Mahabharata 3.201.10 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 10
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
भुदुक्ते च दानं तत् सर्व गर्भस्थस्तु नर: सदा । ददद् दान द्विजातिभ्यो वृद्धभावेन मानव:
Mārkaṇḍeya uvāca: bhayodvigne ca dānaṃ tat sarvaṃ garbhasthaḥ tu naraḥ sadā | dadad dānaṃ dvijātibhyo vṛddhabhāvena mānavaḥ ||
Mārkaṇḍeya dijo: «Cuando un don se hace con miedo, turbación, oscuridad de ánimo o con ira, el hombre experimenta el fruto entero de ese dar en un nacimiento futuro mientras aún está en el vientre: es decir, la caridad tamásica madura como sufrimiento. Pero el ser humano que da con intención madura y reverente a los “dos veces nacidos” (brāhmaṇas dignos) goza del fruto de ese don en mayor medida, según la excelencia del receptor y la disposición interior del dador.»
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The moral quality of a gift depends on the giver’s inner state: charity given under tamas—fear, anger, or confusion—yields painful karmic results, while charity given with mature reverence to worthy recipients yields greater, beneficial results.
In Mārkaṇḍeya’s instruction on dharma, he explains to the listener how different motives and mental states behind giving determine the kind of fruit (phala) one experiences, even across future births.
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