Shloka 25
गवां लोकवर्णनं तथा गोप्रदानफलश्रुतिः
Description of the ‘World of Cows’ and the Stated Fruits of Cow-Gift
भीष्म उवाच असदृवृत्ताय पापाय लुब्धायानृतवादिने । हव्यकव्यव्यपेताय न देया गौ: कथंचन
bhīṣma uvāca asadṛvṛttāya pāpāya lubdhāyānṛtavādine | havyakavyavyapetāya na deyā gauḥ kathaṃcana ||
ビーシュマは言った。「素行の正しくない者――罪深く、貪欲で、虚言を弄する者――には、決して牛を与えてはならない。また、聖なる供物（havis）や祖霊への祭儀（kavya）に敬意を欠く者にも、いかなる場合であれ牛を与えてはならない。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that gifts—especially a cow, a high-merit gift—must be given with discernment: one should not donate to recipients who are immoral, greedy, untruthful, or disrespectful toward sacred and ancestral rites, because such giving undermines the ethical purpose of dāna.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma lays down a rule about proper recipients of gifts, warning that a cow should not be bestowed upon unworthy persons characterized by bad conduct, falsehood, greed, and neglect of ritual obligations.