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 |
ユディシュティラは言った。「シャーストラとイティハーサの伝承とヴェーダが説くところ——この世で罪をなす者は死後、ヤマ王の恐るべき世界へ赴く——それはまことに真実である。だが、王よ、そのヤマの世界の内にも、天界に比すべき功徳の住処がある。そこへは、虫けらなどの下劣な胎生や畜生の生を除き、徳ある動く生きものは皆、到るのである。」
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.