Shloka 32
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
त्रातारं नाधिगच्छन्ति रौद्रा: प्राणिविहिंसका: । उद्वेजनीया भूतानां यथा व्यालमृगास्तथा
trātāraṃ nādhigacchanti raudrāḥ prāṇivihiṃsakāḥ | udvejanīyā bhūtānāṃ yathā vyālamṛgās tathā ||
Bhishma said: “Cruel people who harm living beings find no protector. Like wild beasts that become objects of fear to creatures, so too do those who injure life become a cause of terror to all beings (in the hereafter), and they themselves find no refuge or guardian.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
One who harms living beings becomes fearsome to others and, by the moral law of karma, loses the possibility of protection or refuge; cruelty ultimately leaves a person unsupported.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma (Anushasana Parva), he warns about the ethical and karmic fallout of violence toward creatures, using the analogy of wild beasts that inspire fear and receive no protection.