Mahabharata 3.201.121 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 121
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
शृणु दानरहस्यानि श्रुतिस्मृत्युदितानि च । छायायां करिण: श्राद्ध तत् कर्णपरिवीजिते । दश कल्पायुतानीह न क्षीयेत युधिछ्िर
śṛṇu dānarahasyāni śrutismṛtyuditāni ca | chāyāyāṃ kariṇaḥ śrāddhaṃ tat karṇaparivījite | daśa kalpāyutānīha na kṣīyeta yudhiṣṭhira ||
قال ماركانديَيا: «اسمع يا يودهيشثيرا دقائقَ العطاء كما وردت في الشروتي والسمريتي. إنّ شْرادْدها (śrāddha) تُقام في ظلّ فيل—حيث تُحَسّ نسمةٌ لطيفة كأنها تروِيحُ أذنيه—لا يَفنى ثوابُها في هذا العالم طوالَ عشرةِ آلافِ وحداتٍ من الكَلْبَة.»
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
That charity and ancestral rites gain enduring merit when performed in accordance with Śruti–Smṛti principles, and that the place/conditions of a rite (here, a cooling, sanctifying shade likened to an elephant’s) are taught as amplifiers of puṇya.
Sage Mārkaṇḍeya instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on ‘secrets of giving’ and the efficacy of śrāddha, describing a specific auspicious setting whose performance yields long-lasting, undiminishing spiritual fruit.
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