Shloka 32
Phala of Vrata, Niyama, Svādhyāya, Dama, Satya, Brahmacarya, and Service (व्रत-नियम-स्वाध्याय-दम-सत्य-ब्रह्मचर्य-शुश्रूषा-फलप्रश्नः)
तिस्त्रो रात्र्यस्त्वद्धिरुपोष्य भूमौ तृप्ता गावस्तर्पिति भ्य: प्रदेया: । वत्सै: प्रीता: सुप्रजा: सोपचारा- स्त्र्यहं दत्त्वा गोरसैर्वर्तितव्यम्,“तीन राततक उपवासपूर्वक केवल जल पीकर धरतीपर शयन करे। तत्पश्चात् खिला- पिलाकर तृप्त की हुई गौओंका भोजन आदिसे संतुष्ट किये हुए ब्राह्मणोंको दान करे। वे गौएँ बछड़ोंके साथ रहकर प्रसन्न हों, सुन्दर बच्चे देनेवाली हों तथा अन्यान्य आवश्यक सामग्रियोंसे युक्त हों। ऐसी गौओंका दान करके तीन दिनोंतक केवल गोरसका आहार करके रहना चाहिये
tisro rātryas tv addhir upoṣya bhūmau tṛptā gāvas tarpitibhyaḥ pradeyāḥ | vatsaiḥ prītāḥ suprajāḥ sopacārās tryahaṃ dattvā gorasair vartitavyam ||
Bhishma said: “For three nights one should observe a fast, taking only water and sleeping on the ground. Thereafter, one should gift cows that have been well fed and made content, to Brahmins who have been duly satisfied with food and other attentions. The cows should be accompanied by their calves, be gentle and pleased, be capable of yielding fine offspring, and be provided with the necessary care and accessories. Having made such a gift, one should then live for three days taking only milk-products as one’s sustenance.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a disciplined charity-observance: self-restraint (fasting, sleeping on the ground), honoring recipients properly, and giving ethically appropriate gifts (healthy, cared-for cows with calves). It frames dāna as effective when joined with austerity, purity of conduct, and respectful hospitality.
Bhishma is instructing on a specific dharmic rite/vrata connected with go-dāna. He outlines the sequence: three nights of fasting with only water and earth-bed, then gifting well-tended cows to duly honored Brahmins, and finally maintaining a three-day regimen sustained only by milk-products.