Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 37
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
यो हि खादति मांसानि प्राणिनां जीवितैषिणाम् । हतानां वा मृतानां वा यथा हन्ता तथैव सः:
yo hi khādati māṁsāni prāṇināṁ jīvitaiṣiṇām | hatānāṁ vā mṛtānāṁ vā yathā hantā tathaiva saḥ ||
ਜੋ ਜੀਊਣ ਦੀ ਇੱਛਾ ਰੱਖਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਜੀਵਾਂ ਦਾ ਮਾਸ—ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਮਾਰ ਕੇ ਜਾਂ ਉਹ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਮਰ ਜਾਣ ਤਾਂ ਵੀ—ਖਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਵੀ ਹੱਤਿਆਰੇ ਦੇ ਸਮਾਨ ਹੀ ਮੰਨਿਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that moral responsibility for violence extends beyond the physical act of killing: consuming meat makes one complicit in the harm to living beings, so the eater is ethically treated as a killer.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and right conduct. Here he addresses the ethics of meat-eating, asserting that eating flesh—whether from animals one kills or animals found dead—still carries the stigma and consequence of killing.