Shloka 30
Bhūmi-dānasya Māhātmya
The Pre-eminence of Land-Gift
किन्नर, नाग, राक्षस, देवता, गन्धर्व, मनुष्य और ऋषियोंके समुदाय--ये सभी वृक्षोंका आश्रय लेते हैं ।।
Bhīṣma uvāca: kinnarā nāgā rākṣasā devatā gandharvā manuṣyā ṛṣīṇāṁ ca samūhāḥ—te sarve vṛkṣāṇām āśrayaṁ labhante. Puṣpitāḥ phalavantaś ca tṛpayantīha mānavān; vṛkṣadaṁ putravad vṛkṣās tārayanti paratra tu.
Bhīṣma dijo: «Kinnaras, Nāgas, Rākṣasas, los dioses, los Gandharvas, los seres humanos y las asambleas de sabios: todos ellos se acogen a los árboles. En este mundo, los árboles, cargados de flores y frutos, satisfacen y sostienen a las gentes; y para quien entrega (planta o dona) un árbol, esos mismos árboles, como hijos, se vuelven salvadores en el más allá».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Trees are universal benefactors: they shelter all beings and nourish humans with flowers and fruits. Therefore, donating or planting trees is a high form of dāna that yields lasting merit, even becoming a source of ‘deliverance’ in the afterlife, metaphorically like sons who support and save a person.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and meritorious acts. Here he praises trees as shared refuge for many classes of beings and extols vṛkṣa-dāna (tree-giving/planting) as an ethically powerful deed with benefits in this life and the next.