Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 1.14
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वगात्रेण सौम्येन सामान्यानि विचक्षणः । निकषे हेमरेखाभा यस्य रेखा प्रदृश्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvagātreṇa saumyena sāmānyāni vicakṣaṇaḥ | nikaṣe hemarekhābhā yasya rekhā pradṛśyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्व-गात्रेण सौम्येनsarva-gātreṇa saumyenawith an appearance wholly gracious
सामान्यानि विचक्षणःsāmānyāni vicakṣaṇaḥordinary ones — [thus distinguishes] one who discerns
निकषे हेम-रेखा-आभाnikaṣe hema-rekhā-ābhāon the touchstone, a mark like gold
यस्य रेखा प्रदृश्यतेyasya rekhā pradṛśyateone whose mark shows itself
Translation
With an appearance wholly gracious — [so] the discerning [distinguishes] ordinary ones. One on whose touchstone a mark like gold shows itself …
Version
aa208dcfda11 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is a place worth praising, and praising without reservation: the book commands testing. Nikaṣa is the touchstone — that black whetstone against which gold is rubbed to learn its purity by the color of the streak left. And it is said that a genuine seed is known by the same method as gold: draw it across the stone, and a mark like gold remains.
This method, one must suppose, was in ordinary use: a real rudrākṣa leaves a trace when rubbed, while a turned piece of wood does not. But more important than the method itself is what stands behind it. The book, which two pages earlier promised hundreds of millions of merit, here does not demand belief on its word: it puts a test into the reader's hands and assumes he will use it.
This combination is rare, and therefore valuable. Usually a tradition either promises and gives no way to test, or gives a way to test and promises nothing; but here promise and test stand side by side. This rule, to my mind, is worth extending further than the book itself extends it — to matters weightier than seeds. The Muṇḍaka sets two conditions for a teacher, and both are testable: śrotriya ("learned in scripture") and brahma-niṣṭha ("established in Brahman") (1.2.12); the first is tested by inquiry, the second by how the person lives.
The Bhāgavatam says the same still more definitely: tasmād gurum prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam, "let one seeking the highest good take refuge in a teacher" (11.3.21) — and the word jijñāsu, "wishing to know," implies that one comes with a question, not with closed eyes. The touchstone for a person is his conduct and his speech; and not to test them is the same carelessness as buying a seed without rubbing it.