Shloka 12
Dvaipāyana–Kīṭa Saṃvāda: Karmic Memory, Fear of Death, and Embodied Pleasure
पितृमातृसमायोगे पुत्रत्वं जायते यथा । हिंसां कृत्वावश: पापो भूयिष्ठं जायते तथा
pitṛmātṛsamāyoge putratvaṃ jāyate yathā | hiṃsāṃ kṛtvāvaśaḥ pāpo bhūyiṣṭhaṃ jāyate tathā ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Sebagaimana status sebagai anak lahir daripada penyatuan bapa dan ibu, demikian juga seorang lelaki berdosa yang telah melakukan kekerasan akan dipaksa tanpa daya untuk lahir semula berulang-ulang kali—dan paling kerap dalam rahim yang berdosa.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Violence (hiṃsā) generates powerful negative karma: once a person commits harm, he becomes compelled by its consequences to undergo repeated births, frequently in degraded or sinful conditions. The verse frames this as a causal certainty, like biological birth from parents.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and conduct. Here he uses an analogy—parental union producing a child—to stress the inevitability of karmic results from हिंसा, warning against harmful actions.