Garudapurana 1.51

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 51
Brahmā said: / Next, therefore, I shall fully explain the unsurpassed duty of giving: / the bestowing of wealth upon a worthy recipient with faith.

Giving is declared by the knowers of reality to bestow the fruits of enjoyment and liberation. / One should acquire wealth righteously, and its fruit is giving and enjoyment.

Teaching, performing sacrifices [for others], and accepting gifts are called [the brāhmaṇa's] livelihood. / Following the livelihood of a kṣatriya, he should avoid usury, agriculture, and trade.

That which is given to worthy recipients is proclaimed as giving. / Giving is declared to be fourfold: obligatory, occasional, optional, and pure.

Whatever is given day by day to one who has done no service in return, / without aiming for a fruit from it, to a brāhmaṇa, is regular.

That which is given into the hand of learned men for the pacification of sin / is designated occasional giving, performed by the virtuous.

That which is offered for the sake of offspring, victory, prosperity, or heaven / is declared optional giving by the sages who ponder dharma.

That which is given well to knowers of Brahman for the pleasure of the Lord / with a mind endowed with sattva is pure and auspicious giving.

He who gives to a knower of the Veda land covered with sugarcane, / possessing barley, wheat, and rice, is not born again.

There has never been nor will there ever be a gift superior to the gift of land. / Having given knowledge to a brāhmaṇa, one is magnified in the world of Brahmā.

One should give [alms] day after day with faith to a brahmacārī; / freed from all sins, he attains the abode of Brahman.

On the full moon day of Vaiśākha, having fasted, the wise man / should worship five or seven brāhmaṇas with honey, sesame, and clarified butter.

Having worshipped them with fragrances and other offerings, he should have them say, or say himself: / 'May the King of Dharma be pleased!' according to what is in his heart.

The sin committed throughout one's life is destroyed at that very moment. / Placing sesame seeds on a black antelope skin along with gold, honey, and clarified butter,

whoever gives it to a vipra crosses over every evil deed. / Food with clarified butter, and water, especially in the month of Vaiśākha,

dedicated to the King of Dharma [and given] to vipras, one is freed from fear. / Having fasted on the twelfth day, one should worship Viṣṇu, who destroys sins;

a man certainly becomes freed from all sins. / Whatever deity a man desires to worship,

he should diligently honor brāhmaṇas, feed women, and worship the gods. / Desiring offspring, he should constantly worship Purandara.

Desiring spiritual luster, [he should worship] brāhmaṇas with resolute focus on Brahman; / desiring health, the Sun; desiring wealth, the Fire-god.

Desiring success in undertakings, he should worship Vināyaka; / desiring enjoyment, the Moon; desiring strength, the Wind-god.

Desiring liberation from all worldly existence, he should worship Hari with effort; / free from desires or having all desires, he should worship Gadādhara.

The giver of water attains satisfaction; the giver of food, imperishable happiness; / the giver of sesame, desired offspring; the giver of a lamp, excellent eyesight.

The giver of land obtains everything; the giver of gold, long life; / the giver of a house, foremost mansions; the giver of silver, excellent beauty.

The giver of a garment attains residence in the world of the Moon; the giver of a horse, the world of the Aśvins; / the giver of a draft-ox, abundant prosperity; the giver of a cow, the realm of the Sun.

The giver of a vehicle and bed [attains] a wife; the giver of fearlessness, sovereignty; / the giver of grain, everlasting joy; the giver of the Veda, the eternal Brahman.

Giving knowledge to those who know the Vedas, he is magnified in the heavenly world; / by the gift of grass to cows, he is freed from all sins.

By the gift of firewood, a man is born with blazing [digestive] fire. / Medicine, oil, and food for the pacification of illness in a sick person

giving these, he becomes free from disease, happy, and long-lived. / The Sword-leaved Forest path, beset with razor edges

and fierce heat, a man crosses over by giving an umbrella and shoes. / Whatever is most cherished in the world, and whatever is dear to him in the house,

that very thing should be given to a virtuous person by one desiring it to be imperishable. / At the solstices, at the equinox, and at an eclipse of the moon or sun,

and at times such as the sun's transit, what is given becomes imperishable, / at sacred places such as Prayāga, and especially at Gayā.

There is no dharma higher than the duty of giving for living beings. / Giving should be done for the pacification of sin by one desiring heaven, longevity, and prosperity.

That sinful man who out of delusion prevents a gift being made / to a cow, a vipra, fire, or the gods, goes to an animal womb.

He who in a time of famine does not give food / when vipras are dying is censured as a slayer of a brāhmaṇa.

Thus ends the fifty-first chapter, named 'Determination of the Duty of Giving', in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first part in the first section of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.