तमेतमात्मानमेतमात्मनोऽन्ववस्यति यथा श्रेष्ठिनं स्वास्तद्यथा श्रेष्ठैः स्वैर्भुङ्क्ते यथा वा श्रेष्ठिनं स्वा भुञ्जन्त्येवमेवैष प्राज्ञात्मैतैरात्मभिर्भुङ्क्ते । एवं वै तमात्मानमेत आत्मानो भुञ्जन्ति । स यावद्ध वा इन्द्र एतमात्मानं न विजज्ञे तावदेनमसुरा अभिबभूवुः । स यदा विजज्ञेऽथ हत्वासुरान्विजित्य सर्वेषां देवानां श्रैष्ठ्यं स्वाराज्यमाधिपत्यं परीयाय एवैवं विद्वान्सर्वान्पाप्मनोऽपहत्य सर्वेषां भूतानां श्रैष्ठ्यं स्वाराज्यमाधिपत्यं पर्येति य एवं वेद य एवं वेद
tametamātmānametamātmano'nvavasyati yathā śreṣṭhinaṃ svāstadyathā śreṣṭhaiḥ svairbhuṅkte yathā vā śreṣṭhinaṃ svā bhuñjantyevamevaiṣa prājñātmaitairātmabhirbhuṅkte | evaṃ vai tamātmānameta ātmāno bhuñjanti | sa yāvaddha vā indra etamātmānaṃ na vijajñe tāvadenamasurā abhibabhūvuḥ | sa yadā vijajñe'tha hatvāsurānvijitya sarveṣāṃ devānāṃ śraiṣṭhyaṃ svārājyamādhipatyaṃ parīyāya evaivaṃ vidvānsarvānpāpmano'pahatya sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ śraiṣṭhyaṃ svārājyamādhipatyaṃ paryeti ya evaṃ veda ya evaṃ veda
To this very self all these selves attend, as his people attend a headman. And as a headman feeds with his own and as his own feed the headman, so this understanding self feeds with these selves, and so these selves feed it. And as long as Indra knew not this self, so long the asuras overcame him; but when he knew it, then, having slain and conquered the asuras, he obtained supremacy over all the gods, self-rule and lordship. So too he who knows this, having struck off all taints, obtains supremacy over all beings, self-rule and lordship — who so knows, who so knows.
f9d417d13cf6 · 发布于 2026年7月29日 03:43:45 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
The conclusion of the book, and it returns to an image taken from village life.
Śreṣṭhin is a headman, the chief of a community or a guild, the one around whom his own are fed. And it is said both ways: the headman feeds with his own, and his own feed the headman. Both sides are named deliberately.
So here: “the understanding self feeds with these selves, and these selves feed it”. The senses, speech, the mind work for it — and it gives them their work. Neither does it live off them as a parasite, nor they off it; this is a common household, and the household has a head.
With this the answer to the question set in 4.18 is carried to its end. Bālāki revered sixteen puruṣas severally; he is shown that all of them are retainers of one headman, and that it is he who must be known.
Then an example is given, and the example strikes at Indra himself. As long as he did not know this self, “the asuras overcame him”; having known it, he conquered and obtained lordship. Note: he was defeated not because he was weak, but because he did not know; and he won not because he grew stronger, but because he came to know.
And the same is promised to man, only the enemies are named otherwise: not “having slain the asuras”, but “having struck off all taints”, sarvān pāpmano 'pahatya. Indra's demons turn out to be our own defects — and they are overcome by the same knowledge.
The double “who so knows, who so knows” sets the final mark. On it ends the fourth adhyāya, and with it the whole Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad — the book that began with a king questioning a priest and ended with a king showing a brāhmaṇa a sleeping man.