Shloka 116
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
इसलिये जाननेयोग्य परमात्मतत्त्वका ज्ञान वेदोंके द्वारा ही यत्नपूर्वक प्राप्त करना चाहिये; क्योंकि वह परमात्मतत्त्व वेदस्वरूप है। वेद उसका शरीर है। उस परमात्मतत्त्वको सहजभावसे प्राप्त करानेमें वेद हेतु है। यह जीवात्मा स्वयं समर्थ नहीं है; क्योंकि वह तत्त्व वेद्यका भी वेद्य है, अर्थात् जाननेमें बड़ा ही गहन है ।। वेदोक्तमायुर्देवानामाशिषश्वैव कर्मणाम् । फलत्यनुयुगं लोके प्रभावश्च शरीरिणाम्,देवताओंकी आयु और कर्मोंका शुभाशुभ फल आदि बातें वेदमें कही गयी हैं। उसके अनुसार ही देहधारियोंका प्रभाव संसारमें प्रत्येक युगमें फलित होता है
tasmāj jñeyasya paramātma-tattvasya jñānaṃ vedair eva yatnapūrvakaṃ prāptavyaṃ; yataḥ sa paramātma-tattvaṃ veda-svarūpaḥ—vedāḥ tasya śarīram. vedā eva taṃ paramātma-tattvaṃ sahajabhāvena prāpayituṃ hetavaḥ. ayaṃ jīvātmā svayaṃ na samarthaḥ; yataḥ sa tattvaṃ vedyasyāpi vedyaḥ, jñātum atigahanaḥ. vedoktam āyur devānām āśiṣaś caiva karmaṇām; phalaty anuyugaṃ loke prabhāvaś ca śarīriṇām.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: Therefore, one should strive to gain the knowledge of the Supreme Reality through the Vedas alone, for that Supreme Reality is of the very nature of the Vedas—the Vedas are, as it were, His body. The Vedas are the means by which that Supreme Reality is attained with natural ease. The individual self is not sufficient by itself, because that Reality is profoundly subtle—an object of knowledge even beyond what is ordinarily knowable. The Vedas also declare the lifespan of the gods and the blessings and results of actions; accordingly, in every age the power and fortunes of embodied beings in the world come to fruition in the manner laid down.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage asserts that realization of the Supreme Reality should be pursued through the Vedas, which are presented as the authoritative means and even the ‘body’ or manifest expression of that Reality; it also emphasizes the profound subtlety of the ultimate truth and the Vedic grounding of karma’s results across ages.
Yudhiṣṭhira is articulating a doctrinal point within the Vana Parva discourse: he explains why Vedic revelation is necessary for grasping the deepest metaphysical truth and links this to the Vedas’ statements about divine lifespan and the age-by-age fruition of karmic outcomes for embodied beings.