Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 11
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
गच्छन्त्यमुत्र लोक॑ वै क एनमनुगच्छति । युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--भगवन्! आप सम्पूर्ण धर्मोके ज्ञाता और सब शास्त्रोंके विद्वान हैं; अतः बताइये
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: Gacchanty amutra lokaṃ vai ka enam anugacchati? Pitā mātā putro guruḥ sajātīya-sambandhī mitrādayaś ca—eteṣāṃ madhye manuṣyasya satyaḥ sahāyakaḥ kaḥ? Yadā sarve mṛtaṃ śarīraṃ kāṣṭha-loṣṭra-samam utsṛjya gacchanti, tadā asya jīvasya saha paraloke kaḥ gacchati? Bṛhaspatir uvāca: Ekaḥ prasūyate rājann eka eva vinaśyati.
Yudhiṣṭhira asked: “When one departs to the other world, who truly follows him there? Among father, mother, son, teacher, kinsmen of one’s own community, and friends—who is the real helper of a person? For when all abandon the dead body as if it were mere wood or a clod of earth and go away, who accompanies this living self to the next world?” Bṛhaspati replied: “O king, one is born alone, and one alone meets one’s end.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage stresses existential aloneness at birth and death: social relations cannot literally accompany one beyond death. The implied ethical lesson is that one’s true ‘companion’ is one’s own conduct—especially dharma and karma—since these shape one’s fate in the next world, not external attachments.
Yudhiṣṭhira questions Bṛhaspati about who truly helps a person after death, noting that even close relatives abandon the corpse. Bṛhaspati answers with a stark maxim: a person is born alone and dies alone, redirecting attention from worldly dependence to inner responsibility and righteous action.