Shloka 3
कर्मणा मनुज: कुर्वन् हिंसां पार्थिवसत्तम | वाचा च मनसा चैव कथं दु:खात् प्रमुच्यते,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--महामते! देवता, ऋषि और ब्राह्मण वैदिक प्रमाणके अनुसार सदा अहिंसा-धर्मकी प्रशंसा किया करते हैं। अतः नृपश्रेष्ठ! मैं पूछता हूँ कि मन, वाणी और क्रियासे भी हिंसाका ही आचरण करनेवाला मनुष्य किस प्रकार उसके दुःखसे छुटकारा पा सकता है?
karmāṇā manuṣaḥ kurvan hiṁsāṁ pārthiva-sattama | vācā ca manasā caiva kathaṁ duḥkhāt pramucyate ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O best of kings, if a man commits violence through his actions—and also through his speech and even his mind—how can he ever be released from the suffering that such violence brings?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral principle: violence is not only physical but also verbal and mental, and such harm generates suffering. Liberation from that suffering requires abandoning hiṁsā at all three levels—deed, speech, and intention.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s dharma-discourse setting, Yudhiṣṭhira questions an authority figure, emphasizing that Vedic tradition praises ahiṁsā. He asks how a person who persists in violence through body, speech, and mind could possibly escape the resulting misery.