Shloka 72
यक्षने पूछा--मनुष्यकी आत्मा क्या है? इसका दैवकृत सखा कौन है? इसका उपजीवन (जीवनका सहारा) क्या है? और इसका परम आश्रय क्या है? ।। युधिछिर उवाच पुत्र आत्मा मनुष्यस्य भार्या दैवकृतः सखा | उपजीवनं च पर्जन्यो दानमस्य परायणम्,युधिष्ठिर बोले--पुत्र मनुष्यकी आत्मा है, स्त्री इसकी दैवकृत सहचरी है, मेघ उपजीवन है और दान इसका परम आश्रय है
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | putra ātmā manuṣyasya bhāryā daivakṛtaḥ sakhā | upajīvanaṃ ca parjanyo dānam asya parāyaṇam ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “A son is a man’s very self; a wife is the companion ordained by fate. Rain-bearing clouds are his means of livelihood, and generosity is his highest refuge.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Human flourishing rests on four supports: continuity and identity through a son (putra as ‘ātmā’), companionship through a wife as fate-ordained partner, material sustenance through rain (the foundation of agrarian life), and the deepest security through dāna—generosity, which is presented as the highest refuge in dharma.
In the Yakṣa-praśna episode of the Vana Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira answers a series of probing questions posed by a Yakṣa. Here he responds by defining what counts as a person’s ‘self,’ companion, livelihood, and ultimate refuge—framing practical life and moral life together.