उपनिषद् · Jābāladarśana 4.50
॥
देवनागरी
आत्मतीर्थं समुत्सृज्य बहिस्तीर्थानि यो व्रजेत् । करस्थं स महारत्नं त्यक्त्वा काचं विमार्गते
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
ātmatīrthaṃ samutsṛjya bahistīrthāni yo vrajet | karasthaṃ sa mahāratnaṃ tyaktvā kācaṃ vimārgate
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
आत्म-तीर्थं समुत्सृज्यātma-tīrthaṃ samutsṛjyathe inner holy place having abandoned
बहिः-तीर्थानि यः व्रजेत्bahiḥ-tīrthāni yaḥ vrajetwho to the outer holy places would go
कर-स्थं सः महा-रत्नंkara-sthaṃ saḥ mahā-ratnaṃthat great gem, standing in his own hand
त्यक्त्वा काचं विमार्गतेtyaktvā kācaṃ vimārgatehaving thrown away, seeks a bit of glass
अनुवाद
"Whoever, having abandoned the inner holy place, goes to the outer ones, — having thrown away the great gem standing in his own hand, seeks a bit of glass."
संस्करण
58b4c1be37a7 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
A sharp and well-known comparison: to throw away a gem and search for glass. Worth examining is what it is actually aimed against, for it is easy to credit the book with saying more than it does. What is condemned is samutsrijya, "having abandoned": one who has abandoned the inner for the sake of the outer. Not one who has gone, but one who has gone instead.
This distinction matters, and we already drew it when reading the first khanda, where what was condemned was not the one who washes, but ramate, "delights," in the external (1.22). The Vaishnava side agrees fully with condemnation of this kind, and states the very same thing, even more sharply. The Bhagavatam says of a person who visits places of pilgrimage but whose senses are not restrained, that he is "a donkey, knowing only water as water and earth as earth."
It adds, however, a converse consideration, worth naming. The gem spoken of here is kara-stha, "standing in the hand" — that is, already possessed. But the person to whom the book is addressed usually does not hold it in his hand: he has only heard of it.
Hence the counsel "go nowhere, you already have everything" suits the one who says it, but may be beyond the strength of the one who hears it; and anyone who has ever advised another "just calm down, it's all within you" knows how little good it does. This is why, in its practice, the external is kept. Not because it is higher than the internal, but because a person whose inside is still empty needs something to take hold of with his hands.