Shraddh
Shradh or Shraddh
Tarpan
About Shradh or Shraddh
Tarpan ...
Shradh or Shraddh is a ritualistic custom unique to the Hindu religion.The Hindu
scriptures which include the Vedas and the Puranas like the Agni puran, Garud
puran, Vayu puran etc. explain the significance of “shraddh”, for whom it should
be performed, who performs it, when and how it should be done
Funeral rites and Shraddh must be distinguished
from each other. Funeral rites (antyeshthi) are amangal (inauspicious)
while Shradh or Shraddh are mangal (auspicious).
To understand this it should be borne in mind
that when a person dies, his or her gross body (sthula sharira) is
burnt. This being in fact the ‘Antya ishthi’ the last
sacrifice offered in fire, but the soul cannot quit the gross body
without a vehicle of some kind. This vehicle is the Linga-sharira or
subtle body, sometimes described as angushtha-matra (of the size of a
thumb), invested in which the deceased person remains hovering near the
burning ground or crematorium.
He or she is then in the condition of a simple
individual soul invested with a subtle body, and is called a PRETA, i.e.
a departed spirit or ghost. Thus an embodied soul (jiva) who has
departed from the physical body at death is called a Preta. He or she
has no real body capable of enjoying or suffering anything, and is
consequently in a restless, uncomfortable plight.
Moreover, while in this condition he or she is
held to be an impure being, and all the relations who participate in his
or her funeral rites are held to be impure until the first Shradh or Shraddh is
performed. Furthermore, if a person dies away from kindred (relations),
who alone can perform the funeral ceremonies, and who are perhaps
unaware of his or her death, and unable therefore to perform them, he or
she becomes a ‘pishach’, a foul wandering ghost, disposed to take
revenge for its misery upon all living creatures by a variety of
malignant acts.
The object then, of the antyeshthi or funeral
rites, which are carried out for twelve days after death, is not only to
soothe or give shanti (peace) by libations of consecrated water to the
troubled spirit, but to furnish the preta with an intermediate body,
between the ‘linga’ or subtle and the ‘sthula’ or gross body- with a
body, that is to say, which is capable of enjoying or suffering, and
which is composed of gross particles, though not of the same kind as the
earthly gross body. In this manner only can the preta obtain gati or
progress onwards.
When is
Shradh or Shraddh
perform
Shradh or Shraddh is performed every year on the anniversary of the death of the
person as per the Hindu Calendar (Panchang). Mahalaya Shraddh is
performed during a fortnight called as the “ Pitru paksha” in the month
of Ashwin of the Hindu Vikram samvat. This year this period falls
between 8th September 2006, Frieday, Bhadarva Vad Ekam and 21st
September 2006, Thursday, Bhadarva Vad Amas / Amavasya. Shradh can be
performed on every New Moon day or “Amavasya”.
Shradh or Shraddh and tarpan 'Karma'
It takes many months for the departed soul to
reach the abode of the Pitris or the souls of the ancestors. The word
Pitris primarily means the immediate ancestors. Viz. Father, mother etc.
This abode of the Pitris is known as PITRI-LOKA.
Shradh or Shraddh is the name of the ceremonies performed
by relatives to help the departed soul. The ceremony of Shradh or Shraddh performed to help the soul at this stage is called PRETA_KRIYA. Hence a
Shradh or Shraddh is not a funeral ceremony but a Pitri-Yajna or worship of
departed ancestors, which worship, however, is something different from
a puja (ceremonial worship) to a god. It is performed by making
offerings of round balls of rice, flour etc. with accompaniments of
sacred grass (kusha grass), flowers, and sprinkling of water, and with
repetitions of mantras and texts from the SamVeda, the whole ceremonial
being conducted, not in a temple, but at any sacred spot such as the
margin of a river.
Shradh or Shraddh proper is performed for three generations
of Pitris (the father, the grand-father and the great grand-father), or
to all Pitris. Three cakes are offered to the father, grand-father and
great grand-father. Gifts to deserving Brahmins (priests) for the
benefit of the Pitris, in the proper time and place and with faith, are
known as Shradh or Shraddh. Shradh or Shraddh gives satisfaction to the Pitris. Performance
of Shraddh and Tarpan (libations of water) relieves the hunger and
thirst of the departed soul during its journey to the Pitri Loka. By the
offering of the Shradh or Shraddh, the son helps his father to dwell in joy with
the Pitris. The rites that the son should perform for his father are
known as Sapindi karana.
Shradh or Shraddh must be performed with faith, devotion
and reverence. The son who does not perform Shraddh and Tarpan is an
ungrateful son. The sacred scriptures declare: "He who does not perform
Shradh or Shraddh will lead a miserable life and suffer from poverty". The
ceremonies performed during Pitr-Paksha have very special effects.
According to a legend, the offerings of libations of water-tarpan,
arghya etc. to the departed reach the Pitris immediately, due to a boon
from Lord Yama (the God of death).
The Bhagavad Gita, which forms a vital and
philosophically important part of the great epic Mahabharata, states
that on the eve of death the individual soul contracts all its energies
and centers these into the subtle body. Our ordinary sight is incapable
of perceiving it. How the individual soul inhering in the linga-sharira
enjoys the consequences of its needs from one birth to another can only
be perceived by the Yogis with their extraordinary cognitive insight.
Type of
Shradh or Shraddh
-
Nitya Shradh or Shraddh
-
Naimishik Shradh or Shraddh
-
Kramya Shradh or Shraddh
-
Vrudhhi
Shradh or Shraddh
-
Sapind Shradh or Shraddh
-
Parvan Shradh or Shraddh
-
Goshta Shradh or Shraddh
-
Suddhyartha Shradh or Shraddh
-
Karmang Shradh or Shraddh
-
Daivik Shradh or Shraddh
-
Aupacharik
Shradh or Shraddh
-
Sanvatsarik Shradh or Shraddh
