Shloka 6
अप॒दहृृत्य तु यो गां वै ब्राह्मणाय प्रयच्छति । यावद् दानफलं तस्यास्तावन्निरयमृच्छति,जो दूसरेकी गाय चुराकर ब्राह्मणको दान करता है, वह गोदानका पुण्य भोगनेके लिये जितना समय शास्त्रोंमें बताया गया है, उतने ही समयतक नरक भोगता है
apadahṛtya tu yo gāṃ vai brāhmaṇāya prayacchati | yāvad dānaphalaṃ tasyās tāvan nirayam ṛcchati ||
Bhīṣma said: “If a man steals another’s cow and then gives that cow as a gift to a Brāhmaṇa, he must suffer in hell for exactly as long as the scriptures declare the merit-duration of that cow-gift.”
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
A gift has ethical value only when the means are righteous. Donating stolen property—here, a cow—does not produce merit; instead, the attempted merit is inverted into punishment, measured by the very duration attributed to the gift’s merit in śāstric reckoning.
Bhīṣma (Pitāmaha), in his instruction on dharma, warns about improper giving: if someone steals a cow and then presents it to a Brāhmaṇa as a pious donation, he incurs hell for the same span that would otherwise be associated with enjoying the merit of a genuine cow-gift.