Shloka 2.100.70
शततमः सर्गः — Rāma Questions Bharata on Rājadharma (Governance, Counsel, and Public Welfare)
दशपञ्चचतुर्वर्गान्सप्तवर्गं च तत्त्वतः।अष्टवर्गं त्रिवर्गं च विद्यास्तिस्रश्च राघव।।2.100.68।।इन्द्रियाणां जयं बुद्ध्या षाड्गुण्यं दैवमानुषम्।कृत्यं विंशतिवर्गं च तथा प्रकृतिमण्डलम्।।2.100.69।।यात्रादण्डविधानं च द्वियोनी सन्धिविग्रहौ।कच्चिदेतान्महाप्राज्ञ यथावदनुमन्यसे।।2.100.70।।
idaṃ bhuṅkṣva mahārāja prīto yad-aśanā vayam |
yad-annaḥ puruṣo bhavati tad-annās tasya devatāḥ ||
O great king, be pleased and partake of this very food that we now eat; for the deities connected with a man receive the same food as that which he partakes.
O highly sagacious Bharata, I trust, having understood their true nature you are appropriately following the ten, five and four divisions, the seven divisions, the eight divisions, the three divisions, three kinds of knowledge, victory over the senses, the six qualities, evils arising from destiny and human agency, kritya, division of twenty, similarly Prakriti and Mandalas and two sources of Yatra and chastisement and of peace and war.
Hospitality (atithi-dharma) and ritual propriety: sharing food respectfully is treated as sacred, extending to one’s divine associations.
A speaker invites a king to accept the same food the hosts are eating, grounding the invitation in a traditional religious rationale.
Generosity and reverence: offering one’s own portion sincerely, not merely a formal or inferior substitute.