Shloka 25
उपैति सत्याद् दान॑ हि तथा यज्ञा: सदक्षिणा: । त्रेताग्निहोत्रं वेदाश्न ये चानन््ये धर्मनिश्चया:,दानका, दक्षिणाओंसहित यज्ञका, त्रिविध अग्नियोंमें हवनका, वेदोंके स्वाध्यायका तथा अन्य जो धर्मका निर्णय करनेवाले शास्त्र हैं, उनके भी अध्ययनका फल मनुष्य सत्यसे प्राप्त कर लेता है
upaiti satyād dānaṁ hi tathā yajñāḥ sadakṣiṇāḥ | tretāgnihotraṁ vedāś ca ye cānanye dharmaniścayāḥ ||
Bhishma said: From truthfulness alone a person attains the same merit as from charity, from sacrifices performed with proper priestly fees, from the maintenance of the three sacred fires with daily offerings, from Vedic study, and even from the study of other authoritative treatises that determine dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Truthfulness (satya) is taught as a comprehensive virtue whose spiritual fruit equals that of major religious disciplines—charity, properly endowed sacrifices, maintaining the three fires with agnihotra, and study of the Vedas and other dharma-authoritative texts.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira by ranking and synthesizing virtues: he emphasizes that inner moral integrity—truth—can yield the same merit people seek through elaborate rituals and extensive scriptural learning.