Shloka 3
Dvaipāyana–Kīṭa Saṃvāda: Karmic Memory, Fear of Death, and Embodied Pleasure
कर्मणा मनुज: कुर्वन् हिंसां पार्थिवसत्तम | वाचा च मनसा चैव कथं दु:खात् प्रमुच्यते
karmāṇā manuṣaḥ kurvan hiṁsāṁ pārthiva-sattama | vācā ca manasā caiva kathaṁ duḥkhāt pramucyate ||
Yudhiṣṭhira dit : «Ô le meilleur des rois, si un homme commet la violence par ses actes—et aussi par sa parole, et même par sa pensée—comment pourrait-il être délivré de la souffrance qu’une telle violence entraîne ?»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral principle: violence is not only physical but also verbal and mental, and such harm generates suffering. Liberation from that suffering requires abandoning hiṁsā at all three levels—deed, speech, and intention.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s dharma-discourse setting, Yudhiṣṭhira questions an authority figure, emphasizing that Vedic tradition praises ahiṁsā. He asks how a person who persists in violence through body, speech, and mind could possibly escape the resulting misery.