In an Ideal World…

Today, I am going to talk about four of the most important things for students – time, knowledge, understanding and hard work. We often hear everyone giving advice to the students about studying hard and achieving excellence in their respective fields (I really get angry when someone does this to me). The following sanskrit shlokas advise the same but with their unique examples and metaphors.

Aqa-ona BaoYajaM laByaM na (araogyaM kdaip ca |

Aqa-ona ga`nqasaMBaar: &anaM laByaM P`aya%nat: ||

This shlok uses a metaphor of health to convey the importance of learning. It says that, money can buy medicine but cannot guarantee good health for you, the same way, books can be bought with money but to get knowledge from them, you have to make an effort.

Another closely related shlok tells us importance of another very important thing in life especially for students.

naYTM d`vyaM laByato kYTsaaQyama\

naYTa ivaVa laByato|Byaasayau@ta |

naYTaraogyaM saupcaarO: sausaaQyama\

naYTa vaolaa yaa gata saa gatOva ||

This is just the sanskrit version of ‘Time is money’. It says that, lost money can be earned again by doing work, putting in extra efforts, lost (forgotten) knowledge can be acquired back by studying; depreciated health can be obtained back by good medicine, exercise and guidance. But the time that is lost/gone is gone...

When we think about knowledge and time, it is essential that we talk about hard-work. The following shlok is one of my favourites not only because of its meaning but also because of its structure and an excellent use of metaphor. 

&anaM P`aQaanaM na tu kma-hInaM

kma- P`aQaanaM na tu bauiQdhInaM |

tsmaad\ Wyaaorova Bavao%sauisaiQd -

na- )okpxaao ivahga: P`ayaait ||

The two things that should always go hand in hand are knowledge/excellence and hard-work. Knowledge is important but not without Karma or hard-work. Similarly, hard-work is important but not without knowledge. The poet gives a perfect metaphor comparing knowledge and hard-work to two wings of a bird (maybe airplane would be an appropriate metaphor in today's world). So, just like a bird with one wing can’t fly similarly a person cannot be successful without having both knowledge and doing hard work.

While we are discussing about knowledge, we must make sure that the knowledge obtained must be well understood. The poet gives a great example here.

yaqaa KrScandnaBaarvaahI

Baarsya vao%ta na tu candnasya |

evaM ih Saa~aiNa bahUnyaQaI%ya

Aqao-Yau maUZa: Krvad\ vahint ||

Sandalwood is considered one of the most precious types of woods available. But the poet points out that the donkeys used to transport sandalwood don’t understand its value. Similarly, many people who know many shastras (sciences) carry the meanings like the donkeys. They just memorize the things without understanding them. What is the use of such learning?

I hope the students had some fun reading this while taking the time out from their busy schedules and hopefully the time taken to read this has not been wasted :p.