उपनिषद् · Praśna 3.2
॥
देवनागरी
तस्मै स होवाच ।
अतिप्रश्नान् पृच्छसि ।
ब्रह्मिष्ठो ऽसीति ।
तस्मात् ते ऽहं ब्रवीमि
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
tasmai sa hovāca |
atipraśnān pṛcchasi |
brahmiṣṭho 'sīti |
tasmāt te 'haṃ bravīmi
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
तस्मै सः ह उवाचtasmai saḥ ha uvācato him he said; the seer answered him
अतिप्रश्नान्atipraśnānquestions beyond [the ordinary] (ati-praśna — 'over-question'); transcendent questions; questions about the hidden
पृच्छसिpṛcchasiyou ask; you put [them]
ब्रह्मिष्ठः असि इतिbrahmiṣṭhaḥ asi itiyou are wholly bent upon Brahman; you are deeply devoted to Brahman
तस्मात्tasmāttherefore; for that reason
तेteto you; for you
अहम्ahamI; I myself
ब्रवीमिbravīmiI shall tell (from √brū); I shall declare; I shall utter
अनुवाद
He said to him: "You ask questions beyond [ordinary] questions! You are truly devoted to Brahman; therefore I shall tell you."
संस्करण
936c3424817d · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 8:35:21 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
atipraśnān pṛcchasi — "you ask over-questions": an atipraśna is a question that steps beyond (ati-) the usual measure of curiosity, a question about the roots of roots. The teacher does not frown upon the boldness — he rejoices in it: the depth of a question is the passport of the depth of the one who asks.
brahmiṣṭho 'si — "you are most devoted to Brahman" (a superlative of brahma-niṣṭha, the word from the Upaniṣad's first verse): tasmāt te 'haṁ bravīmi — "therefore I shall tell you". The logic of transmission is plain: the hidden is unlocked not by sharpness of mind but by the direction of a life; Pippalāda answers not "the clever man" but "the man standing in Brahman". The Kaṭha put the same law negatively: "it is not attained by exposition, nor by intellect" — but by the one firm in truth, satya-dhṛti.
A short verse — yet in it the whole etiquette of knowledge: the pupil earns his answer by his question and by his life; the teacher, before opening a mystery, names the ground on which he opens it. Nothing in the handing on of the sacred happens "just so" — and that is why what is handed on stays alive.