Shloka 43
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
शास्त्र, इतिहास और वेदमें जो यह बात बतायी गयी है कि मनुष्य इस लोकमें पाप करनेपर मृत्युके पश्चात् यमराजके भयंकर लोकमें जाता है, यह सत्य ही है ।।
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | śāstre itihāse ca vede ca yad idaṃ proktaṃ yat manuṣya iha loke pāpaṃ kṛtvā mṛtyoḥ paścād yamarājasya bhayānake loke gacchati, tat satyam eva || iha sthānāni puṇyāni devatulyāni bhūpate | tiryag-yony-atiriktāni gatimanti ca sarvaśaḥ || bhūpāla! asmin yama-loke deva-loka-samāni puṇya-mayāni sthānāni santi, yatra tiryag (kīṭa-pataṅgādi) yoni-jīvān vihāya sarve puṇyātmānaḥ jaṅgamā jīvā gacchanti |
Dijo Yudhiṣṭhira: «Lo que declaran los śāstras, la tradición del Itihāsa y los Vedas—que quien peca en este mundo, tras la muerte va al pavoroso reino de Yama—es, en verdad, cierto. Sin embargo, oh rey, en ese mismo mundo de Yama existen también moradas meritorias, comparables al mundo divino. A esos destinos van todos los seres móviles de virtud, exceptuando a los nacidos en vientres de bestias y en nacimientos inferiores (como insectos y semejantes).»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms the moral causality taught by śāstra, itihāsa, and Veda: sinful actions lead after death to Yama’s fearsome realm; yet that realm also contains meritorious, deva-like abodes for the virtuous—highlighting that post-mortem experience is graded by karma, not a single uniform punishment.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king and clarifies the doctrine of Yamaloka: it is not only a place of terror for sinners but also includes auspicious stations where virtuous beings proceed, with an explicit exclusion of beings in lower animal/insect births from those particular destinations.