Shloka 10
Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)
किं च ब्रह्मा च रुद्रश्न शक्रश्न बलभित् प्रभु:
kiṁ ca brahmā ca rudraś ca śakraś ca balabhit prabhuḥ | sūryaḥ tārāpatiś candraḥ vāyur agnir varuṇaḥ kham pṛthivī ca ye cāvaśiṣṭā devāḥ proktāḥ te sarve kim paramātmanā racitaṁ svaṁ mokṣamārgaṁ na jānanti | yena niścalaṁ kṣayaśūnyaṁ cāvināśi mārgaṁ nāśrayanti ||
ジャナメージャヤは言った。「では、ブラフマー、ルドラ、釈迦（インドラ）—バラを討った大いなる力の主—そしてスーリヤ。さらに星々の主たるソーマ（月）、ヴァーユ、アグニ、ヴァルナ、また虚空と大地、そして語られた他の神々は皆、至上の自己が彼ら自身の解脱のために造った解脱の道を知らぬのか。ゆえにこそ、揺るがず、衰えず、滅びぬその道に帰依しないのか。」
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even the highest cosmic powers and deities are questioned in relation to liberation: true mokṣa depends on knowing and taking refuge in the imperishable path grounded in the Paramātman, not merely on status, power, or cosmic function.
In the Śānti Parva’s discourse on liberation, King Janamejaya presses the teacher by asking whether major gods—Brahmā, Rudra, Indra and others—know the Supreme Self’s path to mokṣa, and if not, why they do not resort to that steady, undecaying, imperishable way.