|
42.Yaksha's questions
The Yaksha asked: "What is higher than
the sky?"
Yudhishthira replied: "The father."
The Yaksha asked: "What is fleeter than
wind?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Mind."
The Yaksha asked: "What is more
blighted than withered straw?"
Yudhishthira replied: "A sorrow-stricken
heart."
The Yaksha asked: "What befriends a
traveller?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Learning."
The Yaksha asked: "Who is the friend of
one who stays at home?"
Yudhishthira replied: "The wife."
The Yaksha asked: "Who accompanies a
man in death?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Dharma. That
alone accompanies the soul in its solitary
journey after death."
The Yaksha asked: "Which is the biggest
vessel?"
Yudhishthira replied: "The earth, which
contains all within itself is the greatest
vessel."
The Yaksha asked: "What is happiness?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Happiness is the
result of good conduct."
The Yaksha asked: "What is that,
abandoning which man becomes loved by
all?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Pride, for
abandoning that man will be loved by all."
The Yaksha asked: "What is the loss
which yields joy and not sorrow?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Anger, giving it up,
we will no longer subject to sorrow."
The Yaksha asked: "What is that, by
giving up which, man becomes rich?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Desire, getting rid
of it, man becomes wealthy."
The Yaksha asked: "What makes one a
real brahmana? Is it birth, good conduct or
learning? Answer decisively."
Yudhishthira replied: "Birth and learning
do not make one a brahmana. Good
conduct alone does. However learned a
person may be he will not be a brahmana
if he is a slave to bad habits. Even though
he may be learned in the four Vedas, a
man of bad conduct falls to a lower class."
The Yaksha asked: "What is the greatest
wonder in the world?"
Yudhishthira replied: "Every day, men see
creatures depart to Yama's abode and yet,
those who remain seek to live forever.
This verily is the greatest wonder."
Thus, the Yaksha posed many questions
and Yudhishthira answered them all.
In the end the Yaksha asked: "O king, one
of your dead brothers can now be revived.
Whom do you want revived? He shall
come back to life."
Yudhishthira thought for a moment and
then replied: "May the cloudcomplexioned,
lotus-eyed,broad-chested and long-armed
Nakula, lying like a fallen
ebony tree, arise."
The Yaksha was pleased at this and asked
Yudhishthira: "Why did you choose
Nakula in preference to Bhima who has
the strength of sixteen thousand
elephants? I have heard that Bhima is
most dear to you. And why not Arjuna,
whose prowess in arms is your protection?
Tell me why you chose Nakula rather than
either of these two."
Yudhishthira replied: "O Yaksha, dharma
is the only shield of man and not Bhima or
Arjuna. If dharma is set at naught, man
will be ruined.
|
|