Shloka 35
Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)
ज्ञेया: प्रकृतयोडष्टौ ता यासु लोका: प्रतिष्ठिता: । वेदवेदाडसंयुक्तान् यज्ञान् यज्ञाड्संयुतान्
jñeyāḥ prakṛtayo 'ṣṭau tā yāsu lokāḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥ | vedavedāṅgasaṃyuktān yajñān yajñāṅgasaṃyutān |
Vaiśampāyana said: “One should understand the eight fundamental constituents of Nature, upon which all worlds are established. For the sustenance of living beings in all the worlds, the Grandsire Brahmā brought forth sacrificial rites—endowed with the Vedas and their auxiliary disciplines, and furnished with the proper limbs of sacrifice. From these eight constituents, this entire universe has arisen.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse grounds the universe in an ordered set of eight primordial constituents (prakṛtis) and links cosmic stability to Vedic order: the Vedas, their auxiliaries, and properly constituted sacrifice (yajña) are presented as instruments for sustaining life and maintaining the worlds.
Vaiśampāyana continues an instructive discourse in Śānti Parva, explaining cosmological principles: the worlds rest upon eight basic constituents, and Brahmā (as Grandsire) establishes Veda-informed sacrificial systems to support the ongoing life and functioning of the cosmos.