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 ||
Bhīṣma dijo: “Los sabios expositores del Brahman declaran que la oblación (havis) va a los rākṣasas cuando se come en compañía de quienes corrompen la fila sagrada del banquete. Por ello, tras participar de una comida de śrāddha, debe reanudarse el estudio védico; pero quien come mientras se asocia con una mujer de casta baja (o viola la santidad del lecho) queda incapacitado: su participación mancha el rito y desvía su fruto lejos de los antepasados y de los dioses a quienes iba destinado.”
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.