Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 3p1
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ कालाग्निरुद्रं भगवन्तं सनत्कुमारः पप्रच्छाधीहि भगवन्रुद्राक्षधारणविधिम्
Transliteration (IAST)
atha kālāgnirudraṃ bhagavantaṃ sanatkumāraḥ papracchādhīhi bhagavanrudrākṣadhāraṇavidhim
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ कालाग्निरुद्रं भगवन्तंatha kālāgnirudraṃ bhagavantaṃand now the lord Kālāgnirudra
सनत्कुमारः पप्रच्छsanatkumāraḥ papracchaSanatkumāra asked
अधीहि भगवन्adhīhi bhagavanteach, lord
रुद्राक्ष-धारण-विधिम्rudrākṣa-dhāraṇa-vidhimthe rule of wearing the rudrākṣa
Translation
And now Sanatkumāra asked lord Kālāgnirudra: teach, lord, the rule of wearing the rudrākṣa.
Version
07f76ea5d3d6 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third part begins, and the question is asked a third time — now by Sanatkumāra, one of the four unborn sons of Brahmā, who remain forever children. This repetition is no carelessness. The book, by all appearances, was compiled from three separate conversations that circulated apart; and the compiler set them one after another without merging them into one.
It is worth noting, however, the word with which the question opens: adhīhi, "teach." This is the imperative of adhi-i, "to turn to, to study"; the same verb from which adhyayana, "learning," and adhyāpana, "teaching," derive. This form is the usual opening of instruction in the upaniṣads: so Nārada addresses Sanatkumāra in the Chāndogya (7.1.1); so students address their teacher in dozens of places.
The circumstance that here this same Sanatkumāra is himself the one asking deserves noting. In the Chāndogya he was the teacher, instructing Nārada in what is beyond the Name; here he comes with a question. This exchange of roles is, to my mind, the best thing that can be said about the structure of this tradition. The teacher of one book turns out to be the pupil of another; and no one sees any difficulty in this, because the position of teacher is not a rank but a relation to a subject: where you know, you teach; where you do not know, you ask.