Shloka 50
भृगु–भरद्वाजसंवादः: वर्णभेदस्य कर्माधारितव्याख्या
Bhrigu–Bharadvaja Dialogue: A Karma-Based Account of Varṇa
अपि जातु तथा तस्मादहोरात्रशतैरपि । यदहं मानुषी योनि शूगाल:ः प्राप्तुयां पुन:
api jātu tathā tasmād ahorātraśatair api | yad ahaṃ mānuṣīṃ yoniṃ śūgālaḥ prāptuyāṃ punaḥ ||
Bhīṣma nói: Nguyện điều ấy đừng bao giờ xảy ra—dẫu trải qua hàng trăm ngày đêm—rằng ta, đã thành chó rừng, lại còn có thể đạt được một lần sinh làm người nữa.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the gravity of karmic consequence and the fear of moral downfall: a degraded state (symbolized by being a jackal) is portrayed as so undesirable that one prays never to return to human birth from such a condition. It functions as a warning that conduct can lead to painful states of existence, and that one should guard dharma to avoid such degradation.
Bhīṣma, speaking in the Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, expresses a strong aversion to a particular rebirth scenario: he imagines himself as a jackal and declares that even after a very long time (hundreds of day-nights) he would not wish to regain human birth from that state. The statement heightens the moral seriousness of the surrounding instruction on conduct and its results.