Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 12
गोशकृन्माहात्म्य-प्रश्नः (On the Merit of Cow-Dung and the Abode of Śrī) / Inquiry into the Sanctity of Cow-Dung
अनाहिताग्नि: शतगुरयज्वा च सहस्रगुः । समृद्धों यश्व॒ कीनाशो नार्घ्यमर्हन्ति ते त्रयः
anāhitāgniḥ śatagurayajvā ca sahasraguḥ | samṛddho yaśva kīnāśo nārghyam arhanti te trayaḥ ||
Dijo Bhīṣma: «Tres clases de hombres no merecen arghya—honor y ofrenda respetuosa: (1) quien posee cien vacas y, sin embargo, no mantiene los fuegos sagrados (descuidando el agnihotra), (2) quien posee mil vacas y aun así no realiza sacrificios, y (3) quien es próspero pero permanece avaro».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Resources and prosperity are not, by themselves, grounds for respect. Honor is due to those who convert wealth into dharmic action—maintaining sacred duties (like agnihotra), supporting yajña, and practicing generosity. Neglect of ritual responsibility and refusal to give make a person unworthy of arghya.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, especially duties of householders and the ethics of wealth. Here he lists three types of wealthy men whose failure to perform rites or to give makes them undeserving of ceremonial honor.