Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 28
Pānīya-dāna and Anna-dāna: The Primacy of Life-Sustaining Gifts (पानीयदान-प्रशंसा / अन्नदान-प्रशंसा)
ब्राह्मणो हि महदभूत॑ क्षेत्रभूतं युधिष्ठिर । उप्यते तत्र यद् बीज॑ तद्धि पुण्यफलं महत्
brāhmaṇo hi mahad abhūt kṣetrabhūtaṃ yudhiṣṭhira | upyate tatra yad bījaṃ tad dhi puṇyaphalaṃ mahat ||
ਨਾਰਦ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਹੇ ਯੁਧਿਸ਼ਠਿਰ! ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ ਮਹਾਨ ਸੱਤਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਪੁੰਨ ਲਈ ਉੱਤਮ ਖੇਤ ਵਰਗਾ ਹੈ। ਉਸ ਖੇਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਜੋ ‘ਬੀਜ’ ਬੋਇਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਮਹਾਨ ਪੁੰਨ-ਫਲ ਦਿੰਦਾ ਹੈ।
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Merit depends not only on the act but also on the worthiness of the recipient: a virtuous Brāhmaṇa is compared to a fertile field, so gifts and respectful service offered there yield especially great puṇya.
Nārada instructs Yudhiṣṭhira using an agricultural metaphor: the Brāhmaṇa is the ‘field,’ and whatever is ‘sown’—charity, honor, service—returns as a large harvest of spiritual merit.