उपनिषद् · Rudrākṣajābāla 3p5
॥
देवनागरी
अथ कालाग्निरुद्रः प्रोवाच । रुद्रस्य नयनादुत्पन्ना रुद्राक्षा इति लोके ख्यायन्ते
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
atha kālāgnirudraḥ provāca | rudrasya nayanādutpannā rudrākṣā iti loke khyāyante
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अथ कालाग्निरुद्रः प्रोवाचatha kālāgnirudraḥ provācaand now Kālāgnirudra said
रुद्रस्य नयनात् उत्पन्नाःrudrasya nayanāt utpannāḥfrom the eye of Rudra arose
रुद्राक्षाः इति लोके ख्यायन्तेrudrākṣāḥ iti loke khyāyantethe rudrākṣas — so it is said in the world
अनुवाद
And now Kālāgnirudra said: from the eye of Rudra the rudrākṣas arose — so it is said in the world.
संस्करण
584fa3477bde · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The answer opens with a turn of phrase worth noting: iti loke khyāyante, "so it is said in the world." Loka means "world, people"; khyāyante, "are called, are known as." Together this means: so it is said.
This phrase is a reference to common talk, not to knowledge, and the speaker makes the reference himself. He could have said "it is so" — and instead said "so it is said"; and in the very next line he will give another explanation, his own. It is worth pausing on this, for such honesty is not common in books of this kind. The teacher distinguishes common opinion from what he says himself, and does not pass off the first as the second.
The Vaiṣṇava side raises this distinction to a rule and ranks testimonies by strength. Śruti, "the heard," stands above smṛti, "the remembered"; smṛti above purāṇa; and all of this above lokācāra, "worldly custom." Common talk stands at the very bottom and carries no decisive weight.
This rule, applied to the present day, has lost none of its force. A vast part of what people take for the teaching of their faith is common talk: customs, superstitions, and sayings found in no book; and telling them apart from the teaching is work everyone must do for himself.