Sri Deva Sthanam

The Feeding of the Brahmanas

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:37:59 +0000

Along similar lines it was prescribed that during a sraddha ceremony it was also required that brahmanas be fed. The brahmanas were not to be considered as mere human beings, but as representative of the pitrs. The position of thebrahmana in a sraddha rite was therefore very high and they were regularly worshiped by the performer of the sraddha. When the brahmanas ate they ate on behalf of the…

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The Funeral

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:48:18 +0000

In Sanskrit the term antyesti refers to the final sacrifice, the last of the 16samskaras or life sacraments that mark important events in an individual’s life. The antyesti ceremony is the funeral ceremony. This samskara is performed to dispose of the dead body, to give peace to the departed soul, and to enable it to enter the world of the ancestors (pitrs). From the earliest Vedic times cremation…

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Another Form of Sraddha

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 14:47:07 +0000

I will conclude this article by mentioning a final variation to the sraddhaprocess, which is based on the ancient Pancaratra[1] tradition whose influence can be readily seen in the Mahabharata some of the Puranas. A follower of Visnu is enjoined to perform the sraddha rites with the remnants of food first offered to Visnu. The Padma-purana enjoins that deities other than Visnu and the fathers may…

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Pitr-yajna

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:46:25 +0000

The Purakas Rites

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:49:48 +0000

As we have noted, the notion of an initial subtle body, known as theativahika-sarira, was introduced during the Puranic period. As soon as the gross corporal body was burned, the soul came to inhabit this subtle body composed of only three elements: heat (tejas), wind (vayu), and space (akasa). This was the ativahika body.[1] The offering of the puraka rites, which involve the offering of…

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Introduction

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:44:07 +0000

The following article is a summary of the history of Hindu beliefs and ritual practices regarding death and the worship of ancestors. It includes examples of the final rites for the disposal of the dead, antyesti, and a discussion of the post-mortem rites of sraddha and tarpana, which form the basis of Hindu ancestor worship.According to Hindu belief there are realms of existence and classes of…

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The Psychological Benefits of Sacrifice

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:19:56 +0000

The Satapatha-brahmana, a text of the Vedic period, speaks about the five debts that a human being accrues by living in this world. A person becomes indebted to God, to the gods, to the ancestors, to living persons of this world and to lesser beings. It states that these debts can be repaid through sacrifice. God can be repaid through the sacrifice of studying and teaching the Vedas.

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