Shloka 42
अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता
Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality
यश्न श्राद्धे कुरुते संगतानि न देवयानेन पथा स याति | स वै मुक्त: पिप्पलं बन्धनाद् वा स्वर्गाल्लोकाच्च्यवते श्राद्धमित्र:
yaḥ śrāddhe kurute saṅgatāni na devayānena pathā sa yāti | sa vai muktaḥ pippalaṁ bandhanād vā svargāl lokāc cyavate śrāddha-mitraḥ ||
Sinabi ni Bhishma: Ang sinumang ginagawang kasangkapan ang ritwal na śrāddha upang bumuo ng pansariling alyansa—pinapakain ang iba para makuha ang pakikipagkaibigan—ay hindi makalalakad, pagkalipas ng kamatayan, sa landas ng mga diyos (devayāna). Ang “kaibigang nalikha sa pamamagitan ng śrāddha” ay mahuhulog mula sa langit, gaya ng bungang pippala (aśvattha) na kapag naputol sa tangkay ay bumabagsak. Ang aral: ang mga handog para sa mga ninuno ay dapat isagawa nang may dalisay na layon at paggalang, hindi bilang pakikipagtawaran sa lipunan o pagbuo ng ugnayang pansariling pakinabang.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Śrāddha should be performed as a duty toward ancestors and as a sacred act, not as a tool for personal gain. When the motive becomes social leverage—making friends or alliances through feeding—its spiritual fruit is lost, and the performer is said to fall from heavenly merit rather than attain the devayāna.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he warns about improper motives in ritual acts. He uses a simile: just as a pippala fruit detaches from its stalk and falls, so a person who instrumentalizes śrāddha for friendship becomes separated from the merit that would support ascent to higher realms.