Shloka 7
Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ
Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers
रुष्टा दुष्टा व्याधिता दुर्बला वा नो दातव्या याश्र मूल्यैरदत्तै: । क्लेशैविंप्रं योडफलै: संयुनक्ति तस्यावीर्याश्षवाफलाश्वैव लोका:
bhīṣma uvāca |
ruṣṭā duṣṭā vyādhitā durbalā vā na dātavyā yāś ca mūlyair adattaiḥ |
kleśa eva vipraṁ yo ’phalaiḥ saṁyunakti tasyāvīryāś ca aphalāś caiva lokāḥ ||
قال بهيشما: «لا ينبغي أن تُعطى في الصدقة بقرةٌ غضوب، سيئة الطبع، مريضة، أو واهنة؛ ولا بقرةٌ لم يُؤدَّ ثمنُها على وجهه. ومن يقدّم عطيةً عقيمة كهذه فلا يزيد البراهمن إلا عناءً، ينل عوالمَ واهنةً لا ثمرة فيها ولا جزاء.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Charity must be clean, rightful, and genuinely beneficial to the recipient. Donating a cow that is unfit (angry, vicious, sick, weak) or not lawfully acquired (unpaid) is not true dāna; it becomes a burden on the Brahmin and yields no spiritual merit.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma lays down standards for proper gifting—specifically cow-donation—warning that improper gifts harm the recipient and lead the giver to barren, powerless posthumous results.