When one finds oneself touching the teeth with the tongue, or if something becomes stuck between the teeth, or when making sounds with the fingers, or bowing down and then looking up, one must act with awareness and follow the proper decorum. If, from confusion, a person remains in a state of impurity, he should seek out a clean place, sit down, and bow, facing either east or north in reverence. Before any sacred act, he should wash his feet and hands, then touch his knees with his hands. With a clear and attentive mind, he should sip water three times, remaining composed and focused. The process continues with washing twice, then sprinkling water once, and cleansing the orifices, head, body, hands, and feet in the same manner. If ever there is doubt about whether the sprinkling was done properly, it should be repeated, for only then do the acts of sipping water, study of the Vedas, sacrifices, and austerities bear fruit. Charity and celibacy, too, become effective only when performed with such purity. But if, out of confusion or disbelief, anyone undertakes a rite without sipping water, that act is rendered fruitless. Indeed, all actions performed without purity of speech and mind, or done with fault or reproach, become empty; only those performed with faultless purity are effective. These, then, are the pure acts—anything contrary is impure. A Brahmin, therefore, should never utter, “I am hungry, I have nothing.” When someone offers him food with respect, that is a true sacrifice. But food that has not been sprinkled with water, or food begged by one of poor conduct, does not carry the same sanctity. At a śrāddha, one should always feed a person of steady character and modesty. To give to the unworthy, especially at the end of the rite, is a grave sin—it makes one a slayer of Brahmins, marked by evil. Even after a hundred births, a man who feeds Brahmins in an improper order or with a mixed group does not become free from sin. Regardless of whether he has been appointed, anyone who arranges the line for food wrongly incurs sin—he is quickly overtaken by evil, and all his accumulated merit from sacrifices and charity is destroyed. Among all Brahmins, the one who recites the Vedas along with the Itihasas and the fifth Veda is the foremost at a festival. After him, as is proper, the knowledgeable should appoint the one who knows the three Vedas, then the one who knows two Vedas, followed by the one who knows one Veda, then one who studies logic, and so on. All these purify the line. In their proper order, those who purify the line include: the one versed in the six limbs of the Vedas, the disciplined, the yogi, the one skilled in all rituals, and the wandering mendicant. Indeed, anyone who has mastered even one of the eighteen branches of knowledge is a purifier of the line. All who conduct themselves properly are purifiers, as are those who know the three Naciketas fires, the three Vedas, the twice-born who recite the Dharmas, and the Brahmin who has mastered the Barhaspatya Shastra. All these are declared to be purifiers of the line. If a twice-born, invited to a śrāddha, engages in intercourse with a woman, his ancestors remain in his semen for that entire month. So too, if one gives and eats at a śrāddha and then unites with a woman, his ancestors remain in his semen for that month—of this, there can be no doubt. Therefore, one should give to a worthy guest, feed a celibate student, and offer to those devoted to meditation, compassion, and righteousness. One may also feed an ascetic or the Vālakhilyas at a śrāddha; the forest-dweller, if present, is satisfied with mere honor. Feeding a householder causes the Viśvedevas to be worshipped; the forest-dweller satisfies the sages, and the Vālakhilyas please Indra. In the worship of ascetics, Brahma himself is honored. The five āśramas are purifying, but those outside the āśramas, bearing false marks, are not. The four āśramas are to be honored at śrāddhas and divine rites; those outside the four should not perform śrāddha. If someone, though hungry, lives outside the four āśramas, or is an undisciplined or false renouncer, both defile the ritual line. One must avoid all those who are shaven-headed in vain, those with matted hair, those who wear rags, the cruel, those of deviant conduct, and those who eat anything. Likewise, in offerings to gods and ancestors, one must avoid singers, dancers, actors, those excluded from all the Vedas, and those who recite divine stories. Even if they are twice-born, such persons are always to be excluded from the śrāddha rite. Whoever engages in these practices loses his entire caste status, and all who eat together with a Śūdra defile the ritual line. For a brāhmaṇa, there is no proper occupation in killing, restraining by force, agriculture, trade, cattle-keeping, serving a non-brāhmaṇa, or secret work. Brāhmaṇas who are always established in knowledge and meditation, but are false in resolve or of bad conduct, are to be considered fallen twice-born. Those who follow false doctrines, who are hypocrites and deceivers, who are associated with minor or major sins, are to be avoided. Those who recite the Vedas for hire, who seek gain out of greed or delusion, and those who sell the Veda, are to be excluded from the śrāddha rite. There is no hiring out of the Vedas; whoever does so commits sin. The one who enjoys the fruit of the Veda loses its reward, and the giver loses the merit of his gift. He who teaches for hire, and he who learns for hire, are both unfit for the śrāddha, for they make a trade of sacred rites. Both buyer and seller, when doing so for a livelihood, are to be condemned—this is the occupation of a Vaiśya, but for a brāhmaṇa it is a sin. Those who know the Vedas declare that whoever lives off the Vedas is likewise condemned. Whoever approaches another’s wife without reason, or performs a sacrifice without purpose, is unfit for the śrāddha, as is the twice-born who is an atheist.