Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
तत्र जीवति वर्षाणि दश पञ्च च भारत | दुष्कृतस्य क्षयं कृत्वा ततो जायति मानुष:,भारत! कीड़ेकी योनिमें वह पंद्रह वर्षोतकफ जीवित रहता है और अपने पापोंका क्षय करके अन्तमें मनुष्य-योनिमें जन्म लेता है
tatra jīvati varṣāṇi daśa pañca ca bhārata | duṣkṛtasya kṣayaṃ kṛtvā tato jāyati mānuṣaḥ ||
اے بھارت! وہاں وہ پندرہ برس تک زندہ رہتا ہے؛ اپنے بداعمالیوں کے باقی ماندہ اثر کو ختم کر کے آخرکار پھر انسانی رحم میں جنم لیتا ہے۔
युधिछिर उवाच
The verse teaches karmic retribution and purification: a being experiences a fixed term in a lower birth, thereby exhausting (kṣaya) the results of past wrongdoing (duṣkṛta), and only after that can it attain human birth again—implying that human life is a renewed opportunity for dharmic choice.
Yudhiṣṭhira states a specific karmic outcome: in that particular non-human condition the being lives for fifteen years, and after the sinful residue is spent, it is reborn as a human. The statement functions as part of a broader ethical discourse on the fruits of actions and the pathways of rebirth.