Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 110
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
अधर्मस्य क्षयं गत्वा ततो जायति मानुष: । चोरयित्वा पयश्चापि बलाका सम्प्रजायते,फिर अधर्मका क्षय हो जानेपर वह मनुष्यका जन्म पाता है। दूध चुरानेवाली स्त्री बगुली होती है
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
adharmasya kṣayaṃ gatvā tato jāyati mānuṣaḥ |
corayitvā payaś cāpi balākā samprajāyate ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “When the residue of one’s unrighteousness is exhausted, one is then born again as a human being. And even for the act of stealing milk, the offender is reborn as a balākā (a crane/heron).”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches karmic causality: specific unethical actions (adharma), even seemingly minor ones like stealing milk, bear corresponding consequences in future births; when the force of accumulated adharma is exhausted, a return to human birth becomes possible.
In a didactic exchange within the Anuśāsana Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira voices a moral observation about the mechanics of karmic retribution and rebirth, illustrating it with the example that stealing milk can lead to rebirth as a balākā (crane/heron).