Shloka 21
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
कि पुनर्हन्यमानानां तरसा जीवितार्थिनाम् | अरोगाणामपापानां पापैर्मासोपजीविभि:
ki punar hanyamānānāṁ tarasā jīvitārthinām | arogāṇām apāpānāṁ pāpair māṁsopajīvibhiḥ ||
Bhishma sprach: „Wie viel mehr muss dann Furcht in denen aufsteigen, die mit Gewalt getötet werden—Wesen, die leben wollen, gesund und unschuldig—wenn sie von sündigen Menschen überwältigt und erschlagen werden, die ihren Lebensunterhalt aus Fleisch ziehen! Darum soll der Weise und Tugendhafte alle Wesen sich selbst gleich achten und zu ihrem Wohl handeln.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma underscores empathy and non-violence: a wise person should see all beings as oneself and recognize that forcibly killing innocent, healthy creatures—especially by those who profit from flesh—is a grave ethical wrong that naturally generates fear and suffering.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma. Here he argues from the reality of death-fear: if even learned people fear death, then innocent beings who are violently killed by meat-dependent sinners will fear all the more—supporting a broader exhortation toward compassion and restraint from harm.