Shloka 67
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
तत्र जीवति वर्षाणि दश पञ्च च भारत | दुष्कृतस्य क्षयं कृत्वा ततो जायति मानुष:,भारत! कीड़ेकी योनिमें वह पंद्रह वर्षोतकफ जीवित रहता है और अपने पापोंका क्षय करके अन्तमें मनुष्य-योनिमें जन्म लेता है
tatra jīvati varṣāṇi daśa pañca ca bhārata | duṣkṛtasya kṣayaṃ kṛtvā tato jāyati mānuṣaḥ ||
ഓ ഭാരതാ! അവിടെ അത് പതിനഞ്ചു വർഷം ജീവിക്കുന്നു; ദുഷ്കൃത്യങ്ങളുടെ ശേഷഫലം ക്ഷയിപ്പിച്ച് ഒടുവിൽ വീണ്ടും മനുഷ്യയോണിയിൽ ജനിക്കുന്നു.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches karmic retribution and purification: a being experiences a fixed term in a lower birth, thereby exhausting (kṣaya) the results of past wrongdoing (duṣkṛta), and only after that can it attain human birth again—implying that human life is a renewed opportunity for dharmic choice.
Yudhiṣṭhira states a specific karmic outcome: in that particular non-human condition the being lives for fifteen years, and after the sinful residue is spent, it is reborn as a human. The statement functions as part of a broader ethical discourse on the fruits of actions and the pathways of rebirth.