The Story
In the forest during their exile, the four younger Pandava brothers went to fetch water from a lake. None returned. When Yudhishthira arrived at the lake, he found his brothers lying unconscious. A voice spoke from the waters:
Yaksha: I am the Yaksha who dwells in this lake. Your brothers ignored my warning and took water without answering my questions. Answer my questions correctly, and you may take water and revive your brothers. Refuse, and you too shall fall.
Yudhishthira: Ask your questions, O Yaksha. I shall answer to the best of my ability.
The Questions and Answers
Yaksha: What makes the sun rise?
Yudhishthira: Brahman makes the sun rise.
Yaksha: What causes the sun to set?
Yudhishthira: Dharma (righteousness) causes it to set.
Yaksha: Who are the companions of a traveler?
Yudhishthira: Learning is the companion of a traveler.
Yaksha: Who welcomes one at home?
Yudhishthira: The wife is the companion at home.
Yaksha: Who accompanies one in death?
Yudhishthira: Dharma alone accompanies one in death.
The Most Wonderful Thing
Yaksha: What is the most wonderful thing in this world?
Yudhishthira: Day after day, countless beings go to the abode of Yama (Death), yet those who remain believe they will live forever. What could be more wonderful than this?
Yaksha: What is the path?
Yudhishthira: Arguments cannot show the path. The scriptures are many and contradictory. There is not even one great sage whose opinion is authoritative. The secret of dharma is hidden in a cave. Therefore, the path is that which the great ones have walked.
Yaksha: What is real learning?
Yudhishthira: True learning is that which leads to liberation from suffering.
On Knowledge and Ignorance
Yaksha: What is ignorance?
Yudhishthira: Not knowing one’s dharma is ignorance.
Yaksha: What is pride?
Yudhishthira: Claiming to know what one does not know is pride.
Yaksha: What is silence?
Yudhishthira: Silence is the control of speech - speaking only what is true, beneficial, and timely.
Yaksha: What is rest?
Yudhishthira: Rest is the withdrawal of the mind from all objects of sense.
Yaksha: What is charity?
Yudhishthira: Protecting all beings is the highest charity.
On Happiness and Enemy
Yaksha: Who is happy?
Yudhishthira: One who is free from debt, who does not live away from home, and who can eat simple food at the end of the day - such a person is happy.
But truly, one who has conquered the six enemies within (desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride, and jealousy) is the happiest.
Yaksha: What is the greatest wonder?
Yudhishthira: Each day, death strikes, yet the living act as if they were immortal. This is the greatest wonder.
Yaksha: Who is truly wealthy?
Yudhishthira: One to whom the pleasant and unpleasant, past and future, life and death are the same - that person alone is truly wealthy.
Yaksha: Who is truly alive?
Yudhishthira: One who performs dharma (righteousness) is truly alive. Wealth, friends, family, and even breath do not make one alive. Only dharma gives true life.
The Nature of Brahmana (The Realized One)
Yaksha: What makes one a Brahmana (a knower of Brahman) - birth, learning, or conduct?
Yudhishthira: Not birth. A Brahmana may be born in any family. Not learning alone, for learning without conduct is mere vanity. It is conduct - righteous conduct, truthfulness, self-control, compassion, and wisdom - that makes one a Brahmana.
Yaksha: What is heavier than the earth?
Yudhishthira: A mother is heavier than the earth.
Yaksha: What is higher than the sky?
Yudhishthira: The father is higher than the sky.
Yaksha: What is swifter than the wind?
Yudhishthira: The mind is swifter than the wind.
Yaksha: What is more numerous than grass?
Yudhishthira: Thoughts are more numerous than blades of grass.
On Suffering and Liberation
Yaksha: What enemy is invincible?
Yudhishthira: Anger is the invincible enemy.
Yaksha: What is the disease that never ends?
Yudhishthira: Greed is the disease that never ends.
Yaksha: Who is a good person?
Yudhishthira: One who desires the well-being of all creatures is a good person.
Yaksha: What is that, which when renounced, makes one beloved?
Yudhishthira: Pride - when renounced, makes one beloved.
Yaksha: What is that, which when renounced, makes one wealthy?
Yudhishthira: Desire - when renounced, makes one wealthy.
Yaksha: What is that, which when renounced, makes one happy?
Yudhishthira: Greed - when renounced, makes one happy.
The Supreme Questions
Yaksha: What is the news?
Yudhishthira: This world is like a cooking pot. The sun is the fire. Day and night are the fuel. The seasons do the stirring. Time is the cook. All beings are the food. This is the news.
Yaksha: Who is the guest that must be honored?
Yudhishthira: The guest who arrives unexpectedly must be honored with food and respect before one eats oneself.
Yaksha: What is the supreme refuge?
Yudhishthira: Charity is the supreme refuge in this world. Charity surpasses all sacrifices and rituals.
Yaksha: What is true renunciation?
Yudhishthira: Renunciation of desire is true renunciation.
The Final Test
After Yudhishthira answered all questions perfectly, the Yaksha spoke:
Yaksha: You have answered well. You may revive one of your brothers. Choose.
Yudhishthira: Let Nakula live.
Yaksha: Why Nakula? Why not Bhima or Arjuna, who are more powerful and dear to you?
Yudhishthira: My father Pandu had two wives - Kunti and Madri. Kunti has me alive. Let Madri also have a son alive. Therefore, let Nakula, the son of Madri, live. Dharma must be equal.
Yaksha: (Revealing himself as Yama, Yudhishthira’s divine father) Well answered, my son! For your adherence to dharma and your impartiality, all your brothers shall live. Your commitment to righteousness, even when tested, proves you are worthy to be king.
Essential Teachings from the Dialogue
On Dharma: Dharma (righteousness) is the only companion in death. It is the foundation of life, more important than power, wealth, or even family bonds.
On Wisdom: True wisdom is not mere learning but the knowledge that leads to liberation from suffering. The path is not found in arguments but in following the footsteps of the realized ones.
On Wonder: The greatest wonder is that everyone sees others die, yet lives as if immortal. This is the fundamental ignorance.
On Wealth: True wealth is not material. One who has conquered inner enemies and remains equal in pleasure and pain is truly wealthy.
On Life: Life is not breath or biological existence. One who lives righteously, who performs dharma, is truly alive.
On Equality: Even in choosing which brother to revive, Yudhishthira chose impartially, honoring both mothers equally. This is the mark of true wisdom.
“What is more wonderful than this: that every day, beings enter the temple of death, yet those who remain believe they will live forever?”
— Yudhishthira to the Yaksha, Mahabharata
The Yaksha Prashna (Questions of the Yaksha) is one of the most celebrated episodes in the Mahabharata, demonstrating that true knowledge is not intellectual cleverness but wisdom grounded in dharma, compassion, and discrimination.