Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 45
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
आहर्ता चानुमन्ता च विशस्ता क्रयविक्रयी । संस्कर्ता चोपभोक्ता च खादका: सर्व एव ते
āhartā cānumantā ca viśastā krayavikrayī | saṃskartā copabhoktā ca khādakāḥ sarva eva te ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Ang nagdadala ng hayop upang katayin, ang nagbibigay ng pahintulot, ang pumapatay, at ang bumibili at nagbebenta; gayundin ang naghahanda at ang kumakain—lahat ng ito’y dapat ituring na ‘mga kumakain’ (mga kalahok sa gawa). Sa pananaw ng etika, bawat isa’y may bahagi sa kasalanang dulot ng pagkitil ng buhay para gawing pagkain.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral responsibility for violence is collective: procuring, permitting, killing, trading, cooking, and eating are all treated as participation in the same harmful act, so the ethical and karmic burden is shared.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma, he explains the ethical chain behind animal slaughter for food, identifying every role in the process as complicit, not only the person who performs the killing.