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.'
"Sakra said, 'Thinking in one's mind of Kurukshetra and Gaya and Ganga
and Prabhasa and the lakes of Pushkara, one should dip one's head in
water.
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