कालविद्भिर्विनिर्णीतं पाण्डित्यं यस्य राघव । अनध्यापित एवाऽसौ तज्ज्ञश्चेद्दैवमुत्तमम् ॥ १९ ॥
kālavidbhirvinirṇītaṁ pāṇḍityaṁ yasya rāghava | anadhyāpita ēvā’sau tajjñaścēddaivamuttamam || 19 ||
Translation
If one, Rāghava, for whom those who know the times have pronounced learning, comes to know that subject without being taught, then fate is supreme.
Word by word
- kāla
- the times
- vidbhir
- (vidbhiḥ) by those who know
- vinirṇītaṁ
- pronounced
- pāṇḍityaṁ
- learning
- yasya
- for whom
- rāghava
- Rāghava
- anadhyāpita
- without being taught
- ēva
- indeed
- asau
- he
- tajjñaś
- (tajjñaḥ) comes to know that subject
- cēd
- (cet) if
- daivam
- fate
- uttamam
- is supreme
Meaning
The companion test, for the gentler sort of promise. Let the stars say that a child will be a scholar. Now let him never open a book. Will he be a scholar? The commentary: only if he becomes learned without being taught should fate be called the chief cause. In practice, of course, the promised scholar has to study. The forecast at best says what can be reached. Students of every age have been told they had a gift, and it remains an empty gift until the work is done. It also reads the other way. A child told that there is no gift for a subject can still work, and that too will show in the result.