उपनिषद् · Praśna 1.2
॥
देवनागरी
तान् ह स ऋषिर् उवाच ।
भूय एव तपसा ब्रह्मचर्येण श्रद्धया संवत्सरं संवत्स्यथ ।
यथाकामं प्रश्नान् पृच्छत ।
यदि विज्ञास्यामः सर्वं ह वो वक्ष्याम इति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
tān ha sa ṛṣir uvāca |
bhūya eva tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śraddhayā saṃvatsaraṃ saṃvatsyatha |
yathākāmaṃ praśnān pṛcchata |
yadi vijñāsyāmaḥ sarvaṃ ha vo vakṣyāma iti
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
तान् हtān hato them then; to them
सः ऋषिःsaḥ ṛṣiḥthat seer; this sage
उवाचuvācahe said; He spoke
भूयः एवbhūyaḥ evayet again; again
तपसाtapasāin austerity (tapas — 'heat'); by asceticism; by spiritual burning
ब्रह्मचर्येणbrahmacaryeṇain continence (brahma-carya — 'walking in Brahman'); by a student's chastity; by brahmacarya
श्रद्धयाśraddhayāin faith (śraddhā — 'the setting of the heart'); with trust in the truth; through faith
संवत्सरम्saṃvatsarama year; for the space of a year
संवत्स्यथsaṃvatsyathalive [here] (sam-√vas — 'to dwell together'); spend [a year]; stay
यथाकामम्yathākāmamas you please; at your own wish
प्रश्नान्praśnānquestions; what is asked
पृच्छतpṛcchataask; put [your questions]
यदिyadiif; when
विज्ञास्यामःvijñāsyāmaḥwe shall know (vi-√jñā, future); we shall comprehend; we shall understand
सर्वम् हsarvam haeverything then; everything indeed
वःvaḥto you; for you
वक्ष्यामः इतिvakṣyāmaḥ iti'we shall tell', thus; saying 'we shall explain'
अनुवाद
And that seer said to them: "Live [with me] one year more, in austerity, continence and faith. Then ask what you will — and if we know, we shall tell you all."
संस्करण
c6968d7d472e · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 8:35:21 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The teacher's first answer is a silence a year long. bhūya eva — "one [year] more": they came prepared as it was (brahma-niṣṭhāḥ!) — and yet: saṁvatsaraṁ saṁvatsyatha — "live here a year" in tapas, brahmacarya and śraddhā. Not because the teacher tests their patience out of severity: a question about the highest ripens together with the one who asks it, and a year of purification is not a postponement of the answer but the first half of it. A vessel is washed before it is filled.
yathākāmaṁ praśnān pṛcchata — "ask whatever you wish": behind the discipline is not drill but freedom: to a purified questioning no bounds are set. And the jewel of the verse is the humility of one who knows everything: yadi vijñāsyāmaḥ — "if we know, we shall tell all". The seer, to whom they came as to one who knows all, leaves truth the right to be greater than himself. This is the same chastity of knowledge as in Yama ("it is not easy to know this — choose another boon") and in the sixth question of this very Upaniṣad, where Sukeśā will recall a teacher who refused to lie: "I do not know."
So in two lines the whole charter of transmission is given: from the pupil, a year of life set upon the fire; from the teacher, a willingness to say everything and the honesty not to say more than he has. Upon these two supports stand all six questions that follow.