Shloka 65
यक्ष उवाच को35तिथि: सर्वभूतानां किंस्विद् धर्म सनातनम् | अमृतं किंस्विद् राजेन्द्र किंस्वित् सर्वमिदं जगत्,यक्षने पूछा--राजेन्द्र! समस्त प्राणियोंका अतिथि कौन है? सनातन धर्म कया है? अमृत क्या है? और यह सारा जगत् क्या है?
yakṣa uvāca | ko ’tithiḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ kiṃsvid dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ | amṛtaṃ kiṃsvid rājendra kiṃsvid sarvam idaṃ jagat |
यक्ष म्हणाला—राजेंद्र! सर्व प्राण्यांचा अतिथी कोण? सनातन धर्म काय? अमृत काय म्हणतात? आणि हे सर्व जगत् खरे तर काय आहे?
यक्ष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a set of foundational ethical and metaphysical inquiries: universal hospitality (atithi), the nature of eternal Dharma, the meaning of true ‘immortality’ (amṛta), and the ontological status of the world (jagat). It prepares the listener for answers that connect right conduct with insight into life’s impermanence and the deeper reality sustaining it.
In the Yaksha–Prashna episode of the Vana Parva, the Yaksha interrogates the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) with probing questions. This verse is one cluster of those questions, testing his understanding of duty, hospitality, life’s highest good, and the nature of the world before granting boons and restoring what has been lost.