Shloka 125
शिर:स्नातो<थ कुर्वीत दैवं पित्रमथापि च,भारत! मस्तकपरसे स्नान करके देवकार्य तथा पितृकार्य करे। जिस नक्षत्रमें अपना जन्म हुआ हो उसमें एवं पूर्वा और उत्तरा दोनों भाद्रपदाओंमें तथा कृत्तिका नक्षत्रमें भी श्राद्धका निषेध है
śiraḥ-snātaḥ atha kurvīta daivaṁ pitṛm athāpi ca, bhārata!
Bhīṣma said: “O Bhārata, after bathing the head, one should then perform the rites for the gods and also the rites for the ancestors.” (In this context of ritual discipline, the passage further notes restrictions: śrāddha is prohibited on one’s birth-nakṣatra, on both Pūrvabhādrapadā and Uttarabhādrapadā, and on Kṛttikā.)
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ritual acts should be performed with proper purity and order: after a head-bath, one should carry out divine rites and ancestral rites. The broader instruction emphasizes that even meritorious acts like śrāddha are governed by rules of time (nakṣatra) and propriety.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, especially duties, observances, and ritual conduct. Here he gives a practical injunction about preparing through bathing and then performing daiva- and pitṛ-related rites, along with a note on certain nakṣatras where śrāddha is disallowed.