Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 3p3
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ कालाग्निरुद्रः किमर्थं भवतामागमनमिति होवाच
Transliteration (IAST)
atha kālāgnirudraḥ kimarthaṃ bhavatāmāgamanamiti hovāca
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ कालाग्निरुद्रःatha kālāgnirudraḥand now Kālāgnirudra
किम् अर्थं भवताम् आगमनम्kim arthaṃ bhavatām āgamanamfor what purpose is your coming
इति ह उवाचiti ha uvācathus said
Translation
And now Kālāgnirudra said: for what purpose is your coming?
Version
85f878685e4f · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The question is asked: kim artham bhavatām āgamanam, "for what purpose is your coming." On the face of it the question seems superfluous. The one they came to knows without asking; and the whole conversation that follows shows that he knows.
But this is exactly the point, and it deserves stating. The question is asked not to find out, but so that the one who came will say it himself. This is an ordinary rule of instruction, known to every teacher. Until a person has put into words what he wants, he does not properly know it himself: a wish left unspoken remains vague, and there is nothing to teach it.
The Vaiṣṇava side builds a whole order of instruction on this, and in the Gītā it is stated in a single verse: praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā, "by prostration, by inquiry, and by service" (4.34). Three conditions, and the second of them is paripraśna, "thorough inquiry." It is worth noting that inquiry is named there a condition on a par with prostration. That is, the pupil is required not only humility but also a question; silent reverence for the teacher is not recognized as a condition.
There is another side to this too, worth mentioning. The Gītā's famous verse is preceded by Arjuna's words, in which he openly declares himself a pupil: "I am Your pupil, instruct me, who have taken refuge in You" (2.7); and the teaching begins only after these words, though everything preceding was the same conversation. The order, then, is this: first a person names himself the asker, then receives the answer. And the question "for what did you come" is an invitation to take that first step.