Timeless guidance for life's questions, from the Bhagavad Gītā, the Tirukkuṟaḷ and the Yoga Sūtras — each passage cited, and shown only where SevaCart can trace it.
This is not a chatbot and nothing here is generated. Every passage shown is real text from a source SevaCart already holds, selected by a reviewed mapping, and shown with its citation. Where a source has nothing to say about your situation, the page says so instead of finding a verse that nearly fits.
Vidura Nīti — SevaCart's scripture library does not yet hold a citable passage of this work. It is reviewed and suitable — the text has not been entered, so there is nothing to quote and nothing has been substituted for it.
Bhīṣma's counsel — SevaCart's scripture library does not yet hold a citable passage of this work. It is reviewed and suitable — the text has not been entered, so there is nothing to quote and nothing has been substituted for it.
Yakṣa Praśna — SevaCart's scripture library does not yet hold a citable passage of this work. It is reviewed and suitable — the text has not been entered, so there is nothing to quote and nothing has been substituted for it.
Chāṇakya Nīti — NO LOCATOR. Maxims attributed to Chāṇakya circulate widely with no edition behind them. Without a verse reference, printing one as scripture would manufacture the citation. Note also that Chāṇakya Nīti is not the Arthaśāstra — they are separate works and separate entries here, so the two cannot be conflated by accident.
Arthaśāstra — WRONG GENRE. A manual of statecraft: its counsel on rivals, leverage and force is addressed to a ruler managing a kingdom, and does not transfer to a devotee's difficulty with a colleague.
The Principal Upaniṣads — WRONG GENRE at the depth available. A mahāvākya is the summit of its Upaniṣad, not counsel for a difficulty, and selecting one to answer a personal problem flattens it. The Kaṭha carries the reflective load instead, because it can be quoted at enough length to keep a passage inside its own argument.
Rāmāyaṇa — WRONG GENRE, with a locator problem besides. Rāma's choices are narrative: what a character did under one dharma is not a rule for a devotee, and a card implying otherwise would teach the wrong thing about the epic.
Aṣṭāvakra Gītā — WRONG GENRE. Uncompromising Advaita addressed to a listener already established in it — Janaka is realised before the dialogue begins. "You were never bound" is true inside that dialogue and cruel outside it, and a person in grief or fear is not its audience.
Subhāṣita — NO LOCATOR, unevenly. Some verses name a work; others record only an anthology tradition with no verse. Quoting the collection wholesale would put well-cited and uncited verses on one card under one authority. Splitting it verse by verse is a content-authority pass.
The minor Gītās — NOT ONE WORK. This names several distinct texts — Guru Gītā, Devī Gītā, Śiva Gītā and others — and it must stay several: any future enablement gives each its own entry. A blended "other Gītās" source would erase the difference between a Śākta text and a Śaiva one.
Dharma Śāstra — NOT SUITABLE, and this is not a coverage gap to be closed. The smṛtis carry historically situated social and penal prescriptions, some ordered by birth and by sex. Surfacing those as personal guidance would put SevaCart on the wrong side of both Indian law and its own devotees. They belong in the library with their historical context intact.
Brahma Sūtras — WRONG GENRE. The sūtras adjudicate between readings of the Upaniṣads. They are a text about texts, and there is no honest route from one to a devotee's difficulty at work.
Your situation
On Leading others — something is going wrong and i am responsible, 2 sources speak to this. They are shown separately, in their own voices, because they do not all say the same thing.
Source perspectives
Bhagavad Gita
Mahabharata
Why this was shownOne verse on what leadership actually transmits: whatever the foremost person does, others follow; the standard they set is the one the world takes up.
The passage
यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः ।
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते ॥
Transliteration
yad-yad-ācarati śreṣṭhas-tat-tad-eveta-ro janaḥ | sa yat pramāṇaṃ kurute lokas-tad-anuvartate ||
English translation pending source and rights review. The received text is shown above.
3.21Spoken by Krishna to Arjuna.The Yoga of Action (Karma Yoga). Arjuna asks: if wisdom is superior, why must I act? Krishna answers - no one can refrain from action even for a moment. Action offered as yajna (sacrifice) does not bind. Doing one's own duty imperfectly is better than another's well performed.
SevaCart’s reflection
Written by SevaCart, not by the source above.
The claim is about conduct rather than instruction. What a senior person actually does becomes the measure, regardless of what was announced. That is uncomfortable in proportion to seniority.
What it does not mean
Not that appearances must be managed. The verse is about what conduct teaches, which is the opposite of a case for performance.
Why this was shownValluvar's definition of truthfulness is a working test for anyone who has to deliver difficult messages to people who depend on them.
The passage
வாய்மை எனப்படுவது யாதெனின் யாதொன்றும்
தீமை இலாத சொலல்
English translation pending source and rights review. The received text is shown above.
Kural 291
SevaCart’s reflection
Written by SevaCart, not by the source above.
Truthfulness is defined not as accuracy but as speech entirely free of harm to any living being. That sets a higher bar than being factually correct, and it is the bar that a hard announcement, honestly made, has to clear.
What it does not mean
It is not a licence to withhold difficult information on the grounds that it would hurt. Valluvar is defining what truthful speech is, not exempting anyone from speaking.
Bhagavad Gita — direct counsel to someone facing this and unable to decide.
Tirukkuṟaḷ — a question of conduct, character and prudence.
These are different kinds of answer. SevaCart shows each under its own source and does not merge them into a single teaching.
Questions to sit with
If everyone copied what you did this week, what would the place become?
Is the difficult thing you have to say both true and said in a way that does the least harm it can?
What this is not
This is reflection, not a ruling. Nothing here decides anything for you.
The passages are shown under their own source. Where SevaCart has added an application, it is labelled as SevaCart's words, not the text's.
Where a passage shows no English, its translation is withheld pending source and rights review — not missing. The original text is shown as the library holds it.
Different sources answer differently. Where they do, both readings are shown rather than merged.
Corpus 7a532a24 · mappings 1.0.0 · reference sc_6kkgm8