Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 21
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
कि पुनर्हन्यमानानां तरसा जीवितार्थिनाम् | अरोगाणामपापानां पापैर्मासोपजीविभि:
ki punar hanyamānānāṁ tarasā jīvitārthinām | arogāṇām apāpānāṁ pāpair māṁsopajīvibhiḥ ||
Wika ni Bhishma: “Kung gayon, gaano pa kaya lalong sisibol ang takot sa mga nilalang na pinapatay sa dahas—yaong nagnanais mabuhay, malusog at walang sala—kapag sila’y dinaig at pinaslang ng mga taong makasalanan na ikinabubuhay ang laman? Kaya ang marunong at banal ay dapat ituring ang lahat ng nilalang na kapantay ng sarili at kumilos para sa kanilang kapakanan.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma underscores empathy and non-violence: a wise person should see all beings as oneself and recognize that forcibly killing innocent, healthy creatures—especially by those who profit from flesh—is a grave ethical wrong that naturally generates fear and suffering.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma. Here he argues from the reality of death-fear: if even learned people fear death, then innocent beings who are violently killed by meat-dependent sinners will fear all the more—supporting a broader exhortation toward compassion and restraint from harm.