Shloka 5
तीर्थवंशोपदेशः
Tīrtha-vaṃśa Upadeśa: Instruction on the Fruits of Sacred Waters
अवषुष्ट च यद् भुक्तमव्रतेन च भारत । परामृष्टं शुना चैव तं भागं रक्षसां विदु:
avaṣuṣṭaṃ ca yad bhuktam avratena ca bhārata | parāmṛṣṭaṃ śunā caiva taṃ bhāgaṃ rakṣasāṃ viduḥ ||
Bhīṣma nói: “Hỡi hậu duệ Bharata, thức ăn đã bị xướng lên công khai (như đã dành riêng hay bị gọi tên), đã bị người không giữ lời nguyện thanh tịnh ăn, hoặc đã bị chó chạm vào—phần ấy được hiểu là thuộc về loài rākṣasa.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Food intended for righteous use must be protected by discipline (vrata/ācāra) and purity; once it is improperly claimed, eaten by an undisciplined person, or contaminated (e.g., by a dog), it becomes unfit for dharmic consumption and is figuratively assigned to rākṣasas.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhishthira on right conduct, he lists conditions under which food becomes ritually tainted—publicly called out/claimed, eaten by an avratin, or touched by a dog—and states that such a portion is regarded as belonging to rākṣasas, i.e., outside the sphere of proper human religious eating.