Shloka 1
सत्य–अनृत, प्रकाश–तमस्, स्वर्ग–नरक विवेचनम्
Truth and Untruth as Light and Darkness; Svarga and Naraka as Ethical Consequences
ऑपन-आक्रात बछ। >> ्र:-अ महर्षि भूगुके साथ भरद्वाज मुनिका प्रश्नोत्तर द्यशीत्याधेकशततमोब< ध्याय: भरद्वाज और भृगुके संवादमें जगत्की उत्पत्तिका और विभिन्न तत्त्वोंका वर्णन युधिछिर उवाच कुतः सृष्टमिदं विश्व जगत् स्थावरजड्रमम् । प्रलये च कमभ्येति तन्मे ब्रूहि पितामह,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--पितामह! इस सम्पूर्ण स्थावर-जंगम जगतकी उत्पत्ति कहाँसे हुई है? प्रलयकालमें यह किसमें लीन होता है? यह मुझे बताइये
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | kutaḥ sṛṣṭam idaṃ viśvaṃ jagat sthāvara-jaṅgamam | pralaye ca kam abhye ti tan me brūhi pitāmaha ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Grandfather, from what source has this entire universe—this world of the immovable and the moving—been created? And at the time of dissolution, into what does it merge? Please tell me.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a foundational philosophical inquiry: understanding the origin of all beings (moving and unmoving) and their final reabsorption at pralaya. It sets up a teaching on ultimate causes and the cyclical nature of creation and dissolution.
In the Śānti Parva dialogue, Yudhiṣṭhira respectfully asks Pitāmaha (Bhīṣma) to explain cosmological origins and the end-state of the world at dissolution, initiating a discourse on the constituents and processes of the universe.