Shloka 5
न याति च स तेजस्वी मध्येन नभस: कथम् | एतदिच्छामि विज्ञातुं नेखिलेन पितामह,पितामह! देवर्षि उशना हैं तो बड़े तेजस्वी; परंतु वे आकाशके बीचसे होकर क्यों नहीं जाते? इन सब बातोंको मैं पूर्णरूपसे जानना चाहता हूँ
na yāti ca sa tejasvī madhyena nabhasaḥ katham | etad icchāmi vijñātuṃ nekhilena pitāmaha pitāmaha ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “How is it that that radiant one does not pass through the very middle of the sky? Grandfather, I wish to understand this matter completely—tell me in full.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the dhārmic method of learning: sincere inquiry and the desire to know a subject ‘in full’ (akhilena) from a qualified elder-teacher. Ethical understanding is presented as something to be sought carefully, not assumed.
In the Śānti Parva dialogue, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Bhīṣma as ‘Pitāmaha’ and asks for a complete explanation of a cosmological point: why a certain radiant sage (contextually Uśanā) does not travel through the middle of the sky.