Shloka 29
मांसपरिवर्जन-प्रशंसा (Praise of Abstention from Meat) / Ethics of Ahiṃsā in Diet and Rite
न याति नरकं घोरें संसारांश्व न सेवते । सर्वकामसमायुक्तः प्रेत्य चाप्यश्नुते सुखम्
na yāti narakaṃ ghore saṃsārāṃś ca na sevate | sarvakāmasamāyuktaḥ pretya cāpy aśnute sukham, nareśvara |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O king, the man who feeds a thousand brāhmaṇas—learned in the Veda, in justice (nyāya), in dharma, and in the traditional histories—does not fall into dreadful hell, nor does he remain bound to the cycle of worldly wandering. In this very life his desires are fulfilled, and after death he enjoys happiness in the next world.”
युधिछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Generous hospitality—especially feeding learned and virtuous brāhmaṇas—is presented as a powerful dharmic act whose fruit is both worldly fulfillment and posthumous well-being, protecting one from hellish consequences and continued bondage to saṃsāra.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king and states the spiritual and ethical reward of feeding a thousand brāhmaṇas learned in Veda, nyāya, dharma, and itihāsa, emphasizing the merit (puṇya) and auspicious afterlife results of such charity.