Shloka 6
गोमहात्म्य-प्रश्नोत्तरम्
Saudāsa–Vasiṣṭha on the Purifying Power of Cows
अप॒दहृृत्य तु यो गां वै ब्राह्मणाय प्रयच्छति । यावद् दानफलं तस्यास्तावन्निरयमृच्छति
apadahṛtya tu yo gāṃ vai brāhmaṇāya prayacchati | yāvad dānaphalaṃ tasyās tāvan nirayam ṛcchati ||
毗湿摩说道：“若有人盗取他人之牛，而后将此牛施赠于婆罗门，则其在地狱受苦之时长，恰与经典所说‘施牛之福德所持续之时’等同。”
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
A gift has ethical value only when the means are righteous. Donating stolen property—here, a cow—does not produce merit; instead, the attempted merit is inverted into punishment, measured by the very duration attributed to the gift’s merit in śāstric reckoning.
Bhīṣma (Pitāmaha), in his instruction on dharma, warns about improper giving: if someone steals a cow and then presents it to a Brāhmaṇa as a pious donation, he incurs hell for the same span that would otherwise be associated with enjoying the merit of a genuine cow-gift.