Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 71
Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda
Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity
अक्षयं च कथं दानं भवेच्चैवोर्ध्वदेहिकम् । आनृण्यं वा कथं मर्त्या गच्छेयु: केन कर्मणा
akṣayaṃ ca kathaṃ dānaṃ bhaveccai vordhvadehikam | ānṛṇyaṃ vā kathaṃ martyā gaccheyuḥ kena karmaṇā ||
释迦罗说道：“施与如何才能成为不灭之施，并在死后仍为施者结成果报？又凭何种行为，凡人得以脱离所负之债（偿尽所欠而得解脱）？”
शक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic inquiry: what kind of giving becomes ‘akṣaya’ (inexhaustible merit), what actions yield benefit beyond death, and how one may become ‘ānṛṇya’—free from binding obligations or debts—through right conduct.
Indra (Śakra), speaking as a questioner, asks for instruction about the conditions and actions that make charity enduring, ensure posthumous spiritual benefit, and lead humans to a state of being debtless—setting up a teaching on the proper manner, object, and intention of dāna and dharma.