Be like the swan: take the milk, leave the water
अनेकशास्त्रं बहु वेदितव्यम् अल्पश्च कालो बहवश्च विघ्नाः ।
यत् सारभूतं तदुपासितव्यं हंसो यथा क्षीरमिवाम्बुमध्यात् ॥
anekaśāstraṃ bahu veditavyam alpaśca kālo bahavaśca vighnāḥ |
yat sārabhūtaṃ tadupāsitavyaṃ haṃso yathā kṣīramivāmbumadhyāt ||
Translation
There are many sciences and much to be known; time is short and obstacles many. Pursue what is the essence, as the swan takes milk out of water.
Meaning
A verse every student can use. Indian poets believed that the haṃsa (swan or goose) could drink only the milk from a mixture of milk and water. This haṃsa-kṣīra-nyāya, "the maxim of the swan and the milk", stands for discernment: taking the good and leaving the rest.
The metre is a longer one, the 11-syllable upajāti, so each line holds a complete thought: the problem (much to learn, little time), then the solution (take the essence).
Word by word · 15 words
| Devanagari | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| अनेकशास्त्रम् | anekaśāstram | many sciences, many books (nom. sg. n.) |
| बहु | bahu | much |
| वेदितव्यम् | veditavyam | to be known (gerundive of √vid) |
| अल्पः | alpaḥ | short (nom. sg. m.) |
| कालः | kālaḥ | time (nom. sg. m.) |
| बहवः | bahavaḥ | many (nom. pl. m.) |
| विघ्नाः | vighnāḥ | obstacles (nom. pl. m.) |
| यत् | yat | what |
| सारभूतम् | sārabhūtam | is the essence (nom. sg. n.) |
| तत् | tat | that |
| उपासितव्यम् | upāsitavyam | should be pursued, attended to (gerundive of upa + √ās) |
| हंसः | haṃsaḥ | the swan (nom. sg. m.) |
| क्षीरम् | kṣīram | milk (acc. sg. n.) |
| इव | iva | as, like |
| अम्बुमध्यात् | ambumadhyāt | from the midst of water (abl. sg.) |
Pronunciation
anekaśāstraṃ bahu veditavyam alpaśca kālo bahavaśca vighnāḥ |
yat sārabhūtaṃ tadupāsitavyaṃ haṃso yathā kṣīramivāmbumadhyāt ||
- haṃso: the anusvāra before s nasalises the a, "hã-so".
- kṣīram: kṣ ("ksh") with long ī, kṣī-ram.
- A final visarga ḥ is a soft "h" breath that echoes the vowel before it: namaḥ sounds like "nama-ha" (lightly).
- ṃ (anusvāra) is a nasal: it sounds like m before p/b/m, n before t/d, ṅ before k/g, and a nasalised vowel before s/ś/h.