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The sense, as explained by the commentator, is this: the Brahmana who becomes the Ritwik and eats at a Sraddha becomes a Pitri of the person performing the Sraddha. Hence, when his identity has been changed, he should, on that day, abstain from sexual congress with even his own spouse. By indulging in such congress, he incurs the sin of adultery.
Doubting, for example, as to whether he would be able to digest it or not, or whether what he is taking is clean or not, or whether it would be too much for him. In offering certain articles at the Sraddha, the articles are first placed on this part of the right hand and then offered with due Mantras to the Pitris.
Then, again, as the dark fortnight is better than the lighted one, so the afternoon of the day is better than the forenoon in the matter of the Sraddha."" "'Yudhishthira said, "O thou of great puissance, tell me what that object is which, if dedicated to the Pitris, becomes inexhaustible!
For the sake of each of these, the king gratified thousands of Brahmanas with gifts of wealth and gems, and kine and clothes. The king performed the Sraddha rite for the good in the next world, of every one of those kings also who had fallen in the battle without leaving kinsmen or friends behind.
If these verses declaring the merit attaching to gifts of earth be recited on the occasion of a Sraddha, neither Rakshasas nor Asuras can succeed in appropriating any share of the offerings made in it. Without doubt, the offerings one makes unto the Pitris at such a Sraddha become inexhaustible.
Verily, he who performs these acts with faith, becomes freed from the debt he owes to the Pitris. Even thus has been laid down the proper time for the performance of the Sraddha, the ordinance in respect of the rites to be observed, the proper person that should be fed at the Sraddha, and the merits that attach to it. I have declared everything to thee in due order.""
""Dharma said, 'The offerings made in all rites in honour of the deities and in those in honour of the Pitris should never be given away to a Brahmana that has accepted service under the king, or that rings the bell or attends to subsidiary duties in acts of worship or at Sraddhas, or that keeps kine, or that is engaged in trade, or that follows some art as a profession, or that is an actor, or that quarrels with friends or that is destitute of Vedic studies, or that marries a Sudra woman . The performer of the Sraddha who gives away such offerings unto such a Brahmana falls away from prosperity and multiplies not his race.
And it is connection with the world for which one faileth to go to heaven. The Yaksha asked, 'For what may one be considered as dead? For what may a kingdom be considered as dead? For what may a Sraddha be considered as dead? And for what, a sacrifice? Yudhishthira answered, 'For want of wealth may a man be regarded as dead. A kingdom for want of a king may be regarded as dead.
They, O king, who perform the Sraddha on the fifth day, get many sons. Those men who perform the Sraddha on the sixth day acquire great splendour. By performing it on the seventh day, O monarch, one acquires great fame. By performing it on the eighth day one makes great profits in trade. By performing it on the ninth day one acquires many animals of uncloven hoofs.
Manu has said that if a Sraddha is performed with a copious measure of sesame, such Sraddha becomes inexhaustible. Of all kinds of food, sesame seeds are regarded as the best. With fishes offered at Sraddhas, the Pitris remain gratified for a period of two months. With mutton they remain gratified for three months and with the flesh of the hare for four.
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