Mahabharata 3.82.29 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 82, Shloka 29
Pulastya’s Tīrtha Enumeration: Sarasvatī, Naimiṣa, Gayā, and Associated Phalaśruti
Chapter 82
शाकैर्मूलै: फलैर्वापि येन वर्तयते स्वयम् । तद् वै दद्याद् ब्राह्मणाय श्रद्धावाननसूयक:
śākair mūlaiḥ phalair vāpi yena vartayate svayam | tad vai dadyād brāhmaṇāya śraddhāvān anasūyakaḥ ||
മനുഷ്യൻ താൻ ജീവൻ നിലനിർത്താൻ ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്ന ശാകം, മൂലം, ഫലം എന്നിവയിൽ ഏതായാലും, അതേ ആഹാരം ശ്രദ്ധയോടെ, കുറ്റം തേടാതെ, ബ്രാഹ്മണന് ദാനമായി നൽകണം.
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
One should practice charity from one’s own simple means: whatever sustains one’s life—greens, roots, or fruits—should be shared with a Brāhmaṇa, offered with faith and without a habit of criticizing or looking for others’ faults.
In this instruction, the speaker lays down a rule of conduct for forest or austere living: even minimal sustenance is not exempt from generosity, and the inner attitude—faith and non-censoriousness—is presented as essential to the merit of the gift.
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