Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 18
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
जब मनुष्य प्रेतलोकको जाता है, उस समय सूर्यदेव वे सारी वस्तुएँ उसे अर्पित कर देते हैं और पुण्यात्मा पुरुष परलोकमें उन वस्तुओंका उपभोग करता है ।।
yama uvāca | yadā manuṣyaḥ pretalokaṃ gacchati tadā sūryadevaḥ sarvāṇi vastūni tasmai arpayati, puṇyātmā ca puruṣaḥ paraloke tāni vastūni upabhuṅkte || kiñcid dharmaṃ pravakṣyāmi citraguptamataṃ śubham | pānīyaṃ caiva dīpaṃ ca dātavyaṃ satataṃ tathā ||
阎摩说道：“当人前往亡者之界时，太阳神便将那些供献尽数呈与他，正直之魂在彼世享用之。如今我将依吉多罗古波多之见，宣说一分吉祥之达摩：当恒常施与饮水之布施，也当恒常施与灯明之布施（光明之灯）。”
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
Regular charity—especially giving drinking water and offering light (a lamp)—is praised as auspicious dharma whose benefits accompany a person after death, becoming enjoyments in the other world.
Yama, speaking as the authority over the dead, explains how offerings made in life are conveyed in the afterlife: the Sun-god is described as delivering those gifts to the departed, and Yama then introduces Chitragupta’s ethical guidance emphasizing water-gift and lamp-gift.