जनकः ह वैदेहः कूर्चात् उपावसर्पन् उवाच नमस् ते अस्तु याज्ञवल्क्य अनु मा शाधि इति सः ह उवाच यथा वै संराट् महान्तम् अध्वानम् एष्यन् रथम् वा नावम् वा समाददीत एवम् एव एताभिः उपनिषद्भिः समाहितात्मा असि एवम् वृन्दारकः आढ्यः सन् अधीतवेदः उक्तोपनिषत्कः इतः विमुच्यमानः क्व गमिष्यसि इति न अहम् तद् भगवन् वेद यत्र गमिष्यामि इति अथ वै ते अहम् तद् वक्ष्यामि यत्र गमिष्यसि इति ब्रवीतु भगवान् इति
janakaḥ ha vaidehaḥ kūrcāt upāvasarpan uvāca namas te astu yājñavalkya anu mā śādhi iti saḥ ha uvāca yathā vai saṃrāṭ mahāntam adhvānam eṣyan ratham vā nāvam vā samādadīta evam eva etābhiḥ upaniṣadbhiḥ samāhitātmā asi evam vṛndārakaḥ āḍhyaḥ san adhītavedaḥ uktopaniṣatkaḥ itaḥ vimucyamānaḥ kva gamiṣyasi iti na aham tad bhagavan veda yatra gamiṣyāmi iti atha vai te aham tad vakṣyāmi yatra gamiṣyasi iti bravītu bhagavān iti
Janaka of Videha, coming down from his seat, said: "Homage to you, Yājñavalkya! Instruct me." He said: "As one setting out on a long journey, your majesty, makes ready a chariot or a boat, so are you: your soul is made ready by these upaniṣads; honoured, rich, learned in the Vedas, instructed in the upaniṣads — but when you are released from here, where will you go?" — "I do not know, reverend sir, where I shall go." — "Then I shall tell you where you will go." — "Speak, reverend sir!"
0b64b8f3a419 · प्रकाशित 27 जुल॰ 2026, 1:09:40 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The scene for whose sake both the earlier ones were written: Janaka comes down from his throne (kūrcād upāvasarpan — down from the royal seat!) and bows: "instruct me" (anu mā śādhi). An all-powerful samrāṭ becomes a pupil — a second Ajātaśatru in reverse: there a king taught a brāhmaṇa, here a king bows before one; the truth does not mind which way it flows, so long as it flows through humility.
And Yājñavalkya puts the most terrible of questions: you are fitted out like a boat for a long voyage — with upaniṣads, Vedas, wealth, honour; ito vimucyamānaḥ kva gamiṣyasi — "but when you are cast off from here, where will you go?" All the rigging is there — is the port known? And the great Janaka answers as the learned rarely can: nāhaṁ tad veda — "I do not know". By that "I do not know" he buys more than by all his cows: he is now to be told where the knower goes — and the greatest instruction of the book begins.