उपनिषद् · Varāha 3.25
॥
देवनागरी
यथा सुनिपुणः सम्यक् परदोषेक्षणे रतः । तथा चेन्निपुणः स्वेषु को न मुच्येत बन्धनात्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
yathā sunipuṇaḥ samyak paradoṣekṣaṇe rataḥ | tathā cennipuṇaḥ sveṣu ko na mucyeta bandhanāt
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
यथा सु-निपुणः सम्यक्yathā su-nipuṇaḥ samyakas one very skilled, fully
पर-दोष-ईक्षणे रतःpara-doṣa-īkṣaṇe rataḥdevoted to examining others' faults
तथा चेत् निपुणः स्वेषुtathā cet nipuṇaḥ sveṣuif [he were] so skilled in his own
कः न मुच्येत बन्धनात्kaḥ na mucyeta bandhanātwho would not be freed from bondage?
अनुवाद
"As one is very skilled and fully devoted to examining others' faults — if he were so skilled in his own, who would not be freed from bondage?"
संस्करण
16432b87aaf5 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here is a second argument of the same cast as verse thirteen, and no worse than the first. In examining others' faults, a person is skilled: he sees them instantly, remembers them long, distinguishes nuances, and knows how to explain their cause. This is a genuine skill, requiring attention, memory, and perceptiveness.
And it is said: apply that same skill to yourself, and nothing more is needed. The argument, like the previous one, strikes at the allocation of capacities, not their lack; and the two verses together are, in my view, the finest passage in the whole book for sobriety. Let us add what deserves saying of the very structure of this skillfulness.
Another's fault is visible because one looks from outside; one's own is invisible because one looks from within. And hence intention alone is not enough here: someone is needed who looks from outside and speaks. Here lies, by Vaishnava reckoning, the ground for two customs discussed more than once.
The first — the teacher, whose very task is to say the unpleasant. The second — company, where sad-goshthi, "conversation with the honest," discussed when reading the Krishna Upanishad (2.15): in company one's true self is more visible, for there one deals with people, not with one's own opinion of oneself. Hence a teaching that sends a person into solitude deprives him of exactly the mirror he lacks.