Shloka 80
Adhyātma–Adhibhūta–Adhidaivata Correspondences and the Triguṇa Lakṣaṇas (Śānti-parva 301)
युधिषछिर उवाच स्थानमुत्तममासाद्य भगवन्तं स्थिरव्रता: । आजन्ममरणं वा ते स्मरन्त्युत न वानघ,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--निष्पाप पितामह! स्थिरतापूर्वक श्रेष्ठ वत्ररका पालन करनेवाले वे सांख्ययोगी महात्मा भगवान् नारायणको एवं उत्तम परमात्मपद (मोक्ष) को प्राप्त कर लेनेपर अपने जन्मसे लेकर मृत्युतकके बीते हुए वृत्तान्तको फिर कभी याद करते हैं या नहीं? (मोक्षावस्थामें विशेष-विशेष बातोंका ज्ञान रहता है या नहीं? यही मेरा प्रश्न है।) इस विषयमें जो तथ्य बात है, उसे आप यथार्थरूपसे बतानेकी कृपा करें। कुरुनन्दन! आपके सिवा दूसरे किसी पुरुषसे मैं ऐसा प्रश्न नहीं कर सकता
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca
sthānam uttamam āsādya bhagavantaṃ sthiravratāḥ |
ājanma-maraṇaṃ vā te smaranty uta na vānagha ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O sinless one, after reaching the supreme state and attaining the Blessed Lord, do those steadfast sages remember—or do they not remember—the course of their life from birth up to death? Please tell me the truth of this matter as it really is.”
युधिषछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical inquiry central to mokṣa-doctrine: whether realization of the supreme state and attainment of the Lord preserves or dissolves personal, biographical memory (from birth to death). It probes the nature of liberated consciousness—individual recollection versus transcendence of embodied identity.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Yudhiṣṭhira respectfully questions the elder teacher (addressed as “blameless”) about the post-liberation condition of disciplined sages: after attaining the highest state and the Lord, do they still remember their worldly life-history or not?