Shloka 53
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
प्राक् श्वा भवति राजेन्द्र तत: क्रव्यात्तत: खर: । ततः प्रेत: परिक्लिष्ट: पश्चाज्जायति ब्राह्मण:
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | prāk śvā bhavati rājendra tataḥ kravyāttataḥ kharaḥ | tataḥ pretaḥ parikliṣṭaḥ paścāj jāyati brāhmaṇaḥ ||
Dijo Yudhiṣṭhira: «Oh rey de reyes, primero se convierte en perro; luego en un ser devorador de carne (rākṣasa); después en asno. Más tarde, tras morir y, como un preta atormentado, soportar muchos sufrimientos, nace de nuevo en un linaje de brāhmaṇa». El verso subraya la gravedad de la ofensa de un discípulo necio contra su maestro, al describir una secuencia de nacimientos degradantes y aflicción post mortem antes del retorno a un nacimiento humano (brāhmaṇa).
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disrespecting or harming one’s teacher (guru-aparādha) is a grave ethical violation with severe karmic consequences, leading to degrading births and suffering in the preta state before eventual return to human birth.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king (likely Bhīṣma’s interlocutor contextually) and states a karmic sequence: a foolish disciple who offends his teacher is reborn successively as a dog, then a flesh-eating being, then a donkey; after death he suffers as a preta, and only afterward attains birth as a brāhmaṇa.