Matru Devo Bhava, the Four Reverences
मातृदेवो भव । पितृदेवो भव ।
आचार्यदेवो भव । अतिथिदेवो भव ॥
Mātṛ-devo bhava, pitṛ-devo bhava
Ācārya-devo bhava, atithi-devo bhava
“Let your mother be as a god to you. Let your father be as a god to you. Let your teacher be as a god to you. Let the guest be as a god to you.”
Taittirīya Upaniṣad 1.11, the graduation address
Word by word
A shloka a child understands is a shloka they keep. Here is what each word is actually doing.
On Guru Purnima, at Teachers’ Day, at family gatherings, and when a child asks why we treat guests the way we do.
- Four short phrases, learned in a single sitting
- The most concrete values verse in the tradition
- Explains Indian hospitality in one line
- A staple of school assemblies and speeches
The fourth one is where children get interested. Atithi means, literally, one who arrives without a fixed date, the unannounced visitor. To treat that person as a god is a demanding instruction, and it is the origin of the hospitality a child will have seen at home all their life without having a name for it.
Shloka Classes
Reading a shloka and chanting it correctly are different things. In our live online classes a mentor corrects your child’s pronunciation in the moment, teaches the meaning alongside the sound, and builds a repertoire verse by verse. Ages 4-14 · 45 min · Weekly.
Questions parents ask
Let your mother be as a god to you. The full passage extends the same reverence to father, teacher and guest.
Learn these next
All 28 shlokas
Teach your child Matru Devo Bhava, properly
Live classes with a real mentor. Correct pronunciation, the meaning behind every word, and a practice that lasts.