Shloka 6
Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ
Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers
जरारोगोपसम्पन्नां जीर्णा वापीमिवाजलाम् | दत्त्वा तम: प्रविशति द्विजं क्लेशेन योजयेत्
jarārogopasampannāṁ jīrṇā vāpīm ivājalām | dattvā tamaḥ praviśati dvijaṁ kleśena yojayet ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Si l’on donne en aumône une vache accablée par la vieillesse et la maladie—usée comme un puits en ruine et sans eau—on tombe dans les ténèbres (un enfer redoutable). Un tel don ne fait qu’imposer au brāhmane qui le reçoit un fardeau de souffrance. Aussi la charité doit-elle être convenable et profitable ; offrir ce qui est inutile ou accablant n’est pas un vrai mérite, mais une cause de faute.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Charity must be appropriate and beneficial. Donating something useless—like a cow ruined by age and disease—does not create merit; it harms the recipient and leads the giver toward demerit and a ‘dark’ fate.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dāna-dharma, he warns that giving a decrepit, diseased cow is ethically wrong because it imposes hardship on the brāhmaṇa recipient; such a ‘gift’ is condemned and said to lead to darkness/hell.