top of page
Ancestral rites form a large chapter in the scope of hindu rituals, quite separate from devatā worship. Ancetors or Pitṛs receive offerings but are not worshipped in the same way as the gods, so technically it is not a pūjā. These rites are called śrāddha, and there are many kinds of śrāddha depending on the occasion.
The theme of the ancestral rituals is how we live on in some way. Not only as a divine spark, as ātma, but also as the person we were. The dead are relevant to the living, they are among us as an active participant in our life. There are gods, ancestors, and various astral beings. And we live with them, we share a reality and are influenced by them.
The subtle body stores all of the imprints and latent attachments, all of the experiences of life that shaped us, all of our happiness and sorrow. It consists of the subtle senses of smelling, tasting, seeing, feeling and hearing together with the mind, intellect and the sense of self. At the moment of death the soul in the heart, in the centre, gathers all of the prāṇa from the physical senses and leaves
the body, carrying the subtle body with it into the afterlife and rebirth. The experiences of this life determine the family system of our next birth.
We are the continuation of a family lineage, we have ancestors who are very relevant to our life. We do not exist alone, we have a history, our physical existence is part of a large chain of events in the lives of our ancestors. And similarly we live on in our offspring, our children. That makes us part of a current, of a family system. The ancestral rites are not about how to become liberated, but how to take care of the family system in a dharmik and prosperous way.
Our physical body is determined by DNA which we have inherited from our parents. The subtle body of the deceased recognizes that physicality and finds an anchor for its attachments. Hence, its state of being will infuence us. The more active attachments it carries the more negative the influence will be.
Straight after death the deceased is in a
state of shock. All of his life the soul was
used to eat with physical mouth, and now
he must learn to eat with a subtle mouth.
He is said to be a preta, a hungry ghost.
The rites performed for 10 days after the
death serve to strengthen the subtle body
so that on the 11th day he becomes an
ancestor, a pitṛ. There is also the deeper
cycle of one year to evolve into pitṛ.
The preta must let go of the memories and
attachments of the personality that died in
order to move on as a pitṛ, and that process is aided by śrāddha. Śrāddha is the offering of piṇḍas to the preta or the pitṛ.
Since the focus of the rite is the deceased rather than the one who does it, it is sufficient if one person in the family does it. Piṇḍa nourishes and solidifies the subtle body, and satisfies the pitṛ.
Piṇḍa means a ball, compressed, a lump, something containing an essence. So here piṇḍa is a ball of rice or barley flour. The essence of food without being distinct. It is the essence of physicality without limbs. It is in a form in between gross and subtle. And that is the shift the soul is making, from identification with the physical body to the subtle body. A total of 33 piṇḍas are given in which the diffuse life force is compressed into a form, and located ritually in a specific place to operate more clearly.
6 before the cremation, 10 in the 10-day period after death, and 16 in the year after death. Then the sapiṇḍī ceremony is done, uniting the deceased as a pitṛ with his ancestors.
These are the śrāddhas in connection to the well-being of one ancestor on the occasion of his death, and after that once a year on the lunar return day of his passage.
There is another group of śrāddhas that are done for general honouring of the ancestors, and rites to make up for not having done the prescribed rites on the first 10 days. The last group of rituals is for pretas who remain restless after the śrāddhas.
Every śrāddha ritual is performed by a group of specialised priests, and one central priest is the mahāpātra, literally the great vessel. He is the vessel for the ancestors, they enter into him. He accepts the gifts for the deceased. It leads up to the moment when he takes a morsel of food, being addressed as your ancestor.
Please contact us via email to arjun@pujawisdom.com to discuss in detail what rites are needed as there can be very specific requirements.
bottom of page