Shloka 27
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
तमो<न्धकारं नियतं दीपदो न प्रपश्यति । प्रभां चास्य प्रयच्छन्ति सोमभास्करपावका:,दीपदान करनेवाला मनुष्य नरकके नियत अन्धकारका दर्शन नहीं करता। उसे चन्द्रमा, सूर्य और अग्नि प्रकाश देते रहते हैं
tamo’ndhakāraṃ niyataṃ dīpado na prapaśyati | prabhāṃ cāsya prayacchanti somabhāskarapāvakāḥ ||
พระยมตรัสว่า “ผู้ถวายประทีปย่อมไม่ประสบความมืดอันกำหนดไว้แห่งนรก พระจันทร์ พระอาทิตย์ และไฟ ย่อมประทานรัศมีแก่เขาอยู่เนืองนิตย์”
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
Donating a lamp (dīpa-dāna) is praised as a dharmic act that counters darkness—symbolically ignorance and karmic obscuration—and yields a luminous, protected destiny after death, free from the ‘fixed darkness’ associated with hell.
Yama, the lord of justice and the afterlife, explains the fruit of a specific gift: the giver of a lamp is spared the experience of hell’s darkness and is instead sustained by the cosmic lights—Moon, Sun, and Fire—who grant him radiance.