Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 108: Jābāli Speaks the Philosophy of Materialism
Text 2.108.15
यदि भुक्तमिहान्येन देहमन्यस्य गच्छति।
दद्यात्प्रवसतः श्राद्धं न तत्पथ्यशनं भवेत्॥
yadi bhuktam ihānyena deham anyasya gacchati
dadyāt pravasataḥ śrāddhaṁ na tat pathy-aśanaṁ bhavet
yadi = if; bhuktam = the food eaten; iha = here; anyena = by one; deham = body; anyasya = someone else’s; gacchati = goes to; dadyāt = can be given; pravasataḥ = to a traveller; śrāddham = śrāddha; na tat = but that is not seen; pathi-aśanam = [for] that would be his food for travel; bhavet = to occur anywhere.
If the food eaten by one here goes to someone else’s body, śrāddha can be given to a traveler, [for] that would be his food for travel. But that is not seen to occur anywhere.
He implies that śrāddha and such rituals is not really feeding the dead.
By pointing out one instance of the Vedic system’s failure to provide the predicted results, Jābāli concludes that everything in the Vedic system fails to provide the predicted results in the next verse.