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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.8
॥
Devanāgarī
वेदान्ताः के रघुश्रेष्ठ वर्तन्ते कुत्र ते वद । हनूमञ्छृणु वक्ष्यामि वेदान्तस्थितिमञ्जसा
Transliteration (IAST)
vedāntāḥ ke raghuśreṣṭha vartante kutra te vada | hanūmañchṛṇu vakṣyāmi vedāntasthitimañjasā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वेदान्ताः के रघु-श्रेष्ठvedāntāḥ ke raghu-śreṣṭha"what are the vedāntas, best of the Raghus
वर्तन्ते कुत्र ते वदvartante kutra te vadawhere do they abide, tell me"
हनूमन् शृणु वक्ष्यामिhanūman śṛṇu vakṣyāmi"Hanumān, listen, I shall tell"
वेदान्त-स्थितिम् अञ्जसाvedānta-sthitim añjasāthe standing of vedānta plainly
Translation
«“What are the vedāntas, best of the Raghus? Where do they abide? Tell me”. — “Hanumān, listen: I shall tell plainly of the standing of vedānta…»
Version
e662697d6bec · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting that Hanumān asks two questions, not one: ke, «what are they», and kutra vartante, «where do they abide». The second question is unusual and worth stating. He asks about the place of the teaching: where it is found.
This question seems strange until one recalls that in ancient times a teaching did not lie in books: it lived in people and in the branches of tradition. And the answer will be given precisely on this: vedānta abides in the Vedas, as oil in sesame (1.9), and the Vedas are the breath of Viṣṇu. That is, the question «where» is answered not by a place but by an origin; and this, I think, is the exact answer: the teaching is found where it came from.
Add the word añjasā, «plainly, without evasion». It means «straightforwardly», and Rāma keeps this promise: the verses that follow will be short and businesslike — how many Vedas, how many branches, how many upaniṣads. Add too what is worth noting in the very course of the dialogue, for it is exemplary in this book.
Hanumān is not satisfied with the first answer: told «take refuge in vedānta», he at once asks what this is and where. This persistence was noted at Jābāli (2), where it was said that questioning is part of obedience, not opposed to it; here it shows even more clearly.