Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 122
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
दशन् वै मानुषान्नित्यं पापात्मा स विशाम्पते । धान्यकी चोरी करनेवाले मनुष्यके शरीरमें दूसरे जन्ममें बहुत-से रोएँ पैदा होते हैं। प्रजानाथ! जो मानव तिलके चूर्णसे मिश्रित भोजनकी चोरी करता है, वह नेवलेके समान आकारवाला भयानक चूहा होता है तथा वह पापी सदा मनुष्योंको काटा करता है ।।
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | daśan vai mānuṣān nityaṃ pāpātmā sa viśāṃpate |
尤提士提罗说道：“噢，人民之主啊，那怀着罪恶之魂者，无论投生于何等境界，都会不断啮咬人类。”在此段教诲（并由前后文的训示加以铺陈）中，尤提士提罗阐明伦理法则：盗窃——尤其是盗取赖以生存的粮食与家用要物——终将成熟为痛苦而卑贱的再生。惩罚以象征性的禽兽之身呈现：来世的形体映照其行径的伤害与潜匿；其果报不仅是世间的谴责，更是业力的转化，使作恶者化为长久折磨人类的存在。
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores karmic moral causality: theft—especially of basic sustenance—produces severe consequences, depicted as degrading rebirths and ongoing suffering. The ethical point is that taking what sustains others violates dharma and returns as a life marked by fear, harm, and loss of human dignity.
Within Anuśāsana Parva’s didactic setting, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks to a kingly figure (‘viśāṃpati’), voicing or eliciting a rule-like statement about a sinner who continually bites humans. The surrounding exposition (as reflected in the provided gloss) elaborates this as a catalogue of thefts and their karmic rebirth-results.