Shloka 16
अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता
Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality
ज्ञानपूर्व तु ये तेभ्य: प्रयच्छन्त्यल्पबुद्धय: । पुरीषं भुज्जते तेषां पितर: प्रेत्य निश्चय:
jñānapūrvaṃ tu ye tebhyaḥ prayacchanty alpabuddhayaḥ | purīṣaṃ bhuñjate teṣāṃ pitaraḥ pretya niścayaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : « Ceux dont l’intelligence est faible et qui, en connaissance de cause, donnent des offrandes de śrāddha à de tels brāhmanes corrupteurs de la rangée—les ancêtres de ces donateurs, après la mort, en vérité, en viennent à manger des immondices. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Charity and ritual offerings must be guided by discernment: knowingly giving śrāddha food to unworthy, corrupt recipients destroys the intended merit and instead yields a painful, degrading result for one’s ancestors.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he warns about improper conduct in śrāddha: if a person, despite knowing the recipients are pāṅkti-dūṣaka (ritually and socially corrupt), still feeds them in the ancestral rite, the pitṛs do not receive sanctified benefit; the outcome is described as the pitṛs consuming filth in the afterlife.