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 ||
भीष्म उवाच— ब्रह्मवादिनो विद्वांसो वदन्ति यत् पङ्क्तिदूषकैः सह भुक्तं हविर् रक्षांसि गच्छति। तस्मात् श्राद्धं भुक्त्वा पुनरधीयीत; यः पुनः वृषलीतल्पगः सन् भुङ्क्ते स अशुचिर्भवति, तस्य सहभागो यज्ञं दूषयति, फलञ्च पितृदेवताभ्यः अपहृत्य अन्यत्र नयति।
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.