Shloka 18
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
जब मनुष्य प्रेतलोकको जाता है, उस समय सूर्यदेव वे सारी वस्तुएँ उसे अर्पित कर देते हैं और पुण्यात्मा पुरुष परलोकमें उन वस्तुओंका उपभोग करता है ।।
yama uvāca | yadā manuṣyaḥ pretalokaṃ gacchati tadā sūryadevaḥ sarvāṇi vastūni tasmai arpayati, puṇyātmā ca puruṣaḥ paraloke tāni vastūni upabhuṅkte || kiñcid dharmaṃ pravakṣyāmi citraguptamataṃ śubham | pānīyaṃ caiva dīpaṃ ca dātavyaṃ satataṃ tathā ||
Yama sprach: „Wenn ein Mensch in das Reich der Verstorbenen gelangt, überreicht ihm der Sonnengott all jene Opfergaben, und die rechtschaffene Seele genießt sie in der jenseitigen Welt. Nun will ich, gemäß der Ansicht Citraguptas, einen Teil des glückverheißenden Dharma verkünden: Man soll stets Trinkwasser spenden und ebenso stets eine Lampe—das Licht—als Gabe darbringen.“
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
Regular charity—especially giving drinking water and offering light (a lamp)—is praised as auspicious dharma whose benefits accompany a person after death, becoming enjoyments in the other world.
Yama, speaking as the authority over the dead, explains how offerings made in life are conveyed in the afterlife: the Sun-god is described as delivering those gifts to the departed, and Yama then introduces Chitragupta’s ethical guidance emphasizing water-gift and lamp-gift.