Transcendental Generalization

विद्या नाम नरस्य रूपमधिकं

प्रच्छन्न गुप्तं धनं

विद्या भोगकरि यश:सुखकरि

विद्या गुरुणां गुरु:

विद्या बंधुजनो विदेश गमने

विद्या परादेवता

विद्या राजसु पुज्यते न तु धनं

विद्या विहीन: पशु:

Translation:

A person’s primary form is called “knowledge.”

A deeply hidden, secret treasure.

Knowledge generates pleasure, success, generates contentment.

Knowledge is the guru of gurus.

Knowledge is kin, [your] having gone to a foreign country.

Knowledge is the supreme deity.

Knowledge is what kings worship, not wealth.

[One] without knowledge is a beast.

एकं सत विप्रा: बहुदा वदंति

— The Rig Veda (Book I, Chapter CLXIV, Verse 46)

Translation:

Sages variously express one reality.

Commentary:

This pithy sentence is at the core of Hinduism, having been excerpted from the ancient Rig Veda.

Some have interpreted the Sanskrit word sat (सत) to mean “God.” They used this sentence to explain polytheism in Hindu history, or to validate the idea that all religions are “trying to say the same thing”. In my opinion, there is better justification to interpret the word as “reality” or “existence.” (It is related to the word satyam, सत्यं, meaning “truth”.)

In sales and marketing jargon, we like to say, “perception is reality”. Ayn Rand’s Objectivism rebelled violently against the idea that reality is whatever the majority of people think it is. This sentence, on the other hand, states simultaneously that there is a single reality, and that even wise people interpret or express it in different ways. There is a call to leadership in this sentence: it encourages us to respect diversity while seeking the unity at its foundation.