Shloka 18
जिसे सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंसे अभय प्राप्त है तथा जिसकी ओरसे किसी भी प्राणीको कोई भय नहीं है, उस मोहमुक्त पुरुषको किसीसे भी भय नहीं होता ।। यथा नागपदे<न्यानि पदानि पदगामिनाम् । सर्वाण्येवापिधीयन्ते पदजातानि कौज्जरे,जैसे पैरोंद्वारा चलनेवाले अन्य प्राणियोंके सम्पूर्ण पदचिह्न हाथीके पदचिह्ममें समा जाते हैं, उसी प्रकार सारा धर्म और अर्थ अहिंसाके अन्तर्भूत है। जो किसीकी हिंसा नहीं करता, वह सदा अमृत (जन्म और मृत्युके बन्धनसे मुक्त) होकर निवास करता है
vyāsa uvāca | yasya sarvabhūtebhyo 'bhayaṃ prāptaṃ yasya ca sarvabhūtebhyo na bhayaṃ bhavati, tasya mohavimuktasya puruṣasya kutaścid api na bhayaṃ bhavati || yathā nāgapade 'nyāni padāni padagāminām | sarvāṇy evāpidhīyante padjātāni kuñjare || evaṃ sarvo dharmo 'rthaś ca ahiṃsāyām antarbhavati | yo hi na hiṃsati kaṃcit sa sadā amṛto bhūtvā nivāsati ||
Vyāsa said: He from whom all beings receive fearlessness, and from whom no being has any fear—such a man, freed from delusion, has nothing to fear from anyone. Just as the footprints of all other creatures that move by feet are covered and contained within the footprint of an elephant, so too all dharma and all artha are encompassed within non-violence. One who harms no one abides ever as ‘deathless’—free from the bondage of repeated birth and death.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Non-violence (ahiṃsā) is presented as the comprehensive root of ethical life: it gathers within itself the aims of dharma (righteousness) and artha (well-being). A person who gives fearlessness to all beings, harming none, becomes inwardly fearless and moves toward ‘deathlessness’—freedom from saṃsāra.
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa delivers a moral instruction emphasizing ahiṃsā. He uses a vivid simile—other footprints disappearing within an elephant’s footprint—to argue that diverse virtues and practical goods are ultimately contained within the single principle of non-harm.