Shloka 26
वहाँ पुण्योदका नामसे प्रसिद्ध नदी है, जो यमलोकनिवासियोंके लिये विहित है। उसमें अमृतके समान मधुर, शीतल एवं अक्षय जल भरा रहता है ।। स तत्र तोयं पिबति पानीयं य: प्रयच्छति । प्रदीपस्य प्रदानेन श्रूयतां गुणविस्तर:,जो यहाँ जलदान करता है, वही परलोकमें जानेपर उस नदीका जल पीता है। अब दीपदानसे जो अधिकाधिक लाभ होता है, उसको सुनो
yama uvāca | tatra puṇyodakā nāma prasiddhā nadī yā yamalokanivāsibhyo vihitā | tasyāṃ amṛtasamaṃ madhuraṃ śītalam akṣayaṃ ca jalaṃ pūrṇaṃ tiṣṭhati || sa tatra toyaṃ pibati pānīyaṃ yaḥ prayacchati | pradīpasya pradānena śrūyatāṃ guṇavistaraḥ | yo hiha jaladānaṃ karoti sa paralokaṃ gatvā tasyā nadījalasya pānaṃ labhate | atha pradīpadānāt yaḥ atiriktataraḥ lābhaḥ sa śrūyatām ||
Yama said: There is a well-known river there called Puṇyodakā, appointed for the dwellers of Yama’s realm. It is filled with water that is like nectar—sweet, cool, and inexhaustible. Whoever gives drinking water here in this world, that person, upon reaching the next world, drinks the water of that river. Now listen to the fuller account of the merits that arise from the gift of a lamp (dīpa-dāna).
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
Acts of practical charity—especially giving drinking water—generate lasting merit that returns to the giver in the afterlife; the passage also introduces the superior or expanded merits associated with gifting a lamp (dīpa-dāna).
Yama describes a sacred river in his realm, Puṇyodakā, whose nectar-like water is enjoyed by those who donated water while alive; he then transitions to explain, in greater detail, the fruits of lamp-giving.