licted by death. While
dwelling in the uterus, all creatures are cooked in the fluid juices,
that are alkaline and sour and bitter, of urine and phlegm and
faeces,--juices that produce painful sensations and are difficult to
bear. There in the uterus, they have to dwell in a state of helplessness
and are even repeatedly torn and pierced. They that are covetous of meat
are seen to be repeatedly cooked in the uterus in such a state of
helplessness. Attaining to diverse kinds of birth, they are cooked in the
hell called Kumbhipaka. They are assailed and slain, and in this way have
to travel repeatedly. There is nothing so dear to one as one's life when
one comes to this world. Hence, a person of cleansed soul should be
compassionate to all living creatures. That man, O king, who abstains
from every kind of meat from his birth, without doubt, acquires a large
space in Heaven. They who eat the flesh of animals who are desirous of
life, are themselves eaten by the animals they eat, without doubt. Even
this is my opinion. 'Since he hath eaten me, I shall eat him in
return,'--even this, O Bharata, constitutes the character as Mansa of
Mansa.[525] The slayer is always slain. After him the eater meets with
the same fate. He who acts with hostility towards another (in this life)
becomes the victim of similar acts done by that other. Whatever acts one
does in whatever bodies, one has to suffer the consequences thereof in
those bodies.[526] Abstention from cruelty is the highest Religion.
Abstention from cruelty is the highest self-control. Abstention from
cruelty is the highest gift. Abstention from cruelty is the highest
penance. Abstention from cruelty is the highest sacrifice. Abstention
from cruelty is the highest puissance. Abstention from cruelty is the
highest friend. Abstention from cruelty is the highest happiness.
Abstention from cruelty is the highest truth. Abstention from cruelty is
the highest Sruti. Gifts made in all sacrifices, ablutions performed in
all sacred waters, and the merit that one acquires from making all kinds
of gifts mentioned in the scriptures,--all these do not come up to
abstention from cruelty (in point of the merit that attaches to it). The
penances of a man that abstains from cruelty are inexhaustible. The man
that abstains from cruelty is regarded as always performing sacrifices.
The man that abstains from cruelty is the father and mother of all
creatures. Even these, O chief of Kuru's race, are s