Many of the questions that followed were repetitions of earlier questions and concepts and do not bear repetition. The questions based on new concepts are discussed below.
Cosmology
The Yaksha asked:
With what is the world enveloped?
What is that, owing to which a thing cannot discover itself?
What has been spoken of as water?
The first two questions may well be asked in the physics class today. Yudhishthir’s reply to the first question was that the world is enveloped with darkness. The darkness is the natural state of the universe. Stars, like our sun, light up a small portion of it. Any student of physics will say that we can see an object only when light falling on it is reflected and reaches us. There for if there is no light and object cannot be seen. This leads to Yudhishthir’s answer to the second question, “Darkness does not permit a thing to show itself.”
After the universe is destroyed each time the entire space is filled with water. Hence Yudhishthir answered that the space has been spoken of as water.
Varnashram
The Yaksha asked:
What has been said to be the sign of asceticism?
By what, O king, birth, behavior, study, or learning doth a person become a Brahmin?
Yudhishthir’s answer to the first question seems unusual. He said that following one’s duty is a sign of asceticism. Perhaps the word asceticism has been incorrectly used. Hindu philosophy lays out a person’s duty based on the “Varnashram” concept. Varna is caste and the different castes had different social functions to perform. Also family duties depended on the ashram or stage of life. Hence a true ascetic was one who followed his delineated duty. In the Grahasta ashram for example a person is expected to lead a satisfying married life, enjoy material pleasures and provide for his family. This is against the normal meaning of asceticism, which implies forsaking all material comforts.
The caste system as it exists today is hereditary. However it was not always so. At one time it was a social classification based on merit and achievement. Therefore Yudhishthir categorically rules out birth being the criterion for being a Brahmin. He also rules out study and learning because these are of no use if the behavior is not suitable. If a person learned in the scriptures is addicted to wicked habits then he is no better than an illiterate wretch.
Hell
The Yaksha asked:
Who is he that is condemned to everlasting hell?
There are two concepts of after life in Hinduism. One is of immediate rebirth based on karma. This theory does not support the existence of heaven or hell as expounded in Christianity. There is another school of thought that believes in heaven and hell and after death the person spends some time in heaven or hell, depending on his conduct, before being reborn. In the extreme case the person escapes rebirth and lives permanently in heaven or hell. It is this second concept that is being referred to here. Yudhishthir replies that following persons are condemned to everlasting hell: the persons who calls a poor Brahmin promising him a gift and then says that they have nothing to give; the persons who deny the sanctity of the scriptures, the Gods and the sacrifices and the persons who possess wealth but neither donate anything to the needy nor use it themselves.
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