Shloka 53
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
प्राक् श्वा भवति राजेन्द्र तत: क्रव्यात्तत: खर: । ततः प्रेत: परिक्लिष्ट: पश्चाज्जायति ब्राह्मण:
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | prāk śvā bhavati rājendra tataḥ kravyāttataḥ kharaḥ | tataḥ pretaḥ parikliṣṭaḥ paścāj jāyati brāhmaṇaḥ ||
Sinabi ni Yudhiṣṭhira: “O hari ng mga hari, una’y nagiging aso siya; saka nagiging isang nilalang na kumakain ng laman (rākṣasa); at pagkatapos ay nagiging asno. Pagkaraan, matapos mamatay at bilang isang pinahihirapang preta, magtiis ng maraming pagdurusa, saka pa lamang siya isisilang muli sa angkan ng brāhmaṇa.” Ipinakikita ng taludtod ang bigat ng kasalanan ng mangmang na alagad laban sa guro, sa paglalarawan ng sunod-sunod na hamak na kapanganakan at pighati matapos ang kamatayan bago muling magbalik sa pagsilang bilang tao (brāhmaṇa).
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disrespecting or harming one’s teacher (guru-aparādha) is a grave ethical violation with severe karmic consequences, leading to degrading births and suffering in the preta state before eventual return to human birth.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king (likely Bhīṣma’s interlocutor contextually) and states a karmic sequence: a foolish disciple who offends his teacher is reborn successively as a dog, then a flesh-eating being, then a donkey; after death he suffers as a preta, and only afterward attains birth as a brāhmaṇa.