Śuka’s Manifestation from the Araṇi (Āraṇeya-janma) — शुकजन्म (आरणेय-सम्भव)
देवा: पितृणां च सुता देवैलोका: समावृता: । चराचरा नरश्रेष्ठ इत्येवमनुशुश्रुम
devāḥ pitṝṇāṃ ca sutā devalokāḥ samāvṛtāḥ | carācarā naraśreṣṭha ityevam anuśuśruma ||
याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच—देवाः पितॄणां च सुता देवैलोकाः समावृताः। चराचरं नरश्रेष्ठ, इत्येवमनुशुश्रुम॥
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
The verse presents a traditional cosmological-ritual view: the Pitṛs (ancestral Fathers) are foundational, with even the gods described as their offspring, and the divine realms and all beings (moving and unmoving) understood as encompassed within this overarching ancestral order.
Yājñavalkya is instructing his listener (addressed as ‘best of men’) by citing received tradition (“we have heard thus”), summarizing a doctrine about the origin and inclusion of gods, worlds, and all creation in relation to the Pitṛs.