The present invention aims to provide an inrush current limiting resistor for suppressing inrush current, and to avoid an excessive current flowing through the inrush current limiting resistor even if the lamp is operated at a dimmed level by mistake. A compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamp 1 is composed of a holder 20 and a case 30 attached to each other. The case 30 houses therein a lighting unit 50 for operating an arc tube 10. The lighting unit 50 is composed of a rectifier/smoothing circuit module having an electrolytic capacitor 53, an inverter circuit module, and a resonant circuit module having a resonance capacitor 54. The circuit modules are mounted on a printed wiring board 51. An inrush current limiting resistor 62 is connected to the input end of the rectifier/smoothing circuit module and in contact with the electrolytic capacitor 53 and the resonance capacitor 54 at their outer circumferential surfaces.