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.
Sinabi ni Yudhiṣṭhira: “O panginoon ng lupa! Kung ang isang nilalang, mula pa sa pagsilang sa daigdig na ito, ay nananatiling nakatuon sa mga gawaing may kabutihang-loob, kung gayon, sa pag-asa sa bunga ng dharma, tinatamasa niya ang ligaya ayon dito. Kung ayon sa kanyang lakas ay nagsasagawa siya ng dharma mula pagkabata, siya’y nabubuhay bilang tao na laging nakararanas ng kaginhawahan. Ngunit kung sa gitna ng dharma ay minsan siyang kumakapit din sa adharma, kung gayon, matapos ang ligaya, daranas din ang nilalang na iyon ng dalamhati.”
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.