Person with good intelligence. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

Praising oneself and condemning others are also equally deadly. Attempting to hide one’s meanness and wickedness and putting on the mask of goodness, justifying one’s faults and exaggerating one’s attainments – these are also poisonous traits. Equally poisonous is the habit of ignoring the good in others and assiduously seeking only their faults. Never speak words that demean any one. When we are friendly with another and like him very much, whatever he does is certain to strike us as good. When the wind changes and the same person is disliked even the good he does strikes us as bad. Both these reactions are misconceived. They are not commendable at all. In the Sumati Shataka, there is a verse which teaches this lesson, ‘O Sumati! (Person with good intelligence) Know that wrong is right and right is wrong, when friendship is strong and friendship is lost.’

The student has to transform himself into a Sumati. He should avoid turning into a Durmati (Person with perverted, polluted intelligence). A huge heap of fuel can be reduced to ashes by a tiny spark of fire. A drop of poison can render a pot of milk totally undrinkable, Envy and hatred are sparks that destroy the cluster of virtues in man. (V Vahini, pp. 79-80)