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 ||
ヴィヤーサは言った。「貧困に押し潰され、恥じて身を隠しつつさまようバラモンで、内に激しく苦しむ者たち、また力の及ぶかぎり霊的向上を求めて努める者たちには、正しく得た財の中から、できるだけ施すべきである。ふさわしく尊ぶべきバラモンに対しては、『与えてはならぬ』とされるものは何一つない。まことに、きわめて貴重なものですら、真に相応しい受け手には捧げ得る—これが高貴なる者の判断である。」
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.