Shloka 11
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
गच्छन्त्यमुत्र लोक॑ वै क एनमनुगच्छति । युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--भगवन्! आप सम्पूर्ण धर्मोके ज्ञाता और सब शास्त्रोंके विद्वान हैं; अतः बताइये
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: Gacchanty amutra lokaṃ vai ka enam anugacchati? Pitā mātā putro guruḥ sajātīya-sambandhī mitrādayaś ca—eteṣāṃ madhye manuṣyasya satyaḥ sahāyakaḥ kaḥ? Yadā sarve mṛtaṃ śarīraṃ kāṣṭha-loṣṭra-samam utsṛjya gacchanti, tadā asya jīvasya saha paraloke kaḥ gacchati? Bṛhaspatir uvāca: Ekaḥ prasūyate rājann eka eva vinaśyati.
Yudhiṣṭhira demanda : « Quand on s’en va vers l’autre monde, qui le suit véritablement ? Parmi le père, la mère, le fils, le maître, les parents de sa propre lignée et les amis, qui est l’aide réelle de l’homme ? Car lorsque tous abandonnent le corps mort comme s’il n’était qu’un morceau de bois ou une motte de terre et s’en vont, qui accompagne cet être vivant dans l’au-delà ? » Bṛhaspati répondit : « Ô roi, on naît seul, et seul aussi l’on rencontre sa fin. »
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage stresses existential aloneness at birth and death: social relations cannot literally accompany one beyond death. The implied ethical lesson is that one’s true ‘companion’ is one’s own conduct—especially dharma and karma—since these shape one’s fate in the next world, not external attachments.
Yudhiṣṭhira questions Bṛhaspati about who truly helps a person after death, noting that even close relatives abandon the corpse. Bṛhaspati answers with a stark maxim: a person is born alone and dies alone, redirecting attention from worldly dependence to inner responsibility and righteous action.