Shloka 26
जनक-राज्ञः मौण्ड्य-परिव्रज्या-विवादः
Janaka’s Renunciation Questioned; Discourse on Dāna and Detachment
“सदा ही याचना करनेवालेको और दम्भीको दी हुई दक्षिणा दावानलमें दी गयी आहुतिके समान व्यर्थ है ।। जातवेदा यथा राजन् नादग्ध्वैवोपशाम्यति । सदैव याचमानो हि तथा शाम्यति न द्विज:,“राजन! जैसे आग लकड़ीको जलाये बिना नहीं बुझती, उसी प्रकार सदा ही याचना करनेवाला ब्राह्मण (याचनाका अन्त किये बिना) कभी शान्त नहीं हो सकता
jātavedā yathā rājan nādagdhvaivopaśāmyati | sadaiva yācamāno hi tathā śāmyati na dvijaḥ ||
O King, just as fire does not subside without first consuming fuel, so too a brahmin who is forever begging does not attain inner quiet so long as that habit of constant solicitation continues. A gift (dakṣiṇā) given to one who is persistently importunate and hypocritical is likened to an oblation cast into a wildfire—wasted and without wholesome fruit.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that habitual, insatiable begging prevents inner peace, and that gifts given to the perpetually importunate and hypocritical are ethically unfruitful—like offerings thrown into a wildfire.
A speaker addresses a king and uses the image of fire needing fuel to illustrate a moral point about recipients of charity: a person who constantly solicits does not become content, so indiscriminate giving to such a person is portrayed as wasted.