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The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 13.90.41

Mahābhārata 13.90.41

Language
Sanskrit

13.90.41

ubhau hinasti na bhunakti caiṣā yā cānṛce dakṣiṇā dīyate vai |
āghātanī garhitaiṣā patantī teṣāṃ pretānpātayeddevayānāt || 41 ||

As seed sown on a sterile soil does not sprout forth, or as one that has not sown does not get a share of the produce, even so that Sraddha the offerings in which are eaten by an unworthy person, yields no fruit either here or hereafter. That Brahmana who is destitute of Vedic study is like a fire made by burning grass or straw; and becomes soon extinguished even like such a fire. The offerings made at Sraddhas should not be given to him even as libations should not be poured on the ashes of the sacrificial fire. When the offerings made at Sraddhas are exchanged by the performers with one another (instead of being given away unto worthy persons), they come to be regarded as Pisacha presents. Such offerings gratify neither the gods nor the Pitris. Instead of reaching the other world, they wander about even here like a cow that has lost her calf wandering about within the fold. As those libations of ghee that are poured upon the extinguished ashes of a sacrificial fire never reach either the gods or the Pitris, after the same manner a gift that is made to a dancer or a singer or a Dakshina presented to a lying or deceitful person, produces no merit. The Dakshina that is presented to a lying or deceitful person destroys both the giver and the receiver without benefiting them in any respect. Such a Dakshina is destructive and highly censurable. The Pitris of the person making it have to fall down from the path of the deities.

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

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