दीपनिर्वाणगन्धं च सुहृद्वाक्यमरुन्धतीं।
न जिघ्रन्ति न शृण्वन्ति न पश्यन्ति गतायुषः॥

Someone who does not pay attention to the burning smell when a lamp is about to extinguish; someone who does not pay attention to the wise words of friends; someone who does not watch the Arundhati star: he will soon perish.

The first point.

Imagine a time when there was no electricity.

You are in a room and reading or writing something in the light of an oil lamp.

Fully focused on what you are doing.

You are not aware of what is happening around you.

The oil is getting finished and the lamp will soon extinguish.

At that time, you may have noticed, the lamp would give out a burning smell.

When there is less oil reaching the wick, the wick material itself will start burning and you can detect that smell.

Normally.

But if you don't notice it.

Suddenly the lamp would extinguish.

And you are in darkness.

You will stumble looking for oil, another wick in the darkness.

It is going to be difficult.

Even a matchbox as we have it today, how will you search for it in the darkness.

Two points here.

Be aware of whatever is happening around you.

Even when you are focused on something, be aware of climate, politics, econmics.

Pay attention to everything.

Second point; don't wait till some problem blows up on your face.

Be prepared with fixes.

Recognize and be prepred for potential problems and issues.

Suhrudvakyam-

Suhrut- who is a suhrut?

Suhrut is not a friend.

Suhrut is someone who has a good heart.

Somebody whose advice to you does not carry an agenda.

He may be known to you, your friend or a relative or even a stranger.

But understand one thing, people with good heart, wisdom comes to them naturally.

Their advice is trustworthy.

Knowledge becomes corrupt when you handle it with motives and agenda.

Then you tend to hide stuff.

Then you tend to highlight what you want to highlight.

These are all results of motives.

A man of pure heart has no such motives.

He will give you facts as they are.

You can trust them.

Make decisions based on them.

But to know whether someone is good or not that is upto you.

Arundhati-darshanam is connected to marrige in the Vedic tradition.

On the evening of marriage, once stars appear in the sky, the newly wed couple togetherr watch the star pair Vasishta and Arundhati in the Saptarshi-mandala.

This is supposed to bring in fidelity and stability in the marriage.

Why and how?

That we wil try to see some other time.

The point is, respect traditions.

Our traditions are not waste of time.

A lot of wisdom and thought have gone into these Vedic traditions.

Recognition of natural principles, natural powers are behind them.

They help.

People keep reception in the evening and skip Arundhati-darshanam.

This is because they dont understand the significance.

Nobody tells them the significance, how it helps.

But neglecting traditions out of ignorance will deprive you of all the goods that they give.

You should put in effort to learn and understand them.

So, someone who is aware and prepared for roadblocks that may come up, open to good advice, and would pay attention to established traditions and practices, he will be happier in life.