Shloka 85
युधिष्ठिर बोले--दरिद्र पुरुष मरा हुआ है यानी मरे हुएके समान है, बिना राजाका राज्य मर जाता है यानी नष्ट हो जाता है, श्रोत्रिय ब्राह्मणके बिना श्राद्ध मृत हो जाता है और बिना दक्षिणाका यज्ञ नष्ट हो जाता है ।। यक्ष उवाच का दिक् किमुदकं प्रोक्त किमन्नं किं च वै विषम् | श्राद्धस्य कालमाख्याहि तत: पिब हरस्व च,यक्षने पूछा--दिशा क्या है? जल क्या है? अन्न क्या है? विष क्या है? और श्राद्धका समय क्या है? यह बताओ। इसके बाद जल पीओ और ले भी जाओ
yakṣa uvāca | dik kiṃ udakaṃ proktaṃ kim annaṃ kiṃ ca vai viṣam | śrāddhasya kālam ākhyāhi tataḥ piba harasva ca ||
The Yaksha said: “What is called a ‘direction’? What is ‘water’? What is ‘food’? And what indeed is ‘poison’? Tell me also the proper time for performing the śrāddha rites. Then you may drink—and you may take the water away as well.”
यक्ष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames dharma as discernment: knowing true orientation (dik), what genuinely sustains (anna), what purifies and supports life (udaka), what harms (viṣa), and observing right timing in rites (śrāddha-kāla). Knowledge is presented as the condition for rightful enjoyment and entitlement (only after answering may one drink).
At the lake where the Pāṇḍavas have been struck down for ignoring a warning, the Yaksha tests Yudhiṣṭhira with defining questions. This verse contains the Yaksha’s prompt: answer these conceptual and ritual questions, and only then may Yudhiṣṭhira drink the water and take it.