Shloka 66
भवतां दिव्यवाचस्तु ता भवन्तु कथं मृषा । “साधारण मनुष्योंकी बातें तथा उनकी प्रतिज्ञाएँ तो झूठी निकल जाती हैं; परंतु तुमलोगोंके सम्बन्धमें जो दिव्य वाणियाँ हुई थीं
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca | bhavatāṃ divyavācastu tā bhavantu kathaṃ mṛṣā || yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | atithiḥ sarvabhūtānām agniḥ somo gavāmṛtam | sanātano'mṛto dharmo vāyuḥ sarvam idaṃ jagat ||
যুধিষ্ঠির বললেন—অগ্নি সকল প্রাণীর অতিথি; গাভীর দুধই অমৃত; অবিনশ্বর ও নিত্য ধর্মই সনাতন ধর্ম; আর বায়ুই এই সমগ্র জগৎ—সর্বত্র ব্যাপ্ত।
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage contrasts fallible human speech with the reliability of ‘divine utterance’ and then frames Dharma through cosmic symbols: honoring the ‘guest’ (atithi) as sacred (Agni), valuing life-sustaining gifts (cow’s milk as amṛta), affirming Dharma as eternal and deathless, and recognizing a pervasive principle (Vāyu) that sustains the world—linking ethics with the structure of the cosmos.
Vaiśaṃpāyana, narrating the epic, raises a rhetorical question about how prophecies regarding the heroes could be false, even if ordinary vows fail. Yudhiṣṭhira responds with a set of solemn identifications—Agni as universal guest, Soma and cow’s milk as ‘nectar,’ Dharma as eternal, and Vāyu as all-pervading—articulating a worldview where moral duty is grounded in sacred, universal realities.