Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 57
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
यदि पुत्रसमं शिष्य॑ गुरुहन्यादकारणे । आत्मन: कामकारेण सोऊपि हिंस्र: प्रजायते
yadi putrasamaṁ śiṣyaṁ gurur hanyād akāraṇe | ātmanaḥ kāmakāreṇa so 'pi hiṁsraḥ prajāyate ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: If a teacher, driven by his own whim and desire, were to kill a disciple who is like a son, and without any just cause, then that teacher too becomes a violent man. Authority does not sanctify cruelty: even a guru incurs moral blame when he acts from selfish impulse rather than dharma.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even a guru is not above dharma: killing a disciple without just cause, out of personal desire or whim, makes the teacher culpable and morally ‘violent’. Legitimate authority cannot excuse adharma.
Yudhiṣṭhira is articulating an ethical principle within the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on right conduct: he frames a conditional case about a guru harming a disciple to clarify that unjustified violence—especially by one entrusted with care—corrupts the doer.