Shloka 6
मही महीजा: पवनो<न््तरिक्ष॑ जलौकसश्लैव जलं दिवं च । दिवौकसश्चापि यतः प्रसूता- स्तदुच्यतां मे भगवन् पुराणम्,भगवन्! पृथ्वी, पार्थिव पदार्थ, वायु, आकाश, जलजन्तु, जल, द्युलोक और देवता जिससे उत्पन्न होते हैं, वह पुरातन वस्तु क्या है? यह मुझे बताइये
bhīṣma uvāca |
mahī mahījāḥ pavano 'ntarikṣaṃ jalaukasaś caiva jalaṃ divaṃ ca |
divaukasaś cāpi yataḥ prasūtās tad ucyatāṃ me bhagavan purāṇam ||
Bhishma said: “O venerable one, from which primeval reality do the earth and all earthly things arise—wind, the mid-region (sky), the creatures that live in water, water itself, the heavenly world, and even the gods who dwell in heaven? Tell me, O Lord, what that ancient source is.”
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.