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 ||
Yudhiṣṭhira đáp: “Mặt Trời đi một mình. Mặt Trăng, đã sinh một lần, lại sinh lần nữa. Lửa là phương thuốc trị lạnh. Và Đất là cánh đồng gieo vĩ đại.”
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).