Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 39
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
पृथ्वीनाथ! यदि प्राणी इस लोकमें जन्मसे ही पुण्यकर्ममें लगा रहता है तो वह धर्मके फलका आश्रय लेकर उसके अनुसार सुख भोगता है। यदि अपनी शक्तिके अनुसार बाल्यकालसे ही धर्मका सेवन करता है तो वह मनुष्य होकर सदा सुखका अनुभव करता है ।।
pṛthvīnātha! yadi prāṇī ’smin loke janmatas eva puṇyakarmasu lagnaḥ syāt, sa dharmaphalāśrayaṃ labdhvā yathāvidhi sukhaṃ bhuṅkte. yadi ca yathāśakti bālyakālād eva dharmaṃ sevate, sa manuṣyo bhūtvā sadā sukham anubhavati. athāntarā tu dharmasyāpy adharmaṃ upasevate; sukhasyānantaraṃ duḥkhaṃ sa jīvo ’py adhigacchati.
由提施提罗说道：“大地之主啊！若有情在此世自出生起便恒常投身于福德之业，则依止法（Dharma）之果，便随其而享受安乐。若又量力自幼修习法，则得为人而常得安稳之乐。然而，若在奉法之中偶尔转而行非法（Adharma），那么在快乐之后，那众生也必将经历忧苦。”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Consistent commitment to dharma from early life yields sustained well-being, but mixing dharma with occasional adharma disrupts that moral trajectory, bringing sorrow after happiness—an assertion of moral causality (karma) in lived experience.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king (“pṛthvīnātha”) and articulates a principle about ethical conduct: steady virtue supports happiness, whereas intermittent wrongdoing, even amid generally righteous life, leads to subsequent suffering.