Shloka 7
Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ
Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers
रुष्टा दुष्टा व्याधिता दुर्बला वा नो दातव्या याश्र मूल्यैरदत्तै: । क्लेशैविंप्रं योडफलै: संयुनक्ति तस्यावीर्याश्षवाफलाश्वैव लोका:
bhīṣma uvāca |
ruṣṭā duṣṭā vyādhitā durbalā vā na dātavyā yāś ca mūlyair adattaiḥ |
kleśa eva vipraṁ yo ’phalaiḥ saṁyunakti tasyāvīryāś ca aphalāś caiva lokāḥ ||
Бхишма сказал: «Не следует даровать в милостыню корову гневливую, дурного нрава, больную или слабую; равно как и ту, за которую не уплачена должная цена. Кто таким бесплодным даром лишь обременяет брахмана тяготами, тот достигает миров столь же бессильных и без награды.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Charity must be clean, rightful, and genuinely beneficial to the recipient. Donating a cow that is unfit (angry, vicious, sick, weak) or not lawfully acquired (unpaid) is not true dāna; it becomes a burden on the Brahmin and yields no spiritual merit.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma lays down standards for proper gifting—specifically cow-donation—warning that improper gifts harm the recipient and lead the giver to barren, powerless posthumous results.