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 dit : «À ces brahmanes que la pauvreté écrase, qui vont et viennent dans la honte et la dissimulation, tourmentés au-dedans, et aussi à ceux qui s’efforcent—selon leurs forces—de s’élever spirituellement, il faut donner, sur la richesse acquise honnêtement, autant qu’on le peut. Pour les brahmanes dignes et vénérables, rien ne doit être tenu pour “indonnable” ; oui, même ce qu’il y a de plus précieux peut être offert à un récipiendaire véritablement méritant : tel est le jugement des 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.