Mahabharata 3.201.123 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 123
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
जो जीविकाके लिये राँधा हुआ अन्नका दान करता है, वह स्वर्गलोकमें प्रतिष्ठित होता है। जो आश्रयकी खोज करनेवाले राहगीर-अतिथिको ठहरनेके लिये जगह दे वह सम्पूर्ण यज्ञोंका अनुष्ठान पूर्ण कर लेता है ।।
yo jīvikāyai rāddham annasya dānaṃ karoti sa svargaloke pratiṣṭhito bhavati | ya āśrayasya khojane vartamānaṃ rāhagiṇam atithiṃ sthātum sthānaṃ dadāti sa sarvayajñānām anuṣṭhānaṃ pūrayati || pratisrotaḥ-śīrṇa-vāhāḥ parjanyo 'nnānusañcaran | mahādhuri yathā nāvā mahāpāpaiḥ pramucyate ||
Disse Mārkaṇḍeya: Aquele que, para sustento da vida, doa em caridade alimento já cozido, fica firmemente estabelecido no céu. E aquele que oferece lugar de pouso ao viajante-hóspede que busca abrigo, com isso completa a realização de todos os sacrifícios. Assim como um barco, pesadamente carregado, é levado adiante mesmo contra a corrente, do mesmo modo tal pessoa se liberta de grandes pecados, sustentada e conduzida pelo mérito da hospitalidade e da doação de alimento.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Feeding others with prepared food and giving shelter to a traveler-guest are presented as supreme acts of dharma: they yield heavenly merit, are equivalent to completing all sacrifices, and have the power to cleanse even grave sins.
Mārkaṇḍeya instructs the listener through ethical praise and a vivid simile: like a heavily loaded boat that can still move even against the current, the merit of hospitality and food-giving carries a person beyond obstacles and releases them from great wrongdoing.
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