Pitri yagya is one of the panch-mahayagyas prescribed for a human being. The other four yagyas include –brahm yagya (study of scriptures), dev-yagya (making offerings to devas by medium of fire), manushya-yagya (feeding fellow human beings) and bhuta-yagya (feeding all living creatures).
In earlier times, people would propitiate their deceased fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers by performing acts of charity in their name and chanting specific mantras. Our ancestors were well aware of the continuous nature of life and birth and what a soul goes through during the transition from one birth to the next. The Vedic Indians performed the rites of Shraadh, while the ancient Egyptians embalmed the bodies and stored food and supplies in the pyramids for their final journey. Ancient Greeks put coins under the tongue of the deceased and buried them from where they would be ferried to the underworld, the place where souls lived after death in their culture.
Life is a continuous journey of the soul, which changes form with every subsequent birth. The form could be that of a human, or an animal, or even a deva…Depending on karma, one gets the yoni (level of existence) and loka (dimension of existence). Pitri loka is a dimension between the swarg lok and prithvi loka where souls of ancestors (last three generations) reside in a body-less existence, if their karmas do not permit them to afford a body in the next birth. These ancestors then depend on their children and grandchildren to perform the tasks left unfinished by them to aid their release and approach them in several ways.
These are not myths or superstition, at Dhyan Ashram we have practically come cases where the ancestors have approached their kith and kin for their release. To quote a recent example, clairvoyants at the foundation traced the skeleton and presence of lady with a pearl necklace in the energy body of young girl suffering from chronic stomach illness upon scanning. When they described the lady’s appearance to the mother of the child, she revealed it was her own mother. At another occasion, a sadhak who was performing a havan for peace at the house of a lady, reported seeing a lady who kept distracting him.
When he asked the owner of the house for her identity, he was told she was a deceased kin. Subsequent havans were performed for the shanti of soul.
Shradhs are an important part of our culture and cater to needs of the ancestors who are stuck somewhere in the journey of the spirit. Starting from purnima of bhadrapad till amavasya of ashvin month, on these days the constellations are such that the gateways to the other dimensions open and they are allowed to visit the earth to meet their near and dear ones. Acts of charity done in the name of ancestors along with chanting of specific mantras and performing of yagyas, free the souls from bondages of these not-desired-yonis or levels of existences.
This Pitra Paksh, to avoid Pitra dosh and to get your ancestors blessings for, your healthy fruitful life, Dhyan Foundation is conducting daily yagyas and Gaubhoj from Sept 17 till Sarv Pitra Amavasya Oct 2 in special shakti kund. Guru ji will be guiding all yagyas
To participate in the yagya and to do gaudaan in the name of your pitris, visit www.dhyanfoundation.com