Shloka 68
यक्षने पूछा--अकेला कौन विचरता है? एक बार उत्पन्न होकर पुन: कौन उत्पन्न होता है? शीतकी ओषधि क्या है? और महान् आवपन (क्षेत्र) क्या है? ।।
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | sūrya eko vicarate candramā jāyate punaḥ | agnir himasya bhaiṣajyaṁ bhūmir āvāpanaṁ mahat ||
युधिष्ठिर उवाच— सूर्य एको विचरते चन्द्रमा जायते पुनः । अग्निर्हिमस्य भैषज्यं भूमिरावपनं महत् ॥
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses natural images to express order and meaning: the sun’s solitary path suggests steadfast duty; the moon’s repeated ‘birth’ points to cyclical renewal; fire as a remedy highlights practical wisdom; and earth as the great field of sowing evokes karma—actions planted in the world yield results in due time.
In the Yakṣa’s riddle-dialogue episode of the Vana Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira responds to a set of questions. Here he answers four: who wanders alone (the sun), who is born again after being born once (the moon), what cures cold (fire), and what is the great ‘sowing-field’ (the earth).