Shloka 39
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
पृथ्वीनाथ! यदि प्राणी इस लोकमें जन्मसे ही पुण्यकर्ममें लगा रहता है तो वह धर्मके फलका आश्रय लेकर उसके अनुसार सुख भोगता है। यदि अपनी शक्तिके अनुसार बाल्यकालसे ही धर्मका सेवन करता है तो वह मनुष्य होकर सदा सुखका अनुभव करता है ।।
pṛthvīnātha! yadi prāṇī ’smin loke janmatas eva puṇyakarmasu lagnaḥ syāt, sa dharmaphalāśrayaṃ labdhvā yathāvidhi sukhaṃ bhuṅkte. yadi ca yathāśakti bālyakālād eva dharmaṃ sevate, sa manuṣyo bhūtvā sadā sukham anubhavati. athāntarā tu dharmasyāpy adharmaṃ upasevate; sukhasyānantaraṃ duḥkhaṃ sa jīvo ’py adhigacchati.
पृथ्वीनाथ! यदि प्राणी इह लोके जन्मतः पुण्यकर्मणि रतः स्यात्, स धर्मफलमाश्रित्य तदनुरूपं सुखं भुङ्क्ते । यदि च यथाशक्ति बाल्यादेव धर्मं सेवते, स मनुष्यत्वं प्राप्य सदा सुखमनुभवति ॥ अथान्तरा तु धर्मस्याप्यधर्ममुपसेवते । सुखस्यानन्तरं दुःखं स जीवोऽप्यधिगच्छति ॥
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Consistent commitment to dharma from early life yields sustained well-being, but mixing dharma with occasional adharma disrupts that moral trajectory, bringing sorrow after happiness—an assertion of moral causality (karma) in lived experience.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king (“pṛthvīnātha”) and articulates a principle about ethical conduct: steady virtue supports happiness, whereas intermittent wrongdoing, even amid generally righteous life, leads to subsequent suffering.