स तं होवाच साधु पृष्टं सर्वं निवेदयामि यथाज्ञातमिति । पुनः स तमुवाच कुतस्त्वया ज्ञातमिति । पुनः स तमुवाच षडाननादिति । पुनः स तमुवाच तेनाथ कुतो ज्ञातमिति । पुनः स तमुवाच तेनेशानादिति । पुनः स तमुवाच कथं तस्मात्तेन ज्ञातमिति । पुनः स तमुवाच तदुपासनादिति
sa taṃ hovāca sādhu pṛṣṭaṃ sarvaṃ nivedayāmi yathājñātamiti | punaḥ sa tamuvāca kutastvayā jñātamiti | punaḥ sa tamuvāca ṣaḍānanāditi | punaḥ sa tamuvāca tenātha kuto jñātamiti | punaḥ sa tamuvāca teneśānāditi | punaḥ sa tamuvāca kathaṃ tasmāttena jñātamiti | punaḥ sa tamuvāca tadupāsanāditi
“He said to him: ‘well asked; I shall relate all as it was known to me.’ — ‘Whence was it known to you?’ — ‘From the Six-Faced.’ — ‘And whence was it known to him?’ — ‘By him — from Īśāna.’ — ‘How was it known to him from Him?’ — ‘By worshipping Him.’”
4683c05d837f · 发布于 2026年8月12日 05:00:00 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
Here is an excellent exchange, and its structure deserves examination, for it is, to my mind, the best thing in this book. The teacher says he will relate yathā-jñātam, “as it was known” — that is, not on his own authority. The pupil at once asks: whence was it known? Answer: from ṣaḍ-ānana, “the Six-Faced,” that is, from Skanda-Kārttikeya, the son of Śiva.
The pupil is not satisfied and asks further: and whence did he know it? Answer: from Īśāna, that is, from Śiva. And a third question, the most important of all: how did he know it from Him?
Answer: tad-upāsanāt, “by worshipping Him.” Weigh what is achieved here. The chain is traced back not to a book and not to reasoning, but to worship: the final link turns out to be not “I read it” and not “I reasoned it out,” but “I served, and thereby I knew.”
The Vaiṣṇava side stands on this as on nothing else, and its rule was cited reading Varāha (2.2): tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā, “know this by bowing down, by inquiry, and by service” (Gītā 4.34). Note that the pupil here performs exactly the middle of the three: he inquires, and inquires persistently, three times running. And let us add something else worth holding onto: this persistence is not counted as impertinence.
The teacher did not say “do not ask”; he answered three times and only then set out the teaching. Inquiry is thus a part of obedience, not opposed to it; and that paripraśna stands between bowing and service was discussed reading Śāṭyāyanīya (35).