Shloka 11
अहिंसाया: फल रूप॑ दीक्षाया जन्म वै कुले । फलमूलाशिनां राज्यं स्वर्ग: पर्णाशिनां भवेत्
ahiṃsāyāḥ phala-rūpaṃ dīkṣāyā janma vai kule | phala-mūlāśināṃ rājyaṃ svargaḥ parṇāśināṃ bhavet ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “Initiation undertaken in the form of non-violence bears fruit as birth in a noble lineage. For those who live on fruits and roots, the reward is sovereignty; for those who subsist on leaves, the reward becomes heaven.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse maps specific ascetic disciplines to corresponding karmic fruits: non-violence as a consecrated vow yields elevated birth; increasingly austere dietary restraints are said to yield increasingly exalted rewards (sovereignty and heaven). It emphasizes that ethical restraint and tapas are causally efficacious within dharma.
Vaiśaṃpāyana continues a didactic passage in the Anuśāsana Parva, enumerating the outcomes (phala) of vows and ascetic practices. The focus is not on battlefield events but on instruction about dharma, merit, and the graded results of self-restraint.