Shloka 2
कि कार्य सर्वधर्माणां गरीयो भवतो मतम् । यथाहं परम धर्ममिह च प्रेत्य चाप्तुयाम्,सब धर्मोमें कौन-सा कार्य आपको श्रेष्ठ जान पड़ता है, जिसका अनुष्ठान करके मैं इहलोक और परलोकमें भी परम धर्मका फल प्राप्त कर सकूँ?
kiṁ kāryaṁ sarva-dharmāṇāṁ garīyo bhavato matam | yathāhaṁ paramaṁ dharmam iha ca pretya cāptuyām ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Among all duties, which course of action do you judge to be the most weighty and best? By performing it, how may I attain the highest fruit of dharma—both here in this world and after death?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a foundational ethical inquiry: among many competing duties (dharma), one should seek the most authoritative and beneficial course of action—one that yields the highest good both in worldly life and beyond death.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction setting, Yudhiṣṭhira, burdened by moral doubt after the war, asks a revered authority to identify the most important duty and the practice by which he can attain the supreme fruit of dharma in this life and the next.