Shloka 17
Go-dāna-stuti and Ghṛta-Japa
Praise of cow-gift and ghee-centered recitation
एवमेतान् गुणान् विद्याद् गवादीनां यथाक्रमम् । गोप्रदाता समाप्रोति समस्तानष्टमे क्रमे
Bhīṣma uvāca: evam etān guṇān vidyād gavādīnāṁ yathākramam | gopradātā samāpnoti samastān aṣṭame krame ||
Bhīṣma said: “Thus one should understand, in due order, these merits connected with cows and related gifts. The giver of a cow attains the entire reward, and that reward becomes effective by the eighth step (when the recipient brāhmaṇa departs with the gift).”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that the ethical and religious merit of gifts—especially cow-gift (go-dāna)—should be understood in an ordered way, and that the fruit of such giving is immediate and assured, symbolically said to arise by the recipient’s eighth step.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dāna-dharma, he summarizes the ordered results of cow-related gifts and emphasizes the potency of go-dāna: once a brāhmaṇa accepts the cow and departs, the donor’s merit is considered to have taken effect without delay.