With deep reverence and careful preparation, the excellent Brahmin, adorned with the sacred thread, begins the ancestral rites by establishing the southern fire in accordance with tradition. After completing the preliminary ceremonies, he proceeds to the acts of sprinkling and purification. Every step is performed by one who understands the sacred posture of prācīnāvīta, and, having gathered the special offerings, he prepares the rice balls and water required for the ritual. With vessels of water at hand, he offers the liquid with his left hand, ensuring that every action is performed with mindfulness, self-control, and a heart free from envy. A line is carefully drawn, and the offerings for the ancestors are placed upon it. Facing the southern direction, he arranges the darbha grass as prescribed, placing each rice ball upon the grass while circumambulating them and reciting the names and gotras of the ancestors. On the same blades of darbha, he wipes his hand for those who receive the offerings, reciting the appropriate mantras and performing the cleansing once more. Water is offered, followed by worship with incense, fragrance, and other prescribed rites, invoking all the ancestors with the sacred Vedic mantras. With one fire and a single vessel of water, he places the rice balls, and then, with wisdom, offers kuśa grass to the ancestors. Invocation and dismissal rites are performed for the rice balls and other offerings, after which portions are taken from the balls in the proper order. Next, Brahmins are seated with honor and praised; they are served food, both for the fulfillment of desires and for merit, as is always the custom. Those prone to anger are avoided, and the mind remains fixed on Nārāyaṇa Hari. Knowing that the ancestors are satisfied, the ritual of scattering the offerings is performed for all castes once more. With food retained together with water and sesame, the offerings are scattered upon the earth. When the Brahmins have completed their meal, water with flowers and rice grains is offered again. The svadhā invocation is chanted over all the rice balls, and the entire sequence of rites is performed from beginning to end, for otherwise, the śrāddha would bear no fruit. After dismissing the Brahmins with bows and circumambulation, the performer turns to the south and addresses the ancestors, praying: “May our donors increase, may the Vedas and our lineage endure; may our faith never diminish, and may we always be blessed with abundance to give. May there always be plentiful food, guests to receive, and those who seek from us, so that we never have to beg from anyone.” This is the rule for the Anvāhārya offering as taught by Agnimat, to be performed just as it is at the waning of the moon and as prescribed elsewhere. The rice balls may be offered to cows, Brahmins, into the fire, into water, scattered at the edge of a field, or immersed with water, according to tradition. The wife, humble and devoted, partakes of the middle rice ball, for in her the ancestors place the seed that ensures the growth of progeny. The offerings remain until the Brahmins have departed, and after the rites for the ancestors are complete, the Vaiśvadeva offering is performed. Then, together with those who have been honored, the family partakes of the food offered to the ancestors in a peaceful manner. Only after this may one eat again, travel, exert oneself, or engage in union. Yet, those who perform or partake in a śrāddha should always abstain from a second meal, travel, exertion, sexual union, study, quarrel, and daytime sleep on that day. By this procedure, śrāddha should be performed for the three aims of life, especially during the dark fortnight when the moon is in Kanyā, Kumbha, Vṛṣabha, or the stars' auspicious signs. Wherever an offering for sapiṇḍīkaraṇa is required, it should always be given by one who knows the fire-rites, following this very procedure. Now, as Brahmā once declared, there is a śrāddha called ‘universal’ that bestows both enjoyment and liberation. It is to be performed at the solstices, equinoxes, new moon, solar ingress, amāvāsyāṣṭakā, and on the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight. The days of Ārdrā, Maghā, and Rohiṇī, when wealth and Brahmins are present, and the days of Gajacchāyā, Vyatīpāta, Viṣṭi, and Vaidhṛti are also auspicious. Likewise, the third day of Vaiśākha, the ninth of Kārtika, the fifteenth of Māgha, and the thirteenth of Nabhasya are remembered as beginnings of the yugas, beneficial for the ancestors. At the start of a manvantara, too, the wise should offer śrāddha. Other auspicious times include the ninth of Aśvayuj, twelfth of Kārtika, third of Caitra and Bhādrapada, new moon of Phālguna, eleventh of Pauṣa, tenth of Āṣāḍha, and seventh of Māgha. The eighth of the dark fortnight in Śrāvaṇa, the full moon of Āṣāḍha, the Kārtikī and Phālgunī full moons, and the fifteenth bright day of Jyeṣṭha are also prescribed. These acts, beginning from the manvantaras, bring inexhaustible merit to the giver. Even water mixed with sesame, offered with devotion to the ancestors, is effective. By this, a śrāddha is performed that brings a thousand years of benefit to the ancestors—a secret teaching, especially powerful during the fasts of Vaiśākha and on the great festival of Mahālaya. Śrāddha should be offered with understanding in holy places, temples, cow-pens, islands, gardens, homes, and in clean, secluded spots. On the previous or following day, Brahmins of self-control, good conduct, noble character, and lineage should be invited, regardless of one’s own wealth, and the offering should not be excessive. For divine rites, two Brahmins; for ancestral rites, three; or one for each—this is the rule, even for the wealthy. The Viśvedevās are worshipped with fresh flowers and proper seating, and a pair of vessels is filled and placed on purified darbha grass. Reciting “Śanno devī,” water is poured, or, with the mantra “Yavosi,” barley is offered. Then, worship with fragrance and flowers is performed for the Viśvedevās. Invoking the Viśvedevās with the mantras “Viśvedevāsa” and others, barley is scattered with the words: “You are the king of grains, O barley, mixed with honey and belonging to Varuṇa.” Thus, in accordance with the sacred tradition and with a heart full of devotion, the śrāddha is performed, bringing blessings to both ancestors and descendants, and ensuring the continuity of dharma and prosperity in the family line.