdom after a younger monkey decided to take his place. He lost everything and still learned to appreciated the little that he had. The monkey king found joy in a fig tree named Madhu-Garbha, and comfort in a new friend, a crocodile named Krisha-Ka. The crocodile’s wife grew jealous of the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile; the crocodile’s wife did not know that the monkey was just a friend and was under the suspicion that her …show more content…
Fool me twice, shame on me.” It reminds people to be weary of their mistake and to learn from them. As stated in the final lines of the story “They proclaim their foolishness and extol their wisdom of other men; So whatever task they may undertake, wise people will never fail.” Book IV, like many other sacred Hindu texts, stresses the importance of wisdom. This belief is similar to the belief of Theravada Buddhism, that wisdom is one of the most important things a person can have. Other morals that can be found in Book IV “On Losing What You Have Gained” include he importance of friendship as well as loyalty to one’s wife. When the crocodile is conflicted between feeding his monkey friend’s heart to his wife or letting his wife suffer, he is conflicted because he knows the value of friendship as well the values of his wife. The crocodile states “Who is more important? A wife or friend with the noblest virtues? Between a wife and a friend, The wife comes first.” The purpose of Five Discourses of Worldly Wisdom is to teach people basic values and morals that are not only specific to Hindu faith, but are also