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 ||
毗湿摩说：若有人把施行 śrāddha（祭祖供养之礼）当作结交私党之具——以设食饷人来换取友谊——其人死后不能循天道（devayāna）而行。此等“由 śrāddha 结成之友”终将从天界坠落，犹如菩提榕（pippala／aśvattha）之果一旦脱离果梗，便直坠于地。此教诫在于：祖先之祭当以清净之心与恭敬之意奉行，不可作为社交交易或自利结网之术。
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.