सः समित्पाणिः पुनः एयाय तम् ह प्रजापतिः उवाच मघवन् यत् शान्तहृदयः प्राव्राजीः सार्धम् विरोचनेन किम् इच्छन् पुनः आगमः इति सः ह उवाच यथा एव खलु अयम् भगवः अस्मिन् शरीरे साध्वलंकृते साध्वलंकृतः भवति सुवसने सुवसनः परिष्कृते परिष्कृतः एवम् एव अयम् अस्मिन् अन्धे अन्धः भवति स्रामे स्रामः परिवृक्णे परिवृक्णः अस्य एव शरीरस्य नाशम् अन्व् एषः नश्यति न अहम् अत्र भोग्यम् पश्यामि इति
saḥ samitpāṇiḥ punaḥ eyāya tam ha prajāpatiḥ uvāca maghavan yat śāntahṛdayaḥ prāvrājīḥ sārdham virocanena kim icchan punaḥ āgamaḥ iti saḥ ha uvāca yathā eva khalu ayam bhagavaḥ asmin śarīre sādhvalaṃkṛte sādhvalaṃkṛtaḥ bhavati suvasane suvasanaḥ pariṣkṛte pariṣkṛtaḥ evam eva ayam asmin andhe andhaḥ bhavati srāme srāmaḥ parivṛkṇe parivṛkṇaḥ asya eva śarīrasya nāśam anv eṣaḥ naśyati na aham atra bhogyam paśyāmi iti
With fuel in his hands he came back again. Prajāpati said to him: "Maghavan, you went away with a heart at peace together with Virocana; desiring what have you come back?" He answered: "Sir, just as this [reflection] is well adorned when the body is adorned… so it is blind when the body is blind, lame when it is lame, maimed when it is maimed. With the destruction of the body it too is destroyed. I see nothing gladdening in this."
dc826c974726 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:54:28 PM UTC
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The return comes with the same humble token: samit-pāṇiḥ, with fuel in his hands. The king of the gods does not demand explanations like a defrauded customer — he takes the pupil's place again: an error of understanding does not dissolve discipleship but deepens it.
The teacher's question is delicately ironic: "you went away with a heart at peace — desiring what have you come back?" Prajāpati makes the pupil pronounce his own refutation — and Indra pronounces it in full, unabridged, as something suffered through. To be able to come back and say "what I went away with does not stand up to examination" is the rarest of abilities; on it, and not on quickness of first understanding, every genuine path rests. Compare the two destinies: Virocana is already preaching, Indra is still learning; the loser is always the one who began teaching sooner.