Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 56
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
कृमिभावमनुप्राप्तो वर्षमेक॑ तु जीवति । ततस्तु निधन प्राप्तो ब्रह्मययोनौ प्रजायते
kṛmibhāvam anuprāpto varṣam ekaṃ tu jīvati | tatas tu nidhanaṃ prāpto brāhmaṇayonyāṃ prajāyate ||
कीड़े की अवस्था को प्राप्त होकर वह एक वर्ष तक जीवित रहता है। फिर मृत्यु को प्राप्त होकर वह ब्राह्मण-योनि में जन्म लेता है।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Actions bear results that can lead to degrading or elevating rebirths; even after low births (like a worm), the karmic process can culminate in a higher birth (here, brāhmaṇa-yoni), emphasizing moral causality and the possibility of eventual uplift.
Yudhiṣṭhira describes a sequence of transmigrations: the being takes birth as a worm and lives for a year; after dying, it is reborn in a brāhmaṇa womb—part of a broader account of how conduct leads to specific post-mortem destinies.