Shloka 3
दान-धर्म-आश्रमविधानम्
Dana, Dharma, and the Four Āśramas
यत् प्राण: सर्वभूतानां वर्थन्ते येन च प्रजा: । परित्यक्ताश्न नश्यन्ति तेनेदं सर्वमावृतम्
bharadvāja uvāca | yat prāṇaḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ vartante yena ca prajāḥ | parityaktāś ca naśyanti tenedaṁ sarvam āvṛtam ||
婆罗陀婆阇说道：“凭此而一切众生之命息得以维持，凭此而族类与群生得以增长；离此则众生灭亡。由此原则，整个世界皆被遍满、包覆。”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the fundamental support of life and social flourishing is that which sustains prāṇa—understood here as water. Because deprivation leads to destruction, protecting and ensuring access to life-sustaining resources becomes an ethical duty within dharma.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Bharadvāja speaks in a didactic tone, explaining a universal principle: all beings live by a sustaining factor, communities grow by it, and without it they perish—thereby emphasizing the all-pervading importance of water (as clarified by the accompanying gloss).