Shloka 3
Liberation and Truth — Chanakya Niti
यद्दूरं यद्दुराराध्यं यच्च दूरे व्यवस्थितम् ।
तत्सर्वं तपसा साध्यं तपो हि दुरतिक्रमम् ॥
yaddūraṃ yaddurārādhyaṃ yacca dūre vyavasthitam |
tatsarvaṃ tapasā sādhyaṃ tapo hi duratikramam ||
Whatever is far, hard to obtain, or set at a distance—everything is achievable through tapas (austere effort), for tapas is hard to surpass.
FAQs
Within the broader niti (conduct/statecraft) anthology tradition attributed to Chanakya, such verses commonly frame personal discipline and sustained effort (tapas) as a culturally authoritative means of overcoming obstacles. In early Indian intellectual history, tapas functions both as an ascetic-religious concept and as a generalized idiom for endurance and rigorous exertion, which later compilers also adapt for ethical and pragmatic instruction.
In this verse, tapas is presented as the enabling force by which distant or difficult goals are rendered attainable. The phrasing treats tapas less as a narrowly ritual act and more as concentrated, disciplined exertion—an idealized capacity described as "duratikrama" (hard to surpass).
The verse uses a triadic accumulation—"yaddūraṃ" (far), "durārādhyaṃ" (hard to obtain/approach), and "dūre vyavasthitam" (situated at a distance)—to intensify the scope of obstacles. The conclusion "tatsarvaṃ tapasā sādhyaṃ" employs a sweeping universal quantifier (sarvam) to emphasize tapas as a comprehensive explanatory principle, while "tapo hi duratikramam" elevates tapas through the evaluative compound dur-atikrama ('difficult to surpass'), a common gnomic strategy in Sanskrit subhāṣita-style literature.