Shloka 2
Practical Maxims — Chanakya Niti
एकमप्यक्षरं यस्तु गुरुः शिष्यं प्रबोधयेत् ।
पृथिव्यां नास्ति तद्द्रव्यं यद्दत्त्वा सोऽनृणी भवेत् ॥
ekam apy akṣaraṃ yas tu guruḥ śiṣyaṃ prabodhayet |
pr̥thivyāṃ nāsti tad dravyaṃ yad dattvā so'nṛṇī bhavet ||
If a teacher awakens a student even to a single syllable, there is no wealth on earth that can be given to repay that debt in full.
FAQs
In the broader Sanskrit niti and dharma literature, the guru–śiṣya relationship is framed as a central institution for transmitting knowledge and social norms. This verse reflects a premodern economy of obligation in which learning is treated as a non-commodifiable gift, and the language of “debt” (ṛṇa) functions as a conventional metaphor for enduring gratitude and social reciprocity.
The verse presents repayment as structurally inadequate when measured against the act of imparting knowledge. By stating that no dravya (material wealth) can render the teacher anṛṇī (free of debt), it depicts instruction as creating an obligation that cannot be fully discharged through ordinary economic exchange.
The phrase “ekam api akṣaram” (“even a single syllable”) is a minimization device that amplifies the claim: if even the smallest unit of learning is invaluable, then larger instruction is beyond price. The term “ṛṇa/anṛṇī” imports financial-legal vocabulary into moral discourse, a common Sanskrit rhetorical strategy for expressing durable social bonds through the idiom of debt and repayment.