Shloka 27
तीर्थवंशोपदेशः
Tīrtha-vaṃśa Upadeśa: Instruction on the Fruits of Sacred Waters
सावित्रीं जपते यस्तु त्रिकालं भरतर्षभ । भिक्षावृत्ति: कियावांश्व स राजन् केतनक्षम:
sāvitrīṃ japate yas tu trikālaṃ bharatarṣabha | bhikṣāvṛttiḥ kiyāvāṃś ca sa rājan ketanakṣamaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “O bull among the Bharatas, the man who recites the Sāvitrī (Gāyatrī) at the three daily junctions, who maintains himself by alms, and who is steadfast in prescribed conduct—such a person, O king, is fit to be invited for the śrāddha.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Eligibility for receiving honor in ancestral rites (śrāddha) is grounded in disciplined daily spiritual practice (trikāla-japa of Sāvitrī), austere livelihood (bhikṣā-vṛtti), and steadfast performance of prescribed duties (kriyā). The verse links ritual worthiness to sustained ethical-religious conduct rather than status alone.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and proper ritual standards. Here he specifies the kind of person who should be invited to a śrāddha: a disciplined practitioner of the Sāvitrī/Gāyatrī, living simply on alms and devoted to correct observances.