Shloka 84
दानफलप्रकरणम् — उपानहदानं, तिलदानं, भूमिदानं, गोदानं, अन्नदानं च
Gifts and Their Stated Results: Footwear, Sesame, Land, Cows, and Food
यथाप्सु पतित: शक्र तैलबिन्दुर्विसर्पति । तथा भूमिकृतं दानं सस्ये सस्ये विवर्धते,इन्द्र! जैसे जलमें गिरी हुई तेलकी एक बूँद सब ओर फैल जाती है; उसी प्रकार दान की हुई भूमिमें जितना-जितना अन्न पैदा होता है, उतना-ही-उतना उसके दानका महत्त्व बढ़ता जाता है
yathāpsu patitaḥ śakra tailabindur visarpatī | tathā bhūmikṛtaṃ dānaṃ sasye sasye vivardhate ||
Bhīṣma said: “O Śakra (Indra), just as a single drop of oil, once fallen into water, spreads out in every direction, so too a gift made in the form of land keeps increasing in value—each time crops grow upon that land, the merit and significance of that donation grows correspondingly.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A land-gift is uniquely enduring: its benefit and the donor’s merit do not remain fixed but expand over time, because every new harvest generated from that land continually amplifies the donation’s value and ethical significance.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dāna-dharma (the duty and principles of giving) within the Anuśāsana Parva, he addresses Śakra (Indra) and uses a vivid simile—oil spreading on water—to explain how the fruits of donating land keep spreading and increasing through successive harvests.