Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 6
परपाकं च येऽश्नंति पर दाररताश्च ये । अप्रत्याख्यं वृथा दानं सदोषं च तथा प्रिये
parapākaṃ ca ye'śnaṃti para dāraratāśca ye | apratyākhyaṃ vṛthā dānaṃ sadoṣaṃ ca tathā priye
Mereka yang memakan makanan masak milik orang lain, dan mereka yang terpaut pada istri orang lain—perilaku demikian tercela. Wahai kekasih, dana yang tidak dipersembahkan menurut tata yang patut adalah sia-sia; demikian pula dana yang diberikan dengan cacat menjadi tanpa pahala suci.
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A didactic scene at a sacred assembly in Prabhāsa: a teacher enumerates ‘fruitless gifts’; in the background, pilgrims approach a coastal shrine and a tīrtha-ghāṭa, while symbolic vignettes show improper giving dissolving like sand in water.
FAQs
Dharma is not only about giving, but giving rightly—faulty, careless, or improper charity loses its spiritual fruit.
The discourse belongs to Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya in the Skanda Purāṇa.
A principle of dāna-vidhi is stated: avoid ‘vṛthā dāna’—gifts given improperly or with doṣa (defects).