Shloka 88
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
क्रौज्चो जीवति वर्ष तु ततो जायति चीरक: । ततो निधनमापन्नो मानुषत्वमुपाश्षुते,क्रौंच होकर वह एक वर्षतक जीवित रहता है। उसके बाद चीरक जातिका पक्षी होता है और फिर मरनेके बाद मनुष्य-योनिमें जन्म पाता है
krauṅco jīvati varṣaṁ tu tato jāyati cīrakaḥ | tato nidhanam āpanno mānuṣatvam upāśnute ||
کرونچ بن کر وہ ایک برس تک جیتا ہے؛ پھر چیرک قسم کے پرندے کی صورت میں پیدا ہوتا ہے۔ اس کے بعد مر کر وہ انسانیت کی حالت—یعنی انسانی جنم—پاتا ہے۔
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates saṁsāra (transmigration): beings move through different births, and even an animal birth can, after death, culminate in human birth. It implies an ethical universe governed by karma, where life-forms and their destinies are not random but part of a moral-causal progression.
Yudhiṣṭhira is speaking within a didactic discussion in the Anuśāsana Parva, presenting an example of successive births: a krauñca lives for a year, is reborn as a cīraka bird, and after dying attains human birth—used to explain patterns of rebirth and the workings of karmic consequence.