Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 18
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
जब मनुष्य प्रेतलोकको जाता है, उस समय सूर्यदेव वे सारी वस्तुएँ उसे अर्पित कर देते हैं और पुण्यात्मा पुरुष परलोकमें उन वस्तुओंका उपभोग करता है ।।
yama uvāca | yadā manuṣyaḥ pretalokaṃ gacchati tadā sūryadevaḥ sarvāṇi vastūni tasmai arpayati, puṇyātmā ca puruṣaḥ paraloke tāni vastūni upabhuṅkte || kiñcid dharmaṃ pravakṣyāmi citraguptamataṃ śubham | pānīyaṃ caiva dīpaṃ ca dātavyaṃ satataṃ tathā ||
ヤマは言った。「人が亡者の界へ赴くとき、太陽神はそれらの供物をことごとく彼に捧げ、正しき魂は彼岸においてそれを享受する。いま我は、チトラグプタの見解に従い、吉祥なるダルマの一端を説こう。常に飲み水を施し、また同じく灯明—光の灯—を施すべきである。」
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
Regular charity—especially giving drinking water and offering light (a lamp)—is praised as auspicious dharma whose benefits accompany a person after death, becoming enjoyments in the other world.
Yama, speaking as the authority over the dead, explains how offerings made in life are conveyed in the afterlife: the Sun-god is described as delivering those gifts to the departed, and Yama then introduces Chitragupta’s ethical guidance emphasizing water-gift and lamp-gift.