हन्त अहम् एतत् भगवत्तः वेदानि इति विद्धि इति ह उवाच अमुष्य लोकस्य का गतिः इति अयम् लोकः इति ह उवाच अस्य लोकस्य का गतिः इति न प्रतिष्ठाम् लोकम् अतिनयेत् इति ह उवाच प्रतिष्ठाम् वयम् लोकम् सामाभिसंस्थापयामः प्रतिष्ठासंस्तावम् हि साम इति
hanta aham etat bhagavattaḥ vedāni iti viddhi iti ha uvāca amuṣya lokasya kā gatiḥ iti ayam lokaḥ iti ha uvāca asya lokasya kā gatiḥ iti na pratiṣṭhām lokam atinayet iti ha uvāca pratiṣṭhām vayam lokam sāmābhisaṃsthāpayāmaḥ pratiṣṭhāsaṃstāvam hi sāma iti
"Come then, your honour, let me learn this from you." — "Learn," said he. "What is the going of that world?" — "This world," said he. "What is the going of this world?" — "One must not carry [the sāman] beyond the world that is the support," said he. "We establish the sāman in the world that is the support, for the sāman is lauded as the support."
26e163e0f9b1 · published Jul 26, 2026, 10:28:09 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Dālbhya's dignity: hantāham etad bhagavatto vedānīti — "come then, let me learn this from you, your honour": no offence, no argument: one who has learned his boundary becomes a learner: an instant passage from connoisseur to pupil is the mark of a true master (viddhīti hovāca — "learn," answers Śilaka with the same simplicity).
And the chain runs on — downward! amuṣya lokasya kā gatiḥ — "what is the going of that world?" — ayaṁ lokaḥ — "this world": heaven stands upon the earth! (heaven's rains come of the offerings and vapours here: the round of the Gītā 3.14). asya lokasya kā gatiḥ — "and of this world?" — and here Śilaka himself halts: na pratiṣṭhāṁ lokam atinayet — "one must not go beyond the world that is the support": pratiṣṭhā-saṁstāvaṁ hi sāma — "the sāman is lauded as the support". Śilaka is two links deeper than Dālbhya (heaven → earth → support) — yet he too halts at "support in general": and now the third in the company, the prince who kept silence, will put the same auger to him — and to his building.