Shloka 21
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
कि पुनर्हन्यमानानां तरसा जीवितार्थिनाम् | अरोगाणामपापानां पापैर्मासोपजीविभि:
ki punar hanyamānānāṁ tarasā jīvitārthinām | arogāṇām apāpānāṁ pāpair māṁsopajīvibhiḥ ||
ビーシュマは言った。「それゆえ、なおさら恐れは起こるであろう——生きたいと願い、健やかで罪なき生きものが、肉を糧として生計を立てる罪深き者どもに力でねじ伏せられ、殺されるとき、どうして恐れが生じぬことがあろうか。ゆえに賢者にして徳ある者は、あらゆる生類を己と等しと見なし、その安寧のために行うべきである。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma underscores empathy and non-violence: a wise person should see all beings as oneself and recognize that forcibly killing innocent, healthy creatures—especially by those who profit from flesh—is a grave ethical wrong that naturally generates fear and suffering.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma. Here he argues from the reality of death-fear: if even learned people fear death, then innocent beings who are violently killed by meat-dependent sinners will fear all the more—supporting a broader exhortation toward compassion and restraint from harm.