Shloka 12
अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता
Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality
रक्षांसि गच्छते हव्यमित्याहुर्ब्रह्मयवादिन: । जुआरी
bhīṣma uvāca | rakṣāṃsi gacchate havyam ity āhur brahmavādinaḥ | śrāddhaṃ bhuktvā tv adhīyīta vṛṣalītālpagaśn yaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “The learned exponents of Brahman declare that the oblation (havis) goes to the rākṣasas when it is eaten in the company of those who corrupt the sacred dining line. Therefore, after partaking of a śrāddha meal, one should resume Vedic study; but he who eats while consorting with a woman of low caste (or violates the sanctity of the bed) becomes unfit—his participation taints the rite and diverts its fruit away from the intended ancestors and gods.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ritual acts like śrāddha and offerings require moral and social discipline: association with ‘line-corrupting’ participants and sexual/ethical transgressions are said to deflect the rite’s merit, symbolically making the offering fall to rākṣasas rather than benefiting the intended recipients.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, he cites the view of brahmavādins about śrāddha and sacrificial food: improper participants contaminate the dining line, so the rite’s fruit is spoiled; he then states a prescriptive rule about conduct after eating at śrāddha and warns against those whose behavior makes them unfit.