Shloka 60
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
पुत्रस्य मातापितरौ यस्य रुष्टात्रुभावपि । गुर्वपध्यानत: सो5पि मृतो जायति गर्दभ:,जिस पुत्रके ऊपर माता और पिता दोनों ही रष्ट होते हैं, वह गुरुजनोंके अनिष्टचिन्तनके कारण मृत्युके बाद गदहा होता है
putrasya mātāpitarau yasya ruṣṭau dhruvabhāvau api | gurv-apadhyānataḥ so 'pi mṛto jāyati gardabhaḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: Even if a man’s father and mother are firmly angered with their son, then—because of the ill-wishing (or hostile thought) of revered elders—after death that son is reborn as a donkey. The passage underscores the grave ethical consequence of incurring the displeasure of parents and elders and of becoming the object of their malediction or harmful intent.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disrespecting or grievously offending one’s parents and venerable elders is a serious breach of dharma, and that becoming the target of their ill-wishing (apadhyāna) can lead to painful karmic consequences, symbolized here by rebirth as a donkey.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Yudhiṣṭhira voices a moral maxim linking familial and elder relationships to karmic outcomes: a son who incurs the settled anger of mother and father, along with elders’ hostile intent, is said to meet an ignoble rebirth.