Shloka 39
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
खरीदनेवाला धनके द्वारा, खानेवाला उपभोगके द्वारा और घातक वध एवं बन्धनके द्वारा पशुओंकी हिंसा करता है। इस प्रकार यह तीन तरहसे प्राणियोंका वध होता है ।।
akḥādann anumodaṁś ca bhāva-doṣeṇa mānavaḥ | yo 'numodati hanyantaṁ so 'pi doṣeṇa lipyate ||
Bhīṣma said: “The buyer harms creatures through money; the eater through consumption and enjoyment; and the killer through slaying and binding. Thus the taking of life is threefold. Even one who does not eat flesh, if he approves of the eater, is tainted—through the fault of intention—by the sin of meat-eating. Likewise, whoever approves of the act of killing is stained by the fault of violence.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral culpability is not limited to the person who performs violence or eats meat; approving, consenting to, or encouraging such acts also creates ethical taint (doṣa), because intention and endorsement (anumodana) bind one to the act’s karma.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma. Here he emphasizes the ethics of non-violence and the breadth of responsibility: even indirect participation—through approval—implicates a person in the wrongdoing.