Shloka 42
अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता
Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality
यश्न श्राद्धे कुरुते संगतानि न देवयानेन पथा स याति | स वै मुक्त: पिप्पलं बन्धनाद् वा स्वर्गाल्लोकाच्च्यवते श्राद्धमित्र:
yaḥ śrāddhe kurute saṅgatāni na devayānena pathā sa yāti | sa vai muktaḥ pippalaṁ bandhanād vā svargāl lokāc cyavate śrāddha-mitraḥ ||
Bhishma sprach: Wer das śrāddha-Ritual zu einem Mittel persönlicher Bündnisse macht—indem er andere speist, um sich Freundschaft zu erkaufen—gelangt nach dem Tod nicht auf den göttlichen Pfad (devayāna). Ein solcher „durch śrāddha gewonnener Freund“ fällt vom Himmel herab, wie die Frucht des pippala (aśvattha), die, vom Stiel gelöst, zu Boden stürzt. Die Lehre lautet: Ahnenriten sind mit reiner Absicht und ehrfürchtiger Hingabe zu vollziehen, nicht als gesellschaftliches Feilschen oder eigennütziges Netzwerken.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Śrāddha should be performed as a duty toward ancestors and as a sacred act, not as a tool for personal gain. When the motive becomes social leverage—making friends or alliances through feeding—its spiritual fruit is lost, and the performer is said to fall from heavenly merit rather than attain the devayāna.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he warns about improper motives in ritual acts. He uses a simile: just as a pippala fruit detaches from its stalk and falls, so a person who instrumentalizes śrāddha for friendship becomes separated from the merit that would support ascent to higher realms.