Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 38
Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda
Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity
अपो गच्छति यो ह्वात्र शशिनं होष प्रीणयेत् । शशी प्रीणयते देवान् पितृश्चैव महामते
apo gacchati yo hvātra śaśinaṃ hoṣa prīṇayet | śaśī prīṇayate devān pitṝṃś caiva mahāmate ||
देवदूत ने कहा: “हे महामते! यहाँ जो कोई जल अर्पित करता है और उससे चन्द्रमा को तृप्त करता है—यह जानो—वह देवताओं और पितरों को भी तृप्त करता है।”
देवदूत उवाच
Educational Q&A
Offering water as a devotional act to the Moon is presented as a dharmic practice whose merit extends beyond a single deity: by pleasing the Moon, one is said to please both the gods and the ancestors, emphasizing interconnected obligations to devas and pitṛs.
A divine messenger instructs the listener that a simple rite—offering water to gratify the Moon—has broader spiritual efficacy, linking lunar worship/propitiation with the satisfaction of the divine order (devas) and ancestral lineage (pitṛs).