Adhyaya 26 — Madālasa Names Alarka and Reorients Him Toward Kshatriya Duty
पितरो देवलोकस्थास्तथा तिर्यक्त्वमागताः ।
तद्वन्मनुष्यतां याता भूतवर्गे च संस्थिताः ॥
pitaro deva-loka-sthās tathā tiryaktvam āgatāḥ / tadvan manuṣyatāṃ yātā bhūta-varge ca saṃsthitāḥ //
পিতৃসকল দেৱলোকত বাস কৰিব পাৰে; তেনেকৈয়ে তেওঁলোকে তিৰ্যক্যোনি (পশু অৱস্থা) লাভ কৰিও থাকিব পাৰে; তদ্ৰূপে তেওঁলোকে মানৱত্ব লাভ কৰিব পাৰে, অথবা ভূতগণৰ মাজত স্থিত থাকিব পাৰে।
Because the departed may exist in varied states, śrāddha/tarpaṇa is framed as universally beneficial—supporting ancestors regardless of their post-mortem destination.
Touches cosmological worldview (loka-vyavasthā) but remains within Anucarita/dharma instruction rather than formal Sarga/Manvantara exposition.
The verse encodes a ‘networked’ cosmos: offerings act as subtle transfers (saṃbandha) across planes. It also implies compassion beyond certainty—ritual as a hedge against epistemic limits about the dead’s condition.