Shloka 9

Gopradāna-phalasaṃprāpti: Nāciketa’s Vision of Vaivasvata’s Realms (गोप्रदानफलसम्प्राप्तिः — नाचिकेतोपाख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

प्राणदानाद्धि परमं न दानमिह विद्यते । श्रुतं हि ते महाबाहो लोमशस्यापि तद्धबच:

Transliteration

prāṇadānād dhi paramaṁ na dānam iha vidyate | śrutaṁ hi te mahābāho lomaśasyāpi tad vacaḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma dijo: «En verdad, en este mundo no existe dádiva más alta que el don de la vida. Pues cuando uno da alimento a otro, es como si le entregara su propio aliento. Oh, de brazos poderosos, también has oído esta misma sentencia del sabio Lomaśa.»

Word by Word

• {'prāṇadānāt': 'from/than the giving of life (prāṇa = vital breath, life

• dāna = gift)', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'paramam': 'supreme, highest', 'na': 'not', 'dānam': 'gift, charity', 'iha': 'here, in this world', 'vidyate': 'is found, exists', 'śrutam': 'heard', 'te': 'by you, to you', 'mahābāho': 'O mighty-armed (epithet of the listener, typically Yudhiṣṭhira)', 'lomaśasya': 'of Lomaśa (a sage)', 'api': 'also, even', 'tat': 'that', 'vacaḥ': 'speech, statement, saying'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• Lomaśa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That sustaining another’s life is the highest form of charity; giving food is ethically equivalent to giving life itself, and thus surpasses other gifts.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma, instructing the listener (addressed as ‘mahābāho’), emphasizes the supremacy of life-giving charity and supports his point by citing a remembered statement attributed to the sage Lomaśa.