Shloka 41
Prāyaścitta-vidhāna: Tapas, Dāna, Vrata, and Proportional Expiation (प्रायश्चित्तविधानम्)
काष्टैराद्रैर्यथा वह्नलिरुपस्तीर्णो न दीप्यते । तपःस्वाध्यायचारित्रैरेवं हीन: प्रतिग्रही
kāṣṭhair ādrair yathā vahnir upastīrṇo na dīpyate | tapaḥsvādhyāyacāritraiḥ evaṁ hīnaḥ pratigrahī ||
Gaya ng apoy na natabunan ng basang kahoy at hindi nagliliyab, gayon din ang Brahmin na salat sa tapas, svādhyāya, at mabuting asal; kapag tumanggap siya ng handog, hindi niya ito tunay na “natutunaw,” at ang pagtanggap ay nagiging kapinsalaan.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Receiving gifts (pratigraha) is ethically weighty: without tapas (discipline), svādhyāya (Vedic study), and cāritra (good conduct), a Brahmin is unfit to accept dāna. Such gifts cannot be ‘digested’—they do not nourish dharma but instead burden and degrade the recipient.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right living, Vyāsa uses a vivid simile: fire smothered by wet wood cannot blaze. Likewise, a spiritually unprepared recipient who takes donations cannot properly bear their moral consequences, emphasizing qualifications and integrity in religious giving and receiving.