Shloka 6
प्रजापतयः देवगणाश्च दिशि-दिशि स्थिताः ऋषयः
Prajāpatis, Deva-Groups, and the Ṛṣis Assigned to the Directions
मही महीजा: पवनो<न््तरिक्ष॑ जलौकसश्लैव जलं दिवं च । दिवौकसश्चापि यतः प्रसूता- स्तदुच्यतां मे भगवन् पुराणम्
bhīṣma uvāca |
mahī mahījāḥ pavano 'ntarikṣaṃ jalaukasaś caiva jalaṃ divaṃ ca |
divaukasaś cāpi yataḥ prasūtās tad ucyatāṃ me bhagavan purāṇam ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „O Ehrwürdiger, aus welcher uranfänglichen Wirklichkeit entstehen die Erde und alles Irdische—der Wind, die Zwischenregion (der Himmel), die im Wasser lebenden Wesen, das Wasser selbst, die Himmelswelt und sogar die Götter, die im Himmel wohnen? Sage mir, o Herr, was dieser alte Ursprung ist.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical inquiry into the single primordial source from which all elements, worlds, and beings arise, setting up a teaching on first principles (the ultimate cause behind the manifest cosmos).
Bhishma, in instruction mode during the Shanti Parva, asks a revered teacher to identify the ancient, original reality from which earth, atmosphere, water, heaven, and the gods themselves are said to originate.