Shloka 30
Bhūmi-dānasya Māhātmya
The Pre-eminence of Land-Gift
किन्नर, नाग, राक्षस, देवता, गन्धर्व, मनुष्य और ऋषियोंके समुदाय--ये सभी वृक्षोंका आश्रय लेते हैं ।।
Bhīṣma uvāca: kinnarā nāgā rākṣasā devatā gandharvā manuṣyā ṛṣīṇāṁ ca samūhāḥ—te sarve vṛkṣāṇām āśrayaṁ labhante. Puṣpitāḥ phalavantaś ca tṛpayantīha mānavān; vṛkṣadaṁ putravad vṛkṣās tārayanti paratra tu.
ভীষ্মে ক’লে—কিন্নৰ, নাগ, ৰাক্ষস, দেৱ, গন্ধৰ্ব, মানুহ আৰু ঋষিগণ—এই সকলোয়ে গছৰ আশ্ৰয় লয়। পুষ্পিত আৰু ফলৱন্ত গছে এই লোকত মানুহক তৃপ্ত কৰে; আৰু যিয়ে গছ দান কৰে, সেই গছেই পুত্ৰসম হৈ পৰলোকত তাক তাৰে।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Trees are universal benefactors: they shelter all beings and nourish humans with flowers and fruits. Therefore, donating or planting trees is a high form of dāna that yields lasting merit, even becoming a source of ‘deliverance’ in the afterlife, metaphorically like sons who support and save a person.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and meritorious acts. Here he praises trees as shared refuge for many classes of beings and extols vṛkṣa-dāna (tree-giving/planting) as an ethically powerful deed with benefits in this life and the next.