Whenever the ancestors are ignored, there exists scarcity, pains and suffering. Pitra Paksha is a time dedicated to offer our gratitude towards our ancestors. It has been mentioned in Garud Puran that the ancestors are pleased by the Pinda offered to them via the Shraaddha and they bless their family members with wealth, prosperity, knowledge, peace, happiness etc.
The way this universe continues to progress on its path, a human being also continues through the cycles of life and death.
Our ancient sages have divided this time into several phases, right from when the soul enters the womb to the time when the soul departs the body. The reason behind these divisions of life was to help human beings live a well organized life. Additionally, human beings should feel a reverence towards the God and try to please them and get their blessings.
Sanatan Dharma has termed all these predetermined phases as Sanskar or rituals. When the soul enters the womb, Punsavan Sanskar is carried out, when the child is born, Namkaran Chudamani Sanskar is performed.
When the child grows a bit older and reaches an age between five to fifteen, then Upnayan Sanskar is performed which is related to providing knowledge to the child. When the child becomes an adult, then Vivah Sanskar or marriage is performed. Moving on through various other phases of life, when the person grows old and finally leaves the old and diseased body, the body is offered to fire performing Kapaal Kriya Sanskar.
Our Sanatan Dharma is highly organized, and it is extremely loving and caring too. Our relationship is not just with the living beings but also remains intact with the departed soul. Pirta Paksha is a special time that was dedicated to offer our prayers to the ancestors and help them get relieved from the spirit form. This process is termed as Shraaddha Sanskar.
Pitra Paksha
It is a responsibility of human beings to offer gratitude towards our ancestors. Sanatan Dharma included this process with complete reverence. Various processes were created to appease the departed soul and were later termed as Shraaddha . Shraaddha is not a process to be carried out only during the dark lunar phase of Ashwin month, but the followers of Sanatan Dharma perform Shraaddha every month on the day of Amavasya and try to appease their ancestors.
The current society interprets Shraaddha as few days of the year during which performing any sacred tasks is prohibited as departed souls come to the earth. However, this knowledge is just a fraction. One needs to understand this phase astrologically as during this phase, the sun resides at a special place which is very powerful to appease the ancestors for an entire year. Thus, performing Shraaddha during this time of the year helps an individual to attain the same results which can be attained by performing the procedure for the entire year. One can also use the duration of solar and lunar eclipse for performing the sadhana related to ancestors.
Due to a lack of time and scarcity of emotional connect with the ancestors, a person finds oneself incapable of performing the Shraaddha. Today, when a person finds it difficult to even have good terms with all the family members, then is it not surprising if the person finds it difficult to remain obliged towards the departed soul. However, it is a bitter truth that the household which lacks spiritualism, which doesn’t perform sacred rituals, where Guru, God and Pitras are not worshiped; such a household remains filled with quarrels, problems, and diseases.
The essence of Shraaddha was lost a long time ago and there is a lot of misunderstanding about it. People today just consider their dead family members as spirits whereas Pitra form is an entirely different form which is both pious and superior to human beings. They have been considered equivalent to Gods, Sages, Kinnars etc. Pitras are even considered to be equivalent to Lord Brahma and it has been mentioned in texts that even Brahma tries to satisfy the Pitras.
One common doubt that remains in the mind is what if our ancestors have already taken a rebirth, how come they are going to receive the benefits of the Shraaddha procedures. The answer is that the Pitra form is divided into nine parts and the collection of all of them is called as Pious Pitra. Dead people are considered to exist in Matrya Pitra and it is the Pious Pitra form which is capable to pass on the benefits of the Shraaddha procedures to both the ancestors – who have not taken a rebirth as well as those who have already taken a rebirth.
Unsatisfied Souls seek liberation
On every Amavasya, the deceased souls arrive on earth to obtain satisfaction, however, during the period of Pitrapaksha, they remain at the door of their offspring for the entire two weeks. If these ancestors are not offered any Tarpan during the Pitra Paksha, they continue to wait till Sun doesn’t move into the Scorpio sign and they continue to suffer tremendously during this period. At the end of this duration, they leave back dejected, which has a very bad effect on the household. One more point to mention here is that not all the departed souls enter the spiritual plane and remain in a strange state of dissatisfaction. Those who enter the spiritual plane (Pret Lok) and don’t get any Tarpan during this period can bring havoc on the family.
The Shastras mention various procedures to help elevate the departed soul. However, how many learned pundits exist today who understand those procedures and can perform them correctly? Today, all we can find is a Brahman who is eager to quickly eat something and tie the rest and take it back to the home. The Shastras clearly mentions that the Brahmans accepting the feast during Shraaddha should only eat at one place and one time only. Thus, it has become important that the sadhaks must perform this procedure by themselves to satisfy and relieve the ancestors.
Any task that can be performed via Karmakand (procedures mentioned in texts), the same can be completed via Diksha and sadhana too. Knowledgeable people of Karmakand have specialized knowledge, whereas the path of Diksha is simple and for everyone. Presented below is a sadhana that must be performed during the Amavyasya of Ashwin month to appease the ancestors. This day is also known as Pitra Visarjan Amavyasya and must be used to perform Shraaddha for any ancestor (father, grandfather, great grandfather, mother and maternal grandfather). Many a times, sadhaks are unaware of the exact date when any of these ancestors died and under such a situation, the sadhak should perform the sadhana on this very day.
The ninth day of the Pitrapaksha can be used to satisfy the departed souls of mother, grandmother and great grandmother. This is a myth that Shraaddha should be performed just for mother and father. Shraaddha is a way to show our gratitude towards our ancestors and these days are great to obtain their blessings. Thus, every sadhak or reader must take full advantage of this time and make the best out of it.
Sadhana Procedure:
One needs Pitareshwar Tarpan Saafalya Yantra and 11 Pitareshwara Shanti Seeds for this sadhana. This sadhana must be performed early in the morning between 5 am to 7 am. Take a bath and wear white clothes. The sadhak must keep all the articles bought for donation and keep them at the worship place.
Sit on a white mat facing south. Take a wooden plank and cover it with a piece of white cloth. Place a picture of Gurudev and worship Him with vermillion, rice grains, flowers etc. Light an incense stick and a big oil lamp. Chant one round of Guru Mantra and seek His blessings for success in the sadhana. Take some water in your right palm and pledge, “I (speak out your name) am performing this sadhana to bring peace and provide liberation to my (father/mother/any other relative).”, and let the water flow onto the ground.
Now take a steel plate and draw a human body with the help of vermillion and place Piteshwar Tarpan Saafalya yantra over it. Worship the yantra with flowers, incense and lamp and place the eleven Pitareshwar Shanti seeds on the plate chanting the below mantra.
Next, chant the below mantra for one hour fifteen minutes with full concentration.
Mantra
।। Om Kreem Kleem Ayiem SarvaPitrabhyo Swaatma Siddhaye Om Phat ।।
मंत्र
।। ऊॅं क्रीं क्लीं ऐं सर्वपितृभ्यो स्वात्म सिद्धये ऊॅं फट्।।
Tie all the sadhana articles in the white cloth after completing the mantra chanting and drop them in a river or pond. All the items that were kept for the donation should be given to the Brahmin whom you have invited for the feast. One must use separate sadhana articles for every ancestor.
Gurudev will be initiating the disciples with Pitareshwar Mukti Pret Badha Nivaran Sadhana Diksha. It is advised to get initiated with this Diksha to get multifold success in your sadhana procedure. This helps the sadhak appease their ancestors and the departed souls get alleviated to higher realm.
It is mandatory to obtain Guru Diksha from Revered Gurudev before performing any Sadhana or taking any other Diksha. Please contact Kailash Siddhashram, Jodhpur through Email , Whatsapp, Phone or Submit Request to obtain consecrated-energized and mantra-sanctified Sadhana material and further guidance,
