Shloka 66
भवतां दिव्यवाचस्तु ता भवन्तु कथं मृषा । “साधारण मनुष्योंकी बातें तथा उनकी प्रतिज्ञाएँ तो झूठी निकल जाती हैं; परंतु तुमलोगोंके सम्बन्धमें जो दिव्य वाणियाँ हुई थीं, वे कैसे मिथ्या हो सकती हैं?,युधिछिर उवाच अतिथि: सर्वभूतानामग्नि: सोमो गवामृतम् | सनातनोअमृतो धर्मो वायु: सर्वमिदं जगत् युधिष्ठिर बोले--अग्नि समस्त प्राणियोंका अतिथि है, गौका दूध अमृत है, अविनाशी नित्य धर्म ही सनातन धर्म है और वायु यह सारा जगत् है
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca | bhavatāṃ divyavācastu tā bhavantu kathaṃ mṛṣā || yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | atithiḥ sarvabhūtānām agniḥ somo gavāmṛtam | sanātano'mṛto dharmo vāyuḥ sarvam idaṃ jagat ||
युधिष्ठिर उवाच— अतिथिः सर्वभूतानामग्निः सोमो गवामृतम् । सनातनोऽमृतो धर्मो वायुः सर्वमिदं जगत् ॥
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage contrasts fallible human speech with the reliability of ‘divine utterance’ and then frames Dharma through cosmic symbols: honoring the ‘guest’ (atithi) as sacred (Agni), valuing life-sustaining gifts (cow’s milk as amṛta), affirming Dharma as eternal and deathless, and recognizing a pervasive principle (Vāyu) that sustains the world—linking ethics with the structure of the cosmos.
Vaiśaṃpāyana, narrating the epic, raises a rhetorical question about how prophecies regarding the heroes could be false, even if ordinary vows fail. Yudhiṣṭhira responds with a set of solemn identifications—Agni as universal guest, Soma and cow’s milk as ‘nectar,’ Dharma as eternal, and Vāyu as all-pervading—articulating a worldview where moral duty is grounded in sacred, universal realities.