Entry 008 · 13 verses to return to
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विद्या विवादाय धनं मदाय
शक्तिः परेषां परिपीडनाय।
खलस्य
ज्ञानाय दानाय च रक्षणाय॥
Traditional subhashita · source attribution varies
What it means
Knowledge, money, and power are not character. They only make a person’s direction more visible. The same tools can be used to win, impress, and control, or to understand, give, and protect. What matters is not only what we have. It is what our having turns us into.
A reflection
The whole verse turns on a mirror.
Its first half gives three things and their worst uses: learning for argument, wealth for pride, power for harm. Then the second half keeps the same rhythm and reverses every one of them. Nothing new is added. The change is entirely in the person holding it.