Dear Sangom,
This is more a curiosity query. At what point do we say that the pithurs are completely satisfied so that amavaasai tharpanam is no longer needed. is there is something to that effect in the scriptures?
You see where I am coming from. My dad did tharpanams and shraddhams all his life. I too did them, till when mom passed away, I went to kasi/gaya and spent a whole week of non stop shraddhams (atleast it felt like it). I was also given to understand that with this kasi/gaya stuff, all my ancestors, all people, pets everything would have reached their own heaven – even though I mentioned many of my relatives known to me and who had passed since I came of age.
In this case, my relatives were very lucky to have me go to kasi/gaya. What about those whose progeny have not been able to go to such faraway place and perform such expensive (yes we get fleeced by those ganapaadigals) rituals? are those pithurs destined to be forever in the limbo zones? Those who have only girls, are they destined to be bereft of the pleasures of swarga?
… and back to my first question: can one say that at the end of (for example) after 25 years of continual amavasai tharpanams and shraddhams, the pithurs have been liberated into their next mode of life as per their deeds on this earth?
Thank you.
the concept of amavasai & tharpanam is alient to 96% of the hindus. are they all destined to naragam per our scriptures? i mean the quota system does not work in the netherworlds?
Dear Shri Kunjuppu,
Your doubts are profound indeed. I do not know if I should combine an approach of mixing saastraic and rational views! I feel it will only create confusion and so, I give the sastraic views first and rational (my) views later.
Simply put, NEVER !! It is the (imagined) hunger which is sought to be satiated by the tarpanas and saastras. The concept is that one human year is equal to one day for the pitrus. So, once a day we give a "full meal" (by way of Sraaddha) to the pitrus and some light refreshments on various occasions when the pitrus are supposed to have access to us, or this human world; the new moon, grahana, and the passage of the sun from one rasi to the next are supposed to be occasions when this accessibility occurs, but out of the twelve passages of the sun - which were counted for tarpanam in olden days - it was mercifully reduced by saastrigals later to only four (the equinoxes and solstices).
The point is, since these are in the nature of satiating the hunger and thirst of the pitrus, these are never-ending requirements! Performance of sraaddham at Gaya is supposed to satisfy a galaxy of departed souls including those of pets, cattle kept by our people, etc., but I do not think the time factor is built into it, as per saastras. (I may kindly be corrected by the knowledgable members.) But when someone goes, allows himself to be looted by the Pandas at Gaya, it is customary for them to eulogize "gayaa sraaddham" by citing some slokams and saying that there is no need to do any further sraaddhams, etc., but that is not valid currency when one returns to his place and consults his vaadhyar. This is from real experience of my (late) parents who performed all the rites in Kasi and Gaya (it looks Gaya sraaddha requires some preliminary rituals to be done in Kasi also) were satisfied very much and returned to Kerala when the vaadhyar said that a true Brahmana cannot default in the routine tarpanas and sraaddhas!! So my father continued to do (till at a late stage he lost his mental presence to do such things).
I have not come across the "forty year rule" so far. May be it is in some book.
Based on the above "back to square one" rule, those who cannot/do not go to Kasi/Gaya do not lose anything much after all, except the merit of satisfying a very large group of souls, that too, for the time being only.
In Kerala, the Nairs who constitute a sizeable % of the population perform "bali" - akin to "pinda pradaanam" in sraaddha - to their pitrus on aaDi amaavaasai day in sea shore, some sacred spots etc. But I suspect many non-Nair groups also may be doing it now. AFAIK, Hindu Nadars here do not partake in this. Perhaps their beliefs differ; some research is worth in this matter.
Now, coming to the "rational" aspects, according to advaita, the soul gets merged with parabrahman on death, and the "kaarana Sareera" gets reborn as a new entity within a short time (a few days) after death. So, advaitins should not be doing anything after the first 13 day ceremonies. That we insist on all these subsequent rites will show that either we do not have full understanding of advaitam or we do not have complete belief in it. A third possibility is that the priesthood has such a strong influence on the Brahmans.
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