Shloka 56
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
कृमिभावमनुप्राप्तो वर्षमेक॑ तु जीवति । ततस्तु निधन प्राप्तो ब्रह्मययोनौ प्रजायते
kṛmibhāvam anuprāpto varṣam ekaṃ tu jīvati | tatas tu nidhanaṃ prāpto brāhmaṇayonyāṃ prajāyate ||
कृमिभावमनुप्राप्तो वर्षमेकं तु जीवति । ततस्तु निधनं प्राप्तो ब्राह्मण्योनौ प्रजायते ॥
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Actions bear results that can lead to degrading or elevating rebirths; even after low births (like a worm), the karmic process can culminate in a higher birth (here, brāhmaṇa-yoni), emphasizing moral causality and the possibility of eventual uplift.
Yudhiṣṭhira describes a sequence of transmigrations: the being takes birth as a worm and lives for a year; after dying, it is reborn in a brāhmaṇa womb—part of a broader account of how conduct leads to specific post-mortem destinies.