Adhyaya 26 — Madālasa Names Alarka and Reorients Him Toward Kshatriya Duty
पितरो देवलोकस्थास्तथा तिर्यक्त्वमागताः ।
तद्वन्मनुष्यतां याता भूतवर्गे च संस्थिताः ॥
pitaro deva-loka-sthās tathā tiryaktvam āgatāḥ / tadvan manuṣyatāṃ yātā bhūta-varge ca saṃsthitāḥ //
پِتر دیو لوک میں رہ سکتے ہیں؛ اسی طرح وہ حیوانی حالت (تیریَگ یونی) کو بھی پہنچے ہوں؛ اسی طرح وہ انسانی مرتبہ پا چکے ہوں، یا بھوتوں کے گروہوں میں مقیم ہوں۔
Because the departed may exist in varied states, śrāddha/tarpaṇa is framed as universally beneficial—supporting ancestors regardless of their post-mortem destination.
Touches cosmological worldview (loka-vyavasthā) but remains within Anucarita/dharma instruction rather than formal Sarga/Manvantara exposition.
The verse encodes a ‘networked’ cosmos: offerings act as subtle transfers (saṃbandha) across planes. It also implies compassion beyond certainty—ritual as a hedge against epistemic limits about the dead’s condition.