Shloka 216
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
बुद्धिरात्मा च सहिता धर्म पश्यन्ति नित्यदा | बृहस्पतिजीने कहा--धर्मराज! पृथ्वी, जल, अग्नि, वायु, आकाश, मन, यम, बुद्धि और आत्मा--ये सब सदा एक साथ मनुष्यके धर्मपर दृष्टि रखते हैं
buddhir ātmā ca sahitā dharma paśyanti nityadā |
Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Verstand (buddhi) und Selbst (ātman), miteinander vereint, schauen unablässig auf das Dharma eines Menschen.“ In der begleitenden Unterweisung erklärt Bṛhaspati dem Dharmarāja, dass die Elemente und inneren Vermögen—Erde, Wasser, Feuer, Wind, Raum, Geist, Yama, Verstand und Selbst—als beständige Zeugen dastehen und fortwährend den Wandel des Menschen in der Rechtschaffenheit beobachten.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is never private: one’s own intellect and inner Self, along with cosmic and moral forces, continually witness conduct. This frames ethical life as accountability before both inner conscience and universal order.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on righteous living, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks, and the discourse (attributed here to Bṛhaspati) emphasizes that the elements and inner faculties—culminating in buddhi and ātman—observe human actions, urging steadfast adherence to dharma.