Shloka 23
अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता
Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality
अपांक्तो यावतः पांक्तान् भुज्जानाननुपश्यति । तावत्फलाद भ्रंशयति दातारं तस्य बालिशम्
apāṅkto yāvataḥ pāṅktān bhuñjānān anupaśyati | tāvatphalād bhraṁśayati dātāraṁ tasya bāliśam ||
Bhīṣma dijo: Mientras una persona no apta (apāṅkta) contemple a los brāhmaṇas aptos que comen en la fila correcta (pāṅkta), en esa misma medida priva al donante, por necio, del mérito correspondiente a tantos comensales como haya visto. La enseñanza es que el donante debe resguardar la santidad de la fila de la comida; permitir que un “corruptor de la fila” se entrometa, o incluso que supervise con la mirada el rito, socava el fruto ético y ritual del don.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Charity and ritual feeding yield merit only when performed with discernment and proper boundaries; permitting an unqualified ‘line-defiler’ to intrude upon or oversee the feeding can nullify the donor’s merit in proportion to the number of rightful diners affected.
Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on the ethics of dāna and śrāddha-style feeding: he warns that if an apāṅkta person observes the properly seated Brāhmaṇas while they eat, the donor—through negligence—loses the corresponding merit of that act.