Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 22
Kīṭopākhyāna: Prajā-pālana as Kṣatra-vrata and the Attainment of Brāhmaṇya
नात्मनो<स्ति प्रियतर: पृथिवीमनुसृत्य ह । तस्मात् प्राणिषु सर्वेषु दयावानात्मवान् भवेत्
bhīṣma uvāca | nātmano 'sti priyataraḥ pṛthivīm anusṛtya ha | tasmāt prāṇiṣu sarveṣu dayāvān ātmavān bhavet ||
Bhishma said: “In this world, nothing is dearer to a person than one’s own self. Therefore, one should be compassionate toward all living beings and live with self-mastery, regarding others as one’s own self.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Since everyone values their own self above all, one should extend that same concern to all beings—cultivating compassion (dayā) and self-mastery (ātmavat), treating others as oneself.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he grounds ethical conduct in a universal psychological truth—self-love—and derives from it the duty of compassion toward all living creatures.