Shloka 186
ज्ञातीन् विभजतो वित्त तदा55सीत् ते मन: कथम् | जिस समय तुम समुद्रके पूर्वतटपर विविध भोगोंका आस्वादन करते हुए निवास करते थे और अपने भाई-बन्धुओंको धन बाँटते थे, उस समय तुम्हारे मनकी अवस्था कैसी रही होगी?
jñātīn vibhajato vittaṃ tadā āsīt te manaḥ katham |
Śakra said: “When you were living on the eastern shore of the ocean, enjoying various pleasures and distributing wealth among your kinsmen, what was the state of your mind then? What inner disposition guided you while giving to your own people amid comfort and abundance?”
शक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse probes the ethical psychology of giving: true dāna is not only the act of distributing wealth but the inner state—whether generosity is accompanied by attachment, pride, favoritism, or instead by calmness, fairness, and dharmic intention.
Śakra (Indra) questions the interlocutor about a past period of prosperity—living by the ocean and enjoying pleasures—specifically asking what the person’s mind was like while sharing wealth with relatives, thereby testing the sincerity and dharmic quality of that generosity.