Yudhishthira Hears of Arjuna's Austerities
No sooner has Brihadashva left than Yudhishthira learns that Arjuna is engaged in austerities so terrible they have never been witnessed before — surviving only on air, alone in the forest like Dharma personified. Tormented by the news, Yudhishthira seeks refuge in the great forest and questions the brahmanas about what he should do.
On hearing that his beloved brother Jaya — Arjuna — was tormenting himself in the great forest through austerities, Pandava Kounteya suffered on his account.
The news struck Yudhishthira in the chest. His brother — the finest archer in the world, the one who had volunteered to go on this solitary quest to obtain divine weapons — was surviving on nothing but air. The ascetics who brought the news described his penances as fearful, so terrible that nothing like them had been witnessed before. Arjuna was living alone like a hermit, like the god Dharma personified.
Tormented in his heart, Yudhishthira sought refuge in the great forest. He questioned brahmanas who were versed in different kinds of knowledge — seeking, perhaps, to understand what his brother was doing, or what he himself should do next. The dice secrets Brihadashva had just given him were forgotten. The consolation of Nala's story was set aside. All that remained was the image of his brother, alone, starving himself, pushing his body toward something Yudhishthira could not yet see. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 375