Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 233
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
शरीर वर्जयन्त्येते जीवितेन विवर्जितम् | महामते! त्वचा
śarīraṁ varjayanty ete jīvitena vivarjitam | mahāmate! tvacāsthi-māṁsa-śukra-śoṇitāni—etāḥ sarvā dhātavaḥ niṣprāṇa-śarīraṁ parityajanti; arthāt te śarīra-dhāriṇaṁ jīvātmānaṁ saha jahati; ekaḥ dharma eva tasya saha gacchati |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “When life departs, these constituents abandon the body. O great-minded one, skin, bone, flesh, semen, and blood—all these bodily elements forsake the lifeless frame; that is, they leave behind the embodied self. Only dharma goes with a person.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
All physical constituents fall away at death; only one’s dharma—one’s moral conduct and righteous merit—accompanies the person beyond the body. The verse urges ethical living grounded in lasting values rather than attachment to the perishable body.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira articulates a reflective point about death: the body’s tissues and fluids do not remain with the self, emphasizing that the enduring companion is dharma alone.