यक्ष उवाच को मोह: प्रोच्यते राजन् कश्च मान: प्रकीर्तित: । किमालस्यं च विज्ञेयं कक्ष शोक: प्रकीर्तितः:,यक्षने पूछा--राजन्! मोह किसे कहते हैं? मान क्या कहलाता है? आलस्य किसे जानना चाहिये? और शोक किसे कहते हैं?
yakṣa uvāca: ko mohaḥ procyate rājan kaś ca mānaḥ prakīrtitaḥ | kim ālasyam ca vijñeyaṃ kaś ca śokaḥ prakīrtitaḥ ||
ယက္ခက မေးလေ၏ — «အို မင်းကြီး၊ မောဟ (delusion) ဟူသည် အဘယ်နည်း။ မာန (pride) ဟူသည် အဘယ်နည်း။ အာလသျ (laziness) ဟူသည် မည်သို့နားလည်ရမည်နည်း။ ထို့ပြင် သောက (grief) ဟူသည် အဘယ်နည်း»
यक्ष उवाच
The verse frames an ethical inquiry: it asks for clear definitions of inner faults—delusion, pride, laziness, and grief—so that a ruler (and any seeker of dharma) can recognize and overcome them through discernment and right conduct.
In the Yakṣa–praśna episode of the Vana Parva, the Yakṣa questions the king in a sequence of moral and philosophical riddles. Here, the Yakṣa asks the king to define four mental states that obstruct dharma and wise action.