“The Pitris said, ’Great is this question which thou hast asked.  It involves a mystery and is fraught with wonder.  We have been exceedingly gratified with thee, O ranger of the sky!  The very deities and the Munis applaud acts done in honour of the Pitris.  Even they do not know what the certain conclusions are of the ordinances in respect of the acts done in honour of the Pitris.  Excepting the high souled, immortal, and excellent Markandeya, that learned Brahmana of great fame, who is ever devoted to the Pitris, none amongst them is conversant with the mysteries of the ordinances in respect of the Pitris.  Having heard from the holy Vyasa what the end is of the three rice-balls offered at the Sraddha, as explained by the Pitris themselves in reply to the question of the celestial messenger, I shall explain the same to thee.  Do thou hear, O monarch, what the conclusions are with respect to the ordinances about the Sraddha.  Listen with rapt attention, O Bharata, to me as I explain what the end is of the three rice-balls.  That rice-ball which goes into water is regarded as gratifying the deity of the moon.  That deity, thus gratified, O thou of great intelligence, gratifies in return the other deities and the Pitris also with them.  It has been laid down that the second rice-ball should be eaten by the spouse (of the man that performs the Sraddha).  The Pitris, who are ever desirous of progeny, confer children on the woman of the house.  Listen now to me as I tell thee what becomes of the rice-ball that is cast into the blazing fire.  With that ball the Pitris are gratified and as the result thereof they grant the fruition of all wishes unto the person offering it.  I have thus told thee everything about the end of the three rice-balls offered at the Sraddha and consigned to the three (viz., water, the spouse, and the fire).  That Brahmana who becomes the Ritwik at a Sraddha constitutes himself, by that act, the Pitri of the person performing the Sraddha.  Hence, he should abstain that day from sexual intercourse with even his own spouse[542].  O best of all rangers of the sky, the man who eats at Sraddha should bear himself with purity for that day.  By acting otherwise, one surely incurs the faults I have indicated.  It cannot be otherwise.  Hence, the Brahmana who is invited to a Sraddha for eating the offerings should eat them after purifying himself by a bath and bear himself piously for that day by abstaining from every kind of injury or evil.  The progeny of such a person multiply and he also who feeds him reaps the same reward.’

“Bhishma continued, ’After the Pitris said so, a Rishi of austere penances, named Vidyutprabha, whose form shone with splendour like that of the sun, spoke.  Having heard those mysteries of religion as propounded by the Pitris, he addressed Sakra, saying, ’Stupefied by folly, men slay numerous creatures born in the intermediate orders, such as worms and ants and snakes and sheep and deer and birds.  Heavy is the measure of sin they incur by these acts.  What, however, is the remedy?  When this question was asked, all the gods and Rishis endued with wealth of penances and the highly blessed Pitris, applauded that ascetic.’