अतत्त्वज्ञमनादेयवचनं वाग्विदां वर । यः पृच्छति नरं तस्मान्नाऽस्ति मूढतरोऽपरः ॥ ४५ ॥
atattvajñamanādēyavacanaṁ vāgvidāṁ vara | yaḥ pṛcchati naraṁ tasmānnā’sti mūḍhatarō’paraḥ || 45 ||
Translation
Best of speakers, one who questions a person who does not know the truth and whose words are not worth taking up: there is no one more deluded than he.
Word by word
- atattvajñam
- a person who does not know the truth
- anādēya
- not worth taking up
- vacanaṁ
- whose words
- vāgvidāṁ
- of speakers
- vara
- best
- yaḥ
- one who
- pṛcchati
- questions
- naraṁ
- a person
- tasmān
- (tasmāt) than he
- na
- no
- asti
- there is
- mūḍhatarō
- (mūḍhataraḥ) more deluded
- aparaḥ
- other
Meaning
The first of the warnings. The blame falls on the one who asks. Asking the wrong person is taken as a serious failure, because all that follows depends on it. In an age when anybody can be consulted about anything, the verse has lost none of its force.