Shloka 14
Āśrama-dharma and Brahmacarya: Śuka’s Inquiry on Karma and Tyāga (शुक-प्रश्नः कर्मत्यागविवेकश्च)
अन्तर्हिताधितप्तानां यथाशक्ति बुभूषताम् । देवानामतिशक्त्यापि देयमेषां कृतादपि
antarhitādhitaptānāṁ yathāśakti bubhūṣatām | devānām atiśaktyāpi deyam eṣāṁ kṛtād api ||
व्यास उवाच—ये दारिद्र्यपीडिताः लज्जया गूढचरन्ति, अन्तर्दग्धाश्च सन्तप्ताः, ये च यथाशक्ति परमार्थोन्नतिं बुभूषन्ति, तेषां भूदेवानां स्वोपार्जितधनात् यथाशक्ति दातव्यम्। अर्हतां पूजनीयानां द्विजानां किमप्यदेयं नास्ति; सत्पात्रे तु परममूल्यं वस्त्वपि दातुं शक्यं—इति सतां निर्णयः।
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Give charity from one’s rightly earned wealth according to one’s capacity, especially to worthy and distressed Brahmins and to sincere seekers of spiritual uplift; for a truly deserving recipient, no gift is considered inherently ‘forbidden’ or ‘too great.’
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa instructs on dāna-dharma: identifying recipients who suffer silently from poverty or who strive for higher good, and emphasizing that generosity should be proportionate to one’s means yet unrestricted in principle when the recipient is genuinely worthy.