Shloka 47
अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता
Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality
यथाग्नौ शान्ते घृतमाजुहोति तन्नैव देवान् न पितृनुपैति । तथा दत्तं नर्तने गायने च यां चानृते दक्षिणामावृणोति
yathāgnau śānte ghṛtam ājuhoti tan naiva devān na pitṝn upaiti | tathā dattaṁ nartane gāyane ca yāṁ cānṛte dakṣiṇām āvṛṇoti ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «Así como el ghee vertido como ofrenda en un fuego ya extinguido no llega ni a los dioses ni a los antepasados, del mismo modo el don dado para el baile y el canto, y la dakṣiṇā aceptada por quien falta a la verdad, se vuelve estéril. Tal dádiva no satisface al que da ni beneficia de veras al que recibe; antes bien, perjudica a ambos. En verdad, esa dakṣiṇā censurable y causante de ruina puede incluso hacer que los antepasados del donante caigan del sendero divino, el devayāna.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A gift must be given in a proper context and to a worthy recipient; otherwise it becomes spiritually ineffective—like an offering poured into an extinguished fire—and can even generate harm for both giver and receiver, affecting ancestral welfare as well.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma (especially dāna and dakṣiṇā), he uses a ritual analogy: an oblation in a dead fire reaches neither gods nor ancestors; similarly, gifts directed to improper purposes or accepted by untruthful/unfit recipients are condemned as barren and destructive.