anÄ«haḥ parituá¹£á¹ÄtmÄ
yadá¹›cchopanatÄd aham
no cec chaye bahv-ahÄni
mahÄhir iva sattvavÄn
anÄ«haḥ - with no desire to possess more; parituá¹£á¹a - very satisfied; ÄtmÄ - self; yadá¹›cchÄ - in its own way, without endeavor; upanatÄt - by things brought in by possession; aham - I; no - not; cet - if so; Å›aye - I lie down; bahu - many; ahÄni - days; mahÄ-ahiḥ - a python; iva - like; sattva-vÄn - enduring.
One should learn detachment from the bumblebees, for they collect drops of honey here and there and keep it in their honeycomb, but then someone comes and by force takes all the honey away, leaving the bumblebees with nothing. Therefore one should learn from the bumblebee not to keep more money than one needs. Similarly, one should learn from the python to stay in one place for many, many days without food and then eat only if something comes in its own way. Thus the learned brÄhmaṇa gave instructions gained from two creatures, namely the bumblebee and the python.