Shloka 20
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
प्रतिग्रहश्च वै देय: शृणु यस्य युधिष्ठिर । प्रदातारं तथा55त्मानं यस्तारयति शक्तिमान्,युधिष्ठिर! अब मैं तुम्हें यह बताता हूँ कि कैसे व्यक्तिको दान देना चाहिये। जो दाताको और अपने-आपको भी तारनेकी शक्ति रखता हो
pratigrahaś ca vai deyaḥ śṛṇu yasya yudhiṣṭhira | pradātāraṃ tathātmānaṃ yas tārayati śaktimān ||
Sinabi ni Mārkaṇḍeya: “Ang pagtanggap (ng kaloob) ay dapat ding gawin bilang tungkulin—makinig ka, O Yudhiṣṭhira, sa tuntunin nito. Tanggapin lamang mula sa isang nagbibigay na may kakayahan, na sa pamamagitan ng kanyang pagbibigay ay naiaangat kapwa ang tumatanggap at ang kanyang sarili.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
That accepting gifts (pratigraha) is itself a dharmic act that must be regulated: one should accept only from a worthy and capable donor whose giving benefits both parties—bringing merit and uplift to the giver while supporting the recipient without moral compromise.
Mārkaṇḍeya continues instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma in the forest-exile context, shifting from the ethics of giving to the ethics of receiving—who may be accepted from and why that discernment matters.