Mahabharata Anushasna Parva Chapter 130:2

Mahabharata Anushasna Parva (Dana Dharma Parva) Chapter 130:2 Brahman said, 'O highly blessed one, excellent is the duty that thou hast enunciated, together with its secret ritual. Praise be to thee! I grant thee this boon, viz., that thy penances will continually increase!' Yama said, 'I have heard from thee an excellent and agreeable discourse. Listen now to what Chitragupta has said and what is agreeable to me. Those words relate to duty with its secret ritual, and are worthy of being heard by the great Rishis, as also by men endued with faith and desirous of achieving their own good. Nothing is lost of either piety or sin that is committed by creatures. On days of the full moon and the new moon, those acts are conveyed to the sun where they rest. When a mortal goes into the region of the dead, the deity of the sun bears witness to all his acts. He that is righteous acquires the fruits of his righteousness there. I shall now tell you of some auspicious duties that are approved by Chitragupta. Water for drink, and lamps for lighting darkness, should always be given, as also sandals and umbrellas and Kapila kine with due rites. In Pushkara especially should one make the gift of a Kapila cow unto a Brahmana conversant with the Vedas. One should also always maintain one's Agnihotra with great care. Here is another duty which was proclaimed by Chitragupta. It behoveth them that are the best of creatures to listen to what the merits are of that duty separately. In course of time, every creature is destined to undergo dissolution. They that are of little understanding meet with great distress in the regions of the dead, for they become afflicted by hunger and thirst. Indeed, they have to rot there, burning in pain. There is no escape for them from such calamity. They have to enter into a thick darkness. I shall now tell you of those duties by performing which one may succeed in crossing such calamity. The performance of those duties costs very little but is fraught with great merit. Indeed, such performance is productive of great happiness in the other world. The merits that attach to the gift of water for drink are excellent. In the next world in especial, those merits are very high. For them that make gifts of water for drink there is ordained in the other world a large river full of excellent water. Indeed, the water contained in that river is inexhaustible and cool and sweet as nectar. He who makes gifts of water in this world drinks from that stream in the world hereafter when he goes thither. Listen now to the abundant merits that attach to the giving of lamps. The man who gives lamps in this world has never to even behold the thick darkness (of Hell). Soma and Surya and the deity of fire always give him their light when he repairs to the other world.