Mahabharata Anushasna Parva Chapter 58:2

Mahabharata Anushasna Parva (Dana Dharma Parva) Chapter 58:2 Whatever measure of water is drunk from one's tank and whatever measure is taken therefrom by others for purposes of bathing, all become stored for the benefit of the excavator of the tank and he enjoys the same for unending days in the next world. Water, especially in the other world, is difficult to obtain, O son. A gift of drink produces eternal happiness. Make gifts of sesame here. Make gifts of water. Do thou also give lamps (for lighting dark places.) While alive and awake, do thou sport in happiness with kinsmen. These are acts which thou shalt not be able to achieve in the other world. The gift of drink, O chief of men, is superior to every other gift. In point of merit it is distinguished above all other gifts. Therefore, do thou make gifts of water. Even thus have the Rishis declared what the high merits of the excavation of tanks are I shall now discourse to thee on the planting of trees. Of immobile objects six classes have been spoken of. They are Vrikshas, Gulmas, Latas, Vallis, Twaksaras, and Trinas of diverse kinds. These are the several kinds of vegetables. Listen now to the merit that attaches to their planting. By planting trees one acquires fame in the world of men and auspicious rewards in the world hereafter. Such a man is applauded and reverenced in the world of the Pitris. Such a man's name does not perish even when he becomes a citizen of the world of deities. The man who plants trees rescues the ancestors and descendants of both his paternal and maternal lines. Do thou, therefore, plant trees, O Yudhishthira! The trees that a man plants become the planter's children. There is no doubt about this. Departing from this world, such a man ascends to Heaven. Verily many eternal regions of bliss become his. Trees gratify the deities by their flowers; the Pitris by their fruits; and all guests and strangers by the shadow they give. Kinnaras and Uragas and Rakshasas and deities and Gandharvas and human beings, as also Rishis, all have recourse to trees as their refuge. Trees that bear flowers and fruits gratify all men. The planter of trees is rescued in the next world by the trees he plants like children rescuing their own father. Therefore, the man that is desirous of achieving his own good, should plant trees by the side of tanks and cherish them like his own children. The trees that a man plants are, according to both reason and the scriptures, the children of the planter. That Brahmana who excavates a tank, and he that plants trees, and he that performs sacrifices, are all worshipped in heaven even as men that are devoted to truthfulness of speech. Hence one should cause tanks to be excavated and trees to be planted, worship the deities in diverse sacrifices, and speak the truth. "'Yudhishthira said, "I desire, O chief of the Bharatas, to hear from thee what the rewards are which are attached, O best of the Kurus, to the planting of trees and the digging of tanks.