Do not disregard goodness, "It will not come to me!"
Falling drops of water can fill up even a water jar.
The clever one fills himself up with goodness, even if collecting it just little by little.

mā avamaññetha puññassa na   maṃ        taṃ   āgamissati
|              |               |          |         |             |             |
neg.    V.act.         N.n.    neg.  Pron.    Pron.n.    V.act.
|       2.Pl.imp.     Gen.Sg.   |    Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.fut.
|________|              |          |_____|_______|_______|
       |____________|                    |     |____|
                  |                               |_____|
                  |____________________|

List of Abbreviations

uda+bindu+nipātena uda+kumbho pi       pūrati
|           |          |          |         |         |            |
N.n. N.m.    N.m.    N.n.   N.m.   conj.  V.act.in.
|______|      Ins.Sg.     |    Nom.Sg.  |      3.Sg.pres.
     |_________|           |_____|         |            |
             |                        |________|            |
             |__________________|__________|
                           |__________|

List of Abbreviations

dhīro       pūrati  puññassa thoka+thokam  pi     ācinaṃ
|                   |             |         |           |        |           |
N.m.       V.act.in.    N.n.   Adj.     Adv.  conj.  Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Gen.Sg.  |______|        |     Nom.Sg.
|                   |_______|                |_______|            |
|                           |                            |__________|
|_______________|_____________________|
                |______|

mā, neg.: not, do not. Used with verbs in imperative instead of the more usual negative particle na.

avamaññetha, V.: to disregard, to consider insignificant. The verb root is man- (to think) with the prefix ava- (down, low). 2.Pl.act.imp. = avamaññetha.
Euphonic combination: mā + avamaññetha = māvamaññetha

puññassa: puñña-, N.n.: good deed, meritorious deed, merit. Gen.Sg. = puññassa.

na, neg.: not.

maṃ: Pron. aham-, I. Acc.Sg.: maṃ.

taṃ: Pron. tad-, that. Nom.Sg.n. = taṃ.

List of Abbreviations

āgamissati, V.: will come. The verb root is gam- (to go) with the prefix ā- (towards).
3.Sg.act.fut. = āgamissati.

udabindunipātena: udabindunipāta-, N.m.: fall of water drops. It is a compound of:
    uda-, N.n.: water.
    bindu-, N.m.: drop.
    nipāta-, N.m.: falling down. It is derived from the verb root pat- (fall) with the prefix ni- (down).
Ins.Sg. = udabindunipātena.

udakumbho: udakumbha-, N.m.: water jar. It is a compound of:
    uda-, N.n.: water.
    kumbha-, N.m.: jar, pitcher.
Nom.Sg. = udakumbho.

pi, conj.: also, even, too.

List of Abbreviations

pūrati, V.: becomes full. The verb root is pūr- (to fill, to be full) 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = pūrati.

dhīro: dhīra-, Adj.: wise, clever. Nom.Sg.m. = dhīro.

pūrati: see above.

puññassa: see above.

thokathokam, Adv.: little by little. It is composed of two words thoka-, Adj.: little, small.
As an adverb: thokathokam.

pi, conj.: also, even, too.

ācinaṃ: ācinant-, Adj.: gathering, collecting. It is an. a.pr.p. of the verb root ci- (to heap, to collect) with the prefix ā- (towards). Nom.Sg.m. = ācinaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) māvamaññetha puññassa na maṃ taṃ āgamissati (do not disregard goodness, "It will not come to me!"). This can be further subdivided into the main sentence a) and the direct speech b):
    a) māvamaññetha puññassa (do not disregard goodness). The subject is omitted. The second person plural pronoun is implied. The verb is avamaññetha (disregard, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). It is negated by the negative particle mā (do not). The object is the adjective/noun puññassa (of goodness, genitive singular).
    b) na maṃ taṃ āgamissati (it will not come to me). The subject is the personal pronoun taṃ (it, nominative singular). The verb is āgamissati (will come, 3^rd person, singular, active, future). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the personal pronoun maṃ (to me, accusative singular).
    2) udabindunipātena udakumbho pi pūrati (falling drops of water can fill up even a water jar). The subject is the compound udakumbho (water jar, nominative singular). It is modified by the conjunction pi (even). The verb is pūrati (becomes full, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the compound udabindunipātena (by falling water drops, instrumental singular).
    3) dhīro pūrati puññassa thokathokam pi ācinaṃ (the wise one fills himself up with goodness, even if collecting it just little by little). The subject is the noun dhīro (wise one, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the active present participle ācinaṃ (collecting, nominative singular). This word also has an attribute, the adverb thokathokaṃ (little by little). It is modified by the conjunction pi (even). The verb is pūrati (becomes full, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective/noun puññassa (of goodness, genitive singular).

    A certain man from the city of Sāvatthi wanted to give in charity. Especially he wanted to get others to do so. He invited the Buddha with monks for meal the next day. He went around his neighbors and asked them to contribute if they want to participate in the almsgiving. One rich man thought that this man does not have enough money to do it himself and he was unhappy about this. So he contributed only a little amount of food. His contribution was kept separately and was not put together with the food that others contributed. The rich man thought that the man wanted others to know, that he, the rich man, has given only such a little amount. So the next day he sent a servant over to the house, where the alms were being given, and told him to observe everything.
    The servant told the rich man, that his food was distributed in very small amounts into everything. This was done, so that the rich man would gain a lot of merit. But he did not understand it and the next day he went to the man's house, intending to kill him if he dared to reveal that he offered so little.
    But the man told him the true reason of his action. The rich man realized his evil thoughts and apologized to the man. The Buddha heard this and told the rich man this verse, saying that we should not disregard good deeds, even if they seem small. Someday, doing of good deeds will become a habit, and thus we can perform a big good deed.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

mā
avamaññetha
puññassa
na
maṃ
taṃ
āgamissati
udabindunipātena
uda
bindu
nipātena
udakumbho
kumbho
pi
pūrati
dhīro
thokathokam
thoka
ācinaṃ