Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
क्षौमं च वस्त्रमादाय शशो जन्तु: प्रजायते । सूती वस्त्रकी चोरी करके मरा हुआ मनुष्य क्रौंच पक्षीकी योनिमें जन्म लेता है। भारत! पाटम्बर
kṣaumaṃ ca vastram ādāya śaśo jantuḥ prajāyate |
Yudhiṣṭhira berkata: “Sesiapa yang mengambil (mencuri) pakaian kṣauma akan lahir semula sebagai makhluk seumpama arnab.” Rangkap ini menegaskan prinsip etika bahawa kecurian—lebih-lebih lagi terhadap keperluan asas orang lain seperti pakaian—membawa akibat karma, yang digambarkan di sini sebagai kelahiran semula yang hina.
युधिछिर उवाच
The core teaching is that theft (especially of necessities like clothing) violates dharma and results in karmic retribution, here symbolized by rebirth into a lower animal form (hare).
Within Anuśāsana Parva’s dharma-instructions, Yudhiṣṭhira states a specific karmic consequence: stealing a kṣauma garment leads to rebirth as a hare-like creature, illustrating moral causality through concrete examples.