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Saturday, July 4, 2009

knowledge leads to happiness - विद्या ददाति विनयम्



(true/complete) knowledge gives discipline, from discipline comes worthiness, from worthiness one gets wealth, from wealth (one does) good deeds, from that (comes) joy.

विद्या ददाति विनयं विनयाद्याति पात्रताम् ।
पात्रत्वाद्धनमाप्नोति धनाद्धर्मं ततः सुखम् ॥ ५ ॥

vidyA dadAti vinayaM, vinayAdyAti pAtratAM |
pAtratvAddhanamApnoti, dhanAddharmaM tataH sukhaM || 5 ||
(Hitopadesha)


interestingly, a recent article in Ode magazine talked about altruism in economy. 40 years of research results in the dawning of one fact - it may be that economy is not all about money, but about the over all good of the society.

arthashAstra - the classic treatise of economics and polity by chANakya stresses time and again (and so do wise men before and after him) that society comes together not for one person's benefit but for each other's benefit. so how come we can call it a success if only a few benefit and many suffer - which is what happens in modern 'free market'.

the very concept of society is for the good of all the involved parties.
and this is also where a great tenet of karma-yoga comes.

since whatever you have, has come due to the collective effort of the society as a whole (e.g. the cloths you wear, food you eat, car you drive, could not be created by you alone, it needed society's collaboration), similarly the money and resource you have under your control is also for all, you merely have the CONTROL over its use.

the one who eats alone is the greatest sinner. - thus speak the shAstra!

think about it.
simple sanskrit. great ideas.






about the shloka at hand:

vidyA = knowledge; from root vid, there are many words.
sam-vedana = to know together, know same as other, sympathy)
A-vedana = announcement, to be let known
ni-vedana = request, inform
vid = to be present, as in vidyamAn


dadAti = dad verb, to give. -da as suffix makes adjectives


vinayaM = training, discipline, cultured mannerism (from training), humbleness.
root 'nee' which means to take (away).
e.g. netA = leader; who leads, takes (to the goal)
abhinetA = actor, who leads us emotionally through the story by his/her acting
neeti = policy, that which leads (the nation, organization, person to their goal)

vinayAt = from discipline, humbleness

yAti = comes. yA = movement
AyAta = import (coming in)
niryAta = export (going out)
yAtAyAta = traffic, transportation


pAtratAM = worthiness
pAtra = container, vessel, recipient
a-pAtra dAna = charity to an undeserving, unworthy

pAtratvAt = from worthiness

dhanaM = wealth, money

dhanAt = from wealth (-At suffix meaning from)
dharmaM = the right thing, charity, good deeds, duty [NOT religion]
tataH = from that
sukhaM = happiness, opposite of sorrow, lack of pain. cf. sukhAsana = the comfort posture.

Check out the book Attitude Shift - Sanskrit Maxims for Contemporary Life and Leadership.

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33 comments:

  1. Excellently explained, good work, a very good reference indeed.

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  2. Great Job Done for keeping on internet - in such a descriptive form.

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  3. Excellent Job done in publishing this great Sloka - Pretty good.

    P.s: Only thing could not understand here, as why most of English sentences start with small letter!

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    Replies
    1. In Sanskrit (also in Thamizh) there are no capital letters and lower case letters. It was created as a custom for English to assign capital letters at the beginning of a sentence and for proper nouns to distinguish them from others.

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    2. For that matter all indian languages don't use capital letters at the beginning. Indians are clever enough to distinguish ends and beginnings.

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  4. Secret of correct education

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  5. Secret of correct education

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  6. great website!!

    though i am bit confused with this slok? It is popular believe that ignorance is bliss , how come this is other way around ?

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    Replies
    1. Vivek,
      One chooses what one likes, to be ignorant or to be aware.
      It is a personal choice.
      The mass always moves downwards, spirit upwards. So you can't say 'popular = correct' :) :)

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    2. Knowledge does not come easy. You have to work at it hard. Most people are not disposed to do that. Also many are scared about the harsh reality of events. Hence they would rather not know the truth. For example, death is a painful truth. People don't want to face it. Hence "ignorance is bliss".

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    3. Knowledge does not come easy. You have to work at it hard. Most people are not disposed to do that. Also many are scared about the harsh reality of events. Hence they would rather not know the truth. For example, death is a painful truth. People don't want to face it. Hence "ignorance is bliss".

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  7. An honorable & clear "Bhasya teeka"
    Thank you very much, will search for you whenever need to get such concept in future. Plz do accept gratitude...

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  8. Amazing and Good work. Can you also share the source of this slokam ?

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  9. Jai Shankar, it is from Pancharatr and Hitopadesh. In its preface, there are a bunch of shlokas to Highlight the importance of vidyA.

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  10. I only heard the first line and that was also when I was in school. It is great to know the entire sequence, stage by stage and even greater once you appreciate the same at an older age. It has been explained here beautifully.

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  11. For sanskrit learners this website is very useful and also to increase vocabulary. Very nice.

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  12. What is the source of this shloka ?

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  13. Please please please, tell me the source of this quote please.

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  14. 🇮🇳Thanku You work very well and hope you keep doing it.
    Thank you very much!!!💞🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

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  15. I am belong to Gaya Bihar but now live in Jamshedpur ....
    You work very well and hope you keep doing it.
    Thank you very much !!!!🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

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  16. Very good description abaut this unique shloka..thans

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  17. Thought provoking....

    Wealth is not nothing is lost,
    Health is not something is is lost but character is lost everything I is lost....
    So character leads our destiny..

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  18. आपने बहुत सुंदर ढंग से व्याख्या दी .

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    Replies
    1. Excellent... Helped me a lot to grasp the shlok more deeply...

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  19. The meaning for vinayam as discipline is incorrect. In this shloka, vinayam means the right way of leading life.

    In Sanskrit, one of the meaning for the word nayam is the way of leading life. Viseshena nayam is vinayam.

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  20. sharing knowledge meaning in Sanskrit ?

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