Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 77
नारद उवाच । भक्त्या तुष्यंति ये विप्रास्ते विप्रा भूमिदेवताः । न तु ये पूजिताः शक्त्या पुनर्याचंति तेऽधमाः
nārada uvāca | bhaktyā tuṣyaṃti ye viprāste viprā bhūmidevatāḥ | na tu ye pūjitāḥ śaktyā punaryācaṃti te'dhamāḥ
Nārada sprach: „Die Brahmanen, die durch Hingabe zufrieden sind, sind wahrlich ‘Götter auf Erden’. Doch jene, die, obwohl man sie nach Kräften geehrt hat, erneut verlangen—solche Menschen sind niedrig.“
Nārada
Tirtha: Vastrāpatha-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Bali (with Śukra and the assembly present)
Scene: Nārada delivers a calm but firm maxim: devoted, content brāhmaṇas are ‘earth-gods’; those who ask again after being honored are base.
FAQs
Dāna must be guided by purity on both sides: the giver offers by capacity, and the receiver remains content and devoted, not greedy.
The teaching is delivered within the Vastrāpathakṣetra-māhātmya of Prabhāsa, linking ethical conduct to the sanctity of place.
A normative rule for dāna: honor according to one’s śakti (capacity); a worthy recipient should not re-beg after being duly honored.