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 ||
Nārada disse: “Ó Yudhiṣṭhira, o Brāhmaṇa é, de fato, um grande ser — como um campo sagrado. Qualquer ‘semente’ lançada em tal campo produz uma vasta colheita de mérito. Por isso, as dádivas, o serviço e a reverência oferecidos a um Brāhmaṇa digno geram resultados éticos e espirituais de força excepcional.”
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.