Shloka 17
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
मनुष्यका किया हुआ कोई भी पुण्य तथा पाप भोगके बिना नष्ट नहीं होता। पर्वकालमें जो कुछ भी दान किया जाता है, वह सब सूर्यदेवके पास पहुँचता है ।। प्रेतलोक॑ गते मत्यें तत् तत् सर्व विभावसु: । प्रतिजानाति पुण्यात्मा तच्च तत्रोपयुज्यते
preta-lokaṁ gate martye tat tat sarvaṁ vibhāvasuḥ | pratijānāti puṇyātmā tac ca tatropayujyate ||
Yama said: “No merit or sin performed by a human being is destroyed without first being experienced. Whatever is given at sacred seasonal occasions reaches the Sun-god; and when a person has gone to the realm of the departed, the Sun—Vibhāvasu—acknowledges and delivers there, in due form, each such gift. Thus no deed is lost; every act arrives at its proper consequence.”
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
Every human action—merit or sin—inevitably yields its fruit; nothing is destroyed without being experienced. Gifts made on sacred festival/seasonal occasions are said to be received by the Sun and become effective for the giver even after death.
Yama, the lord of justice and the dead, explains the post-mortem accounting of deeds: once a mortal reaches the realm of the departed, the Sun (Vibhāvasu) confirms and conveys the specific fruits of parva-time charity, which then become usable/experienced there.