Shloka 71

Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda

Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity

Devanagari script

अक्षयं च कथं दानं भवेच्चैवोर्ध्वदेहिकम्‌ । आनृण्यं वा कथं मर्त्या गच्छेयु: केन कर्मणा

Transliteration

akṣayaṃ ca kathaṃ dānaṃ bhaveccai vordhvadehikam | ānṛṇyaṃ vā kathaṃ martyā gaccheyuḥ kena karmaṇā ||

Translation

Śakra dijo: «¿Cómo puede un don volverse imperecedero y dar fruto para alguien después de la muerte? ¿Y por qué acción pueden los mortales alcanzar la liberación de la deuda (quedar libres de lo debido)?»

Word by Word

• अक्षयम्: imperishable, inexhaustible
• अक्षयम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अक्षय
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• कथम्: how
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कथम्

• दानम्: gift, charity
• दानम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: दान
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• भवेत्: would be / can become
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Potential (Vidhi-lin), 3rd, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed, just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• ऊर्ध्वदेहिकम्: pertaining to the after-death state (posthumous)
• ऊर्ध्वदेहिकम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ऊर्ध्वदेहिक
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• आनृण्यम्: freedom from debt, discharge of obligations
• आनृण्यम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: आनृण्य
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• वा: or
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा

• कथम्: how
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कथम्

• मर्त्याः: mortals, human beings
• मर्त्याः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मर्त्य
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• गच्छेयुः: would go / may attain
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम्
• Form: Potential (Vidhi-lin), 3rd, Plural

• केन: by what? with what?
• केन: Karana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• कर्मणा: by (what) action/deed
• कर्मणा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन्
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

Speaker

शक्र उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śakra (Indra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a dharmic inquiry: what kind of giving becomes ‘akṣaya’ (inexhaustible merit), what actions yield benefit beyond death, and how one may become ‘ānṛṇya’—free from binding obligations or debts—through right conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Indra (Śakra), speaking as a questioner, asks for instruction about the conditions and actions that make charity enduring, ensure posthumous spiritual benefit, and lead humans to a state of being debtless—setting up a teaching on the proper manner, object, and intention of dāna and dharma.