Shloka 41
Prāyaścitta-vidhāna: Tapas, Dāna, Vrata, and Proportional Expiation (प्रायश्चित्तविधानम्)
काष्टैराद्रैर्यथा वह्नलिरुपस्तीर्णो न दीप्यते । तपःस्वाध्यायचारित्रैरेवं हीन: प्रतिग्रही
kāṣṭhair ādrair yathā vahnir upastīrṇo na dīpyate | tapaḥsvādhyāyacāritraiḥ evaṁ hīnaḥ pratigrahī ||
如同火被湿柴覆盖便不能炽燃；同样，缺乏苦行（tapas）、缺乏自习诵读吠陀（svādhyāya）、缺乏善行的婆罗门，若受人布施，便不能真正“消化”其福分；受纳反成祸患。
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Receiving gifts (pratigraha) is ethically weighty: without tapas (discipline), svādhyāya (Vedic study), and cāritra (good conduct), a Brahmin is unfit to accept dāna. Such gifts cannot be ‘digested’—they do not nourish dharma but instead burden and degrade the recipient.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right living, Vyāsa uses a vivid simile: fire smothered by wet wood cannot blaze. Likewise, a spiritually unprepared recipient who takes donations cannot properly bear their moral consequences, emphasizing qualifications and integrity in religious giving and receiving.