Shloka 77
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
जो मदिरा नहीं पीते, जिनपर किसी प्रकारका दोष नहीं लगाया गया है तथा जो अन्य द्विज विधिपूर्वक वेदोंकी संहिताका पाठ करते हैं, वे सदा दूसरोंको तारनेमें समर्थ होते हैं ७६ ।। हव्यं कव्यं च यत् किंचित् सर्व तच्छोत्रियो5हति । दत्तं हि श्रोत्रिये साधौ ज्वलितेडग्नौ यथा हुतम्,हव्य (यज्ञ) और कव्य (श्राद्ध)-की जितनी भी वस्तुएँ हैं, श्रोत्रिय ब्राह्मण उन सबको पानेका अधिकारी है। श्रेष्ठ श्रोत्रियको दिया हुआ दान उतना ही सफल होता है, जैसे प्रज्वलित अग्निमें दी हुई आहुति
yo madirāṁ na pibanti, yeṣāṁ ca kenacit prakāreṇa doṣo na samāropitaḥ, tathā ye ’nye dvijā vidhivat vedānāṁ saṁhitā-pāṭhaṁ kurvanti, te sadā ’nyān tārayituṁ samarthāḥ. havyaṁ kavyaṁ ca yat kiṁcit sarvaṁ tac chrotriyo ’rhati. dattaṁ hi śrotriye sādhau jvalite ’gnau yathā hutam.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Those who do not drink intoxicants, against whom no fault is alleged, and those other twice-born who duly recite the Vedic Saṃhitās—such people are always capable of helping others cross over (from sin and suffering). Whatever there is that is offered as havya in sacrifice or as kavya in ancestral rites, a learned śrotriya Brahmin is entitled to receive it. A gift given to a worthy śrotriya bears fruit like an oblation poured into a blazing fire.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage teaches that moral purity (avoiding intoxicants, being free from blame) and disciplined Vedic learning make a person spiritually beneficial to others, and that gifts and ritual offerings yield the greatest merit when directed to a worthy śrotriya—like an oblation placed into a well-kindled fire.
Yudhiṣṭhira is articulating standards of worthiness in religious life: who is fit to receive sacrificial and ancestral offerings, and why giving to such a recipient is considered especially efficacious within the dharma framework.