Shloka 41
कपिल–स्यूमरश्मि संवादः
Kapila and Syūmaraśmi on Renunciation, Householder Support, and Epistemic Authority
तानि जीवानि वक्रीय का मृतेषु विचारणा । पाँच इन्द्रियोंवाले समस्त प्राणियोंमें सूर्य, चन्द्र, वायु, ब्रह्मा, प्राण, यज्ञ और यमराज-- इन सब देवताओंका निवास है, जो उन्हें जीते-जी बेचकर जीविका चलाते हैं, उन्हें अधर्मकी प्राप्ति होती है। फिर मृत जीवोंका विक्रय करनेवालोंके विषयमें तो कहा ही क्या जाय? ।।
tulādhāra uvāca | tāni jīvāni vakrīyā kā mṛteṣu vicāraṇā | pañcendriyavāle samasta-prāṇiṣu sūrya-candra-vāyu-brahmā-prāṇa-yajña-yamarāja—eteṣāṃ sarvadevatānāṃ nivāsaḥ | ye tān jīvatāṃ vikrīya jīvikāṃ calayanti teṣām adharmaprāptiḥ | punaḥ mṛta-jīvānāṃ vikrayakartṝṇāṃ viṣaye tu kiṃ vaktavyam || ajoḍan-nirvaruṇo meṣaḥ sūryo’śvaḥ pṛthivī virāṭ ||
Tulādhāra said: “If selling living creatures already brings moral fault, what need is there to deliberate about those that are dead? In all beings endowed with the five senses dwell the divine powers—Sun, Moon, Wind, Brahmā, prāṇa (the vital breath), Sacrifice (yajña), and Yama. Those who sustain their livelihood by selling such living beings fall into adharma; what then can be said about those who trade in dead creatures?” (A brief, cryptic list follows: “the goat… the ram… Varuṇa… the sun as a horse… the earth as Virāṭ.”)
तुलाधार उवाच
Educational Q&A
Trading in sentient life for profit is condemned as adharma because five-sensed beings are treated as abodes of divine principles; if selling the living is blameworthy, selling the dead is even more so.
In the Śānti Parva’s ethical instruction, Tulādhāra continues advising on righteous conduct and livelihood, arguing against commerce that harms or commodifies living creatures, grounding the point in a theology of deities dwelling within beings.