Devanagari
अणुभ्यश्च महद्भ्यश्च शास्त्रेभ्य: कुशलो नर: ।
सर्वत: सारमादद्यात् पुष्पेभ्य इव षट्पद: ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
aṇubhyaś ca mahadbhyaś ca
śāstrebhyaḥ kuśalo naraḥ
sarvataḥ sāram ādadyāt
puṣpebhya iva ṣaṭpadaḥ
Synonyms
aṇubhyaḥ
—
from the smallest
;
ca
—
and
;
mahadbhyaḥ
—
from the greatest
;
ca
—
also
;
śāstrebhyaḥ
—
from religious scriptures
;
kuśalaḥ
—
intelligent
;
naraḥ
—
a man
;
sarvataḥ
—
from all
;
sāram
—
the essence
;
ādadyāt
—
should take
;
puṣpebhyaḥ
—
from the flowers
;
iva
—
like
;
ṣaṭpadaḥ
—
the honeybee .
Translation
Just as the honeybee takes nectar from all flowers, big and small, an intelligent human being should take the essence from all religious scriptures.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Just as the honeybee takes nectar from all flowers, big and small, an intelligent human being should take the essence from all religious scriptures.
He learns from the bee to take the essence of dharma from scriptures.
Purport
In human society the original knowledge is called
Veda,
and the essential part of
veda,
or knowledge, is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(15.15)
,
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ.
From the honeybee, an intelligent human being should learn to take the essence, or nectar, of all knowledge. A honeybee does not waste its time trying to carry away an entire bush or garden, but rather takes the essential nectar. We may thus study the difference between the honeybee and the ass, who carries heavy loads. Education does not mean to become an intellectual ass carrying heavy loads of useless knowledge; rather, one should accept the essential knowledge that leads to an eternal life of bliss and understanding.
At the present time people generally have a sectarian concept of religion, and yet there is no scientific understanding of the Absolute Truth. Such complacent, dogmatic, sectarian religionists can certainly learn something from the example of the honeybee given in this verse.