Mahabharata 7.194.38 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 194, Shloka 38
अहिंसां सर्वभूतेषु धर्म ज्यायस्तरं विदु: । तस्य च ब्राह्मणो मूलं भवांश्व ब्रह्मवित्तम:
sañjaya uvāca |
ahiṃsāṃ sarvabhūteṣu dharmaṃ jyāyastaraṃ viduḥ |
tasya ca brāhmaṇo mūlaṃ bhavāṃś ca brahmavittamaḥ ||
تمام جانداروں کے حق میں اَہنسا ہی کو سب سے برتر دھرم مانا گیا ہے۔ اس دھرم کی جڑ برہمن ہے، اور آپ تو برہمنوں میں بھی سب سے افضل برہماوِد ہیں۔
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse elevates ahiṃsā—non-violence toward all beings—as the highest dharma, and links its stable foundation to the Brāhmaṇa ideal: disciplined learning, restraint, and realization of Brahman. Ethical authority is grounded not merely in status but in brahma-jñāna (knowledge of Brahman).
In the midst of the war narrative of Droṇa Parva, Sañjaya addresses a revered listener and frames counsel through a moral lens: even amid battlefield events, the supreme standard of dharma is recalled, and the addressee is honored as a foremost knower of Brahman, fit to uphold and interpret that standard.
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