उपनिषद् · Kauṣītaki 4.4
॥
देवनागरी
स होवाच बालाकिर्य एवैष विद्युति पुरुषस्तमेवाहमुपास इति तं होवाचाजातशत्रुर्मा मैतस्मिन्समवादयिष्ठास्तेजस आत्मेति वा अहमेतमुपास इति स यो हैतमेवमुपास्ते तेजस आत्मा भवति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
sa hovāca bālākirya evaiṣa vidyuti puruṣastamevāhamupāsa iti taṃ hovācājātaśatrurmā maitasminsamavādayiṣṭhāstejasa ātmeti vā ahametamupāsa iti sa yo haitamevamupāste tejasa ātmā bhavati
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
सः ह उवाच बालाकिःsaḥ ha uvāca bālākiḥBālāki said; spoke Bālāki
यः एव एषः विद्युति पुरुषःyaḥ eva eṣaḥ vidyuti puruṣaḥ“the puruṣa who is in the lightning”; “the person who is in the flash”
तम् एव अहम् उपासे इतिtam eva aham upāse iti“him I revere”; “precisely him I worship”
तम् ह उवाच अजातशत्रुःtam ha uvāca ajātaśatruḥAjātaśatru said to him; that Ajātaśatru replied
मा मा एतस्मिन् समवादयिष्ठाःmā mā etasmin samavādayiṣṭhāḥ“do not draw me into talk of him”; “do not make me discourse of him”
तेजसः आत्मा इतिtejasaḥ ātmā iti“the self of radiance”; “the essence of heat and lustre”
वै अहम् एतम् उपासे इतिvai aham etam upāse iti“so do I revere him”; “thus I worship him”
सः यः ह एतम्saḥ yaḥ ha etamand he who him; the one who him
एवम् उपास्तेevam upāsteso reveres; worships thus
तेजसः आत्मा भवतिtejasaḥ ātmā bhavatibecomes the self of radiance; is made the essence of lustre
अनुवाद
Bālāki said: “The puruṣa who is in the lightning — him I revere.” Ajātaśatru said to him: “Do not draw me into talk of him! I revere him as the self of radiance.” And he who so reveres him becomes the self of radiance.
संस्करण
330facad39f3 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:43:45 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The third pointing is to the lightning, and the correction names it with the word tejas.
Tejas in the śāstras means at once heat, lustre, keenness, and that force which in a man we call “inner fire”: authority, daring, what shows in the eyes. Lightning is its purest appearance in the outer world: instantaneous, blinding, screened by nothing.
Bālāki reveres the flash in the sky; the king names that of which this flash is the manifestation. And hence the fruit — to become “the self of radiance”: not to flash once, but to be that from which the lustre proceeds.
Note that in the second adhyāya, in the analysis of the “dying-around”, the lightning stood in the same chain: the fire hands its heat to the sun, the sun to the moon, the moon to the lightning, the lightning to the wind. There it was a link of transmission; here it is named that which is transmitted.