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The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 13.90.35

Mahābhārata 13.90.35

Language
Sanskrit

13.90.35

yaśca śrāddhe kurute saṃgatāni na devayānena pathā sa yāti |
sa vai muktaḥ pippalaṃ bandhanādvā svargāllokāccyavate śrāddhamitraḥ || 35 ||

For these reasons, O king, thou shouldst properly examine the Brahmanas before inviting them to Sraddhas. Thou shouldst invite only such among them as are devoted to the duties laid down for their order, and as are born in good families, and as are possessed of great learning. He who performs Sraddhas for feeding only his friends and whose Havi does not gratify the deities and the Pitris, fails to ascend to Heaven. He who collects his friends and relatives only on the occasion of the Sraddha he performs (without keeping an eye on properly honouring deserving persons by inviting and feeding them), fails to proceed (after death) by the path of the deities (which is a lighted one and free from all afflictions and impediments). The man who makes the Sraddha he performs an occasion for only gathering his friends, never succeeds in ascending to heaven. Verily, the man who converts the Sraddha into an occasion for treating his friends, becomes dissociated from heaven even like a bird dissociated from the perch when the chain tying it breaks. Therefore, he that performs a Sraddha should not honour (on such occasions) his friends. He may make gifts of wealth unto them on other occasions by collecting them together. The Havi and the Kavi offered at Sraddhas should be served unto them that are neither friends nor foes but are only indifferent or neutral.

Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

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