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 ||
虫の身となって一年を生き、ついで死に至れば、婆羅門（brāhmaṇa）の胎に生まれ直す。この段は、業の報いの理と、卑しい転生を経たのちにもなお上昇の道が残されることを示している。
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.