Shloka 9
मांसभक्षण-दोषाः तथा अहिंसाया माहात्म्यम् | Faults of Meat-Consumption and the Supremacy of Ahiṃsā
प्रत्याख्याने च दाने च सुखदुःखे प्रियाप्रिये आत्मौपम्येन पुरुष: प्रमाणमधिगच्छति
pratyākhyāne ca dāne ca sukhaduḥkhe priyāpriye ātmaupamyena puruṣaḥ pramāṇam adhigacchati
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Whether in refusing or in giving, in causing happiness or sorrow, and in doing what is pleasing or displeasing, a person arrives at the right measure by comparing others with oneself—understanding that others feel joy and grief just as one does.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ethical judgment should be guided by ātmaupamya—placing oneself in another’s position. Since others experience pleasure and pain as we do, one should measure actions like giving, refusing, pleasing, or displeasing by that empathetic standard.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira articulates a practical criterion for right conduct: when deciding how to treat others—especially in matters of requests, gifts, and interpersonal harm or benefit—one should use self-comparison to discern the proper course.