Shloka 16
Pānīya-dāna and Anna-dāna: The Primacy of Life-Sustaining Gifts (पानीयदान-प्रशंसा / अन्नदान-प्रशंसा)
कृत्वातिपातकं कर्म यो दद्यादन्नमर्थिने | ब्राह्मणाय विशेषेण न स पापेन मुहाते,जो महान् पाप करके भी याचक मनुष्यको, उसमें भी विशेषत: ब्राह्मणको अन्न देता है, वह अपने पापके कारण मोहमें नहीं पड़ता है
kṛtvātipātakaṃ karma yo dadyād annam arthine | brāhmaṇāya viśeṣeṇa na sa pāpena muhyate ||
Nārada nói: Dẫu một người đã phạm trọng tội, nếu người ấy bố thí thức ăn cho kẻ đến xin—đặc biệt là cho một brāhmaṇa—thì người ấy không rơi vào mê muội vì tội lỗi ấy.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that anna-dāna—feeding the needy, and especially offering food to a Brahmin—has strong purifying and stabilizing power: it prevents the sinner from sinking into further delusion and moral confusion, pointing to charity as a practical path toward restoration of dharma.
Nārada is instructing on dharma in the Anuśāsana Parva’s teachings about gifts and conduct. Here he emphasizes the exceptional merit of giving food to a supplicant, presenting it as a remedy that counters the inner darkness (moha) that follows even grave wrongdoing.