Shloka 57
तीर्थवंशोपदेशः
Tīrtha-vaṃśa Upadeśa: Instruction on the Fruits of Sacred Waters
(व्रतानां पारणार्थाय गुर्वर्थे यज्ञदक्षिणाम् । निवेशार्थ च विद्वांसस्तेषां दत्त महाफलम् ।।
vratānāṁ pāraṇārthāya gurvarthē yajñadakṣiṇām | niveśārthaṁ ca vidvāṁsas teṣāṁ dattaṁ mahāphalam || pitroś ca rakṣaṇārthāya putradārārtham eva vā | mahāvyādhivimokṣāya teṣu dattaṁ mahāphalam || bālāḥ striyaś ca vāñchanti subhaktaṁ cāpy asādhanāḥ | svargam āyānti dattvaiṣāṁ nirayān nopayānti te || kṛtasarvasvaharaṇā nirdōṣāḥ prabhaviṣṇubhiḥ | spṛhayanti ca bhuktvānnaṁ teṣu dattaṁ mahāphalam ||
ビーシュマは言った。誓戒を結び終えるため、師への謝礼（グル・ダクシナー）を納めるため、祭祀の報礼（ヤジュニャ・ダクシナー）を備えるため、あるいは家を立て婚姻を整えるために資財を求める学識ある者に施す布施は、大いなる霊的果報をもたらす。また、父母を守るため、妻子を養うため、あるいは重い病から解放されるために財を求める者に与える施しも、きわめて功徳が深い。さらに、手立てを失った子どもや女たちが、ただ清らかな食を乞うとき、これに食を施す者は天界に至り、地獄に堕ちない。加えて、力ある盗賊にすべてを奪われた無辜の人々が一食を切望するとき、彼らに食を与えることもまた、大いなる果報を結ぶ。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that charity is especially meritorious when directed to genuine need: completing vows, paying rightful fees (to teacher or sacrifice), establishing a household, protecting parents, supporting family, seeking relief from severe illness, and—above all—feeding the resource-less such as children, women, and innocents robbed by the powerful.
Within Bhīṣma’s instruction on dāna-dharma in the Anuśāsana Parva, he enumerates specific recipients and circumstances where giving (particularly food and necessary wealth) yields ‘great fruit,’ framing charity as a concrete social and ethical duty.