Shloka 12
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
तत्राभिषेकं कुर्वीत पितृदेवार्चने रत: । गाणपत्यं च लभते देहं त्यक्त्वा न संशय:
tatrābhiṣekaṃ kurvīta pitṛdevārcane rataḥ | gāṇapatyaṃ ca labhate dehaṃ tyaktvā na saṃśayaḥ ||
There, one should perform the consecratory rite (abhiṣeka) and remain devoted to the worship of the gods and the ancestors. Having cast off the body, such a person attains the state of being among (or belonging to) Gaṇapati—of this there is no doubt.
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disciplined ritual devotion—especially bathing/abhiṣeka at a sacred place and sincere worship of both devas and pitṛs—bears powerful spiritual fruit, culminating in an exalted posthumous attainment associated with Gaṇapati.
A speaker is describing the merit (māhātmya) of a particular tīrtha: one who goes there, performs the prescribed consecratory bathing and engages in worship of gods and ancestors is promised a specific reward after death—attaining gāṇapatya—stated with emphatic certainty.