Shloka 6
भীমेन युधिष्ठिरस्य त्यागवृत्तेः प्रतिषेधः
Bhīma’s Rebuttal of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Renunciatory Inclination
प्राणस्यान्नमिदं सर्वमिति वै कवयो विदु: । स्थावरं जड़म॑ चैव सर्व प्राणस्य भोजनम्,विद्वान् पुरुष कहते हैं कि यह सब कुछ प्राणका अन्न है, स्थावर और जड़म सारा जगत् प्राणका भोजन है
prāṇasyānnam idaṃ sarvam iti vai kavayo viduḥ | sthāvaraṃ jaḍaṃ caiva sarvaṃ prāṇasya bhojanam ||
Bhīma disse: “Os sábios declaram que tudo isto é alimento do prāṇa (o sopro vital). Tudo no mundo—seja imóvel ou inerte—acaba por se tornar nutrição para o prāṇa.”
भीम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames prāṇa (vital life-force) as the fundamental consumer and sustainer: the entire world, even inert and immobile matter, is ultimately ‘food’ for life. Ethically, it points to interdependence—living beings persist by drawing sustenance from the world—and invites reflection on restraint and responsibility in consumption.
Bhīma speaks in the Śānti Parva’s reflective setting, where the discourse turns from war to peace, duty, and deeper principles. Here he cites what ‘the sages know’ to support a philosophical point about prāṇa and the dependence of embodied life on the whole of creation.