Mbh 13.71.3c

Verily, by giving away even a single cow of the Kapila species that has been acquired by legitimate means, one becomes cleansed of all the sins one may have committed. There is nothing higher (in point of tastes) than the milk which is yielded by kine. The gift of a cow is truly regarded as a very superior gift. Kine by yielding milk, rescue all the worlds from calamity. It is kine, again, that produce the food upon which creatures subsist. One, who, knowing the extent of the service that kine do, does not entertain in one's heart affection for kine, is a sinner that is certain to sink in hell.[355] If one gives a thousand or a hundred or ten or five kine, verily, if one gives unto a righteous Brahmana even a single cow which brings forth good calves at proper intervals, one is sure to see that cow approach one in heaven in the form of a river of sacred water capable of granting the fruition of every wish. In respect of the prosperity and the growth that kine confer, in the matter also of the protection that kine grant unto all creatures of the earth, kine are equal to the very rays of the sun that fall on the earth.[356] The word that signifies the cow stands also for the rays of the sun. The giver of a cow becomes the progenitor of a very large race that extends over a large part of the earth. Hence, he that gives a cow shines like a second sun in resplendence. The disciple should, in the matter of making gifts of kine, select his preceptor. Such a disciple is sure to go to heaven. The selection of a preceptor (in the matter of the performance of pious deeds) is regarded as a high duty by persons conversant with the ordinances. This is, indeed, the initial ordinance. All other ordinances (respecting the gift of kine) depend upon it.[357] Selecting, after examination, an eligible person among the Brahmanas, one should make unto him the gift of a cow that has been acquired by legitimate means, and having made the gift cause him to accept it.