Vidya Dadati Vinayam, What Knowledge Really Gives
विद्या ददाति विनयं विनयाद्याति पात्रताम् ।
पात्रत्वाद्धनमाप्नोति धनाद्धर्मं ततः सुखम् ॥
Vidyā dadāti vinayaṃ vinayād yāti pātratām
Pātratvād dhanam āpnoti dhanād dharmaṃ tataḥ sukham
“Knowledge gives humility. From humility comes worthiness. From worthiness one gains means. From means comes right conduct, and from that, happiness.”
Hitopadeśa
Word by word
A shloka a child understands is a shloka they keep. Here is what each word is actually doing.
At the start of a school year, on Teachers’ Day, and whenever the subject of why we study comes up.
- A complete argument in two lines
- Reframes education as character, not credentials
- Easy to memorise thanks to its chain structure
- A favourite for school speeches and assemblies
The chain structure makes this a gift to memory, each line picks up the last word of the one before. It is also a fine thing to argue about with a teenager: does knowledge really produce humility? Their counter-examples are usually excellent, and the discussion is the point.
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
Knowledge gives humility, humility gives worthiness, worthiness brings means, means makes right conduct possible, and from that comes happiness. It is a chain in which education ends in character.
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All 28 shlokas
Teach your child Vidya Dadati Vinayam, properly
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