Shloka 39
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
पृथ्वीनाथ! यदि प्राणी इस लोकमें जन्मसे ही पुण्यकर्ममें लगा रहता है तो वह धर्मके फलका आश्रय लेकर उसके अनुसार सुख भोगता है। यदि अपनी शक्तिके अनुसार बाल्यकालसे ही धर्मका सेवन करता है तो वह मनुष्य होकर सदा सुखका अनुभव करता है ।।
pṛthvīnātha! yadi prāṇī ’smin loke janmatas eva puṇyakarmasu lagnaḥ syāt, sa dharmaphalāśrayaṃ labdhvā yathāvidhi sukhaṃ bhuṅkte. yadi ca yathāśakti bālyakālād eva dharmaṃ sevate, sa manuṣyo bhūtvā sadā sukham anubhavati. athāntarā tu dharmasyāpy adharmaṃ upasevate; sukhasyānantaraṃ duḥkhaṃ sa jīvo ’py adhigacchati.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O lord of the earth! If a living being, from birth itself in this world, remains devoted to meritorious action, then taking refuge in the fruits of dharma he enjoys happiness in accordance with it. If, according to his capacity, he practices dharma from childhood, he lives as a human being with a continual experience of well-being. But if, in the midst of dharma, he sometimes resorts to adharma, then after happiness that very being also comes to experience sorrow.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Consistent commitment to dharma from early life yields sustained well-being, but mixing dharma with occasional adharma disrupts that moral trajectory, bringing sorrow after happiness—an assertion of moral causality (karma) in lived experience.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king (“pṛthvīnātha”) and articulates a principle about ethical conduct: steady virtue supports happiness, whereas intermittent wrongdoing, even amid generally righteous life, leads to subsequent suffering.