Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 79
व्रती च तीर्थयात्री च विधवा च विशेषतः । परान्नभोजने देवि यस्यान्नं तस्य तत्फलम्
vratī ca tīrthayātrī ca vidhavā ca viśeṣataḥ | parānnabhojane devi yasyānnaṃ tasya tatphalam
Der Gelübdehalter, der Pilger und besonders die Witwe — o Devī — wenn sie Speise eines anderen essen, gehört die Frucht der Handlung dem, dem diese Speise gehört.
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devī/Umā (addressed: devi)
Scene: Three figures—vratin with staff, a pilgrim with travel bundle, and a widow in plain attire—stand before an offered meal; a subtle symbolic stream of ‘phala’ flows back toward the donor, illustrating fruit-transfer.
FAQs
For those under vow and pilgrimage discipline, dependence through food can shift the spiritual ‘fruit’ away; hence self-restraint is emphasized.
The teaching occurs within Prabhāsakṣetra-māhātmya, thus applying to Prabhāsa-kṣetra pilgrimage conduct.
An āhāra-niyama: avoid eating others’ food; otherwise the merit/result is attributed to the food-giver.