The loss of prosperity, in turn, destroys a man, for poverty is a man's death. Relatives, friends, and brahmanas shun a poor man just as birds, O Krishna, shun a tree that bears neither flowers nor fruit. Even this, O king, is death to me — that my kinsmen avoid me as though I were an outcast, as the breath of life leaves a dead body. Sambara said that no condition of life can be more tormenting than one in which a man is ceaselessly gnawed by the anxious thought: 'I have no meat for today — what will become of me tomorrow?' It is said that wealth is the highest virtue, and that everything depends upon wealth. It is said that those who possess wealth live, while those without wealth are more dead than alive. Those who forcibly take a man's wealth from him not only kill the one they have robbed, but also destroy his virtue, his gain, and his pleasures. Some people, overwhelmed by poverty, choose death; others move from cities to villages; others withdraw into the forest; while still others become religious mendicants in order to end their lives. Some, for the sake of wealth, are driven to madness; others, for the sake of wealth, live in subjection to their enemies; while many others, again, for the sake of wealth, surrender themselves into bondage to others. A man's poverty is even more tormenting than death, for wealth is the sole cause of virtue and enjoyment. A man's natural death is not held in especially high regard, for it is the eternal path of all beings; indeed, none among created beings can transgress it. O Krishna, a man who is poor from birth does not suffer as much as one who, having once enjoyed great prosperity and grown up in luxury, is deprived of that prosperity. Having fallen into misfortune through his own fault, such a man blames the very gods, Indra, and himself. Indeed, even knowledge of the whole of scripture cannot ease his pain. Sometimes he grows angry at his servants, and sometimes he harbors malice even toward his well-wishers. Subject to constant anger, he loses his senses, and, his mind clouded, he commits evil deeds. Through such sinfulness, such a man contributes to the mixing of castes. The mixing of castes leads to hell and is the greatest of all sinful acts. If he does not awaken in time, he will surely, O Krishna, fall into hell; and indeed, wisdom is the only thing that can awaken him, for if he regains the eye of wisdom, he will be saved. When wisdom is attained, such a man turns his attention to the scriptures; and attention to the scriptures fosters his virtue. Then shame becomes his finest ornament. He who feels shame turns away from sin, and his prosperity increases as well; and he who has prosperity truly becomes a man. He who is always devoted to virtue, keeps his mind under control, and always acts after due deliberation, never inclines toward unrighteousness and never commits any sinful act. He who is devoid of shame and reason is neither man nor woman.