Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 58
Dharma-ākhyāna (Discourse on Dharma): Worthy Charity, Fruitless Gifts, and the Merit of Building Ponds
देवता यस्य तुष्यन्ति गुरवो वा नृपोत्तम । तडागपुण्यभाक्स स्यादित्येषा शाश्वती श्रुतिः ॥ ५९ ॥
devatā yasya tuṣyanti guravo vā nṛpottama | taḍāgapuṇyabhāksa syādityeṣā śāśvatī śrutiḥ || 59 ||
Wahai raja yang utama, sesiapa yang menyenangkan para dewa—atau para guru yang mulia—dia menjadi peserta dalam pahala kebajikan kolam suci; inilah ajaran abadi menurut śruti.
Narada (teaching a king; vocative 'nṛpottama')
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: bhakti
FAQs
It teaches that earning the genuine pleasure of the deities or one’s gurus yields great spiritual merit—equated here with the famed puṇya of establishing a beneficial sacred water-reservoir (taḍāga), a classic dharmic public good.
Bhakti is shown as practical reverence: when devotion expresses itself as actions that please the divine and the spiritual preceptors (service, humility, right conduct), it becomes a powerful source of puṇya and inner purification.
The verse emphasizes dharmic praxis rather than a specific Vedanga: it encodes the ritual-ethical principle that satisfaction of devatās and guru-sevā are valid measures of righteous conduct and merit, often guiding proper karmakāṇḍa application.