Shloka 59
Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha
प्राणधारणमात्रेण शकक्यं कर्तु तपस्त्वया । प्राणो हि परमो धर्म: स्थितो देहेषु देहिनाम्,प्राणधारणमात्रसे आप तप कर सकते हैं। देहधारियोंके शरीरोंमें स्थित हुआ प्राण ही परम धर्म है
prāṇadhāraṇamātreṇa śakyaṃ kartuṃ tapas tvayā | prāṇo hi paramo dharmaḥ sthito deheṣu dehinām ||
息子は言った。「ただ生命の息を保つだけで、あなたは苦行を成し得ます。生命気（プラーナ）そのもの—身をもつ者たちの身体に宿るそれ—こそが、最上のダルマなのです。」
पुत्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Preserving one’s life-breath is presented as the highest dharma, because all duties and spiritual practices (including tapas) depend upon being alive; sustaining prāṇa is thus the foundational ethical obligation.
A son addresses someone engaged in or considering austerity, emphasizing that even the basic act of maintaining the life-breath counts as a meaningful discipline and that prāṇa, present in all embodied beings, is paramount.