Shloka 14
Āśrama-dharma and Brahmacarya: Śuka’s Inquiry on Karma and Tyāga (शुक-प्रश्नः कर्मत्यागविवेकश्च)
अन्तर्हिताधितप्तानां यथाशक्ति बुभूषताम् । देवानामतिशक्त्यापि देयमेषां कृतादपि
antarhitādhitaptānāṁ yathāśakti bubhūṣatām | devānām atiśaktyāpi deyam eṣāṁ kṛtād api ||
Vyāsa dijo: «A aquellos brahmanes que, abatidos por la pobreza, vagan con vergüenza y en ocultamiento, atormentados por dentro, y también a quienes se esfuerzan—según su capacidad—por el ascenso espiritual, debe dárseles, de la riqueza ganada honestamente, cuanto se pueda. Para los brahmanes dignos y venerables, nada ha de considerarse “imposible de dar”; en verdad, incluso lo sumamente precioso puede ofrecerse a un receptor verdaderamente merecedor: tal es el juicio de los nobles».
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Give charity from one’s rightly earned wealth according to one’s capacity, especially to worthy and distressed Brahmins and to sincere seekers of spiritual uplift; for a truly deserving recipient, no gift is considered inherently ‘forbidden’ or ‘too great.’
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa instructs on dāna-dharma: identifying recipients who suffer silently from poverty or who strive for higher good, and emphasizing that generosity should be proportionate to one’s means yet unrestricted in principle when the recipient is genuinely worthy.