The book prints its own reference for these verses. The title names what is to be taken up or made use of, and the chant is spoken throughout in the voice of a householder taking stock of what he has done with what he had.

That voice is unusual in this book. The speaker is a lay person with property, and nothing in the verses suggests he ought not to have had it. The question they put is not whether to hold wealth but what it was spent on.

The first half is simply an account, item by item. Wealth enjoyed. Dependants supported. Adversities overcome. Offerings given and the five oblations made. The virtuous and the restrained waited upon. Every line names something the money actually went on, and none of them is an intention.

The turn comes in the middle and it is the whole argument: that purpose for which a wise man dwelling at home would wish for wealth — that purpose I have attained. Wealth is treated as instrumental from beginning to end, and the only test applied to it is whether it was used for what it is for.

The line the chant exists for is the next one: กะตัง อะนะนุตาปิยัง, what has been done brings no remorse. These are not verses about generosity as a virtue. They are about reaching the end of a life able to look at the account without flinching, which is why they are given to lay people rather than to monastics.