Shloka 12
Akṣara–Kṣara Viveka: Vasiṣṭha–Karāla-Janaka Saṃvāda (अक्षर-क्षर विवेकः)
अज्ञानात् तु कृतां हिंसामहिंसा व्यपकर्षति । ब्राह्मणा: शास्त्रनिर्देशादित्याहुर्बग्रह्मयवादिन:
ajñānāt tu kṛtāṃ hiṃsām ahiṃsā vyapakarṣati | brāhmaṇāḥ śāstra-nirdeśād ity āhur brahma-vādinaḥ |
Parāśara sprach: Gewalt (hiṃsā), die aus Unwissenheit begangen wird, wird durch die Befolgung des Gelübdes der ahiṃsā (Nichtverletzung) getilgt. So erklären es, den Weisungen der Schriften gemäß, die Brahmanenweisen, die von Brahman sprechen.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral accountability depends on intention: harm done unknowingly can be cleansed through the discipline of ahiṃsā and related expiatory conduct, as taught by śāstra; deliberate violence is ethically heavier and is not annulled merely by adopting a vow afterward.
In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Parāśara instructs on the ethics of non-violence and expiation, citing the consensus of scripturally grounded Brahmin sages about how unintentional harm may be remedied.