Tarpanam and ancestral karma

 Hari Aum.

According to the yogis, our ancestors leave a very deep imprint upon our material existence. Modern science has shown that we carry the genes of our parents; we obtain half our genes from our mothers and the other half from our fathers. They, in turn, obtained their genes from their own parents, who in turn obtained theirs from their parents-- and so on and so forth. So, we carry within our physical bodies, genetic material that has been passed down through countless generations.

While it is true that genes are 'shuffled' from generation to generation, we still have extremely similar genes and traits compared to our ancestors. Some genes may be 'expressed' while others may exist in apparent silence within our physical being. We may thus look and perhaps even behave in a similar way to some of our ancestors, even a generation or two before that of our parents. All of this is on a physical level. 

However, the yogis say our connection with our ancestors is much deeper than the blueprint for our physical bodies that they give us.

The  yogis tell us that the thoughts, feelings and lives as a whole lived by our ancestors shaped not only their destinies but also those of their descendants, namely ourselves. 

We inherit not only their genes, but to a significant extent, their karma; our karma is intertwined deeply with theirs. It is not only raised cholesterol, diabetes and various diseases that can run in families. The yogis say, spiritual and material traits can also very much run in families. 

They tell us that souls are not randomly born in families-- they are allocated by the universe to those families where they can receive the results of their own past karmas.

Why should we bother with our ancestral karma as spiritual seekers? Well, the yogis say, this is actually an important topic from the point of view of spiritual progress.

We can only be spiritually free or 'liberated' or 'Self-realised' once we have released all of our own karma. But, we carry within ourselves, the karma of our ancestors to a great extent. (This is why, the yogis say, there can be repeating patterns in families, not only of disease, but also other life events).

The yogis say that our ancestors, being souls, are still very much alive in other realms. One name for this realm of the ancestors is known as 'Pitru loka' (in Sanskrit, 'Pitru' means 'ancestor', and 'loka' means 'realm').

From the realms that they inhabit (outside the Earthly plane), our ancestors are said to be able observe us, their descendants. They are said to be aware of our deeds, and generally take an interest in our welfare.

However, like us, they too are bound souls, trapped within the material realms of samsara (the cycle of birth and death). And they too have minds with their own thoughts and feelings (comprising the 'astral' or subtle/non-physical aspect of their existence).

As we are deeply connected to them, not only physically, but also subtly (through the subconscious layers of our minds), it is said that their unfulfilled desires manifest within us. These can and do influence us according to the yogis.

Gurus, including Sivananda and others, have said that it is our duty to pray for the welfare of these souls who are our ancestors. 

And, in the Vedic tradition, there are various special prayers and spiritual rituals that have been performed since time immemorial for the welfare of one's ancestors and the release of our karmic debt towards them. These are very useful for spiritual progress.

One particularly popular one is known as 'tarpanam' or the water ritual. I would like to explain a bit about this here, particularly as we are currently in a sacred period of time known as 'Pitru paksha' or the fortnight dedicated to the ancestors in the Vedic calendar. This occurs in autumn every year and is a particularly good time to perform the tarpanam ritual. 

(Note- this ritual applies to householder spiritual seekers; it does not apply to monks/nuns/Swamis who renounce their families and perform another spiritual ritual for their karma).

Just as fire can be used for worship (for example, by performing homams/havans, the sacred fire ritual), so also water can be used for worship in tarpanam. Unlike homams which can be more complex and time consuming, a tarpanam can be a relatively quick and simple procedure (lasting from a couple of minutes to an hour depending upon the time available).

In essence, the tarpanam ritual involves pouring water while reciting specific mantras. The water is poured over the right hand so that it flows in a particular manner.

The human hand, according to the yogis, is not merely a vital structure required for the performance of actions in the material world. It is, they say, a portal to the realms of the demi-gods and ancestors. How so? The tarpanam water ritual provides the answer.

In essence, when one pours water over different parts of the right hand, while chanting specific (simple) mantras, the water is said to purify and bring peace to the souls of our ancestors. Three generations of ancestors on the maternal and paternal sides of the family are traditionally made water offerings in the tarpanam ritual. 

Many years ago, I discovered an excellent website with a detailed description on how to perform tarpanam for one's ancestors (it is the same site that I have previously shared on this blog that contains the manuals for the fire ritual or homam). I am referring to the website of Sri PVR Narasimha Rao-- please see below for the link. Just as for homams, he provides free manuals for simple and more complex tarpanam rituals.

https://www.vedicastrologer.org/tarpana/download.htm

I personally perform the simplest version (as this works for me due to my current schedule and commitments; in total this takes me around 5-10 minutes as I pour water a few more times than mentioned in the manual). I admit I do not perform the tarpanam ritual regularly throughout the year but I do try my best to perform this quite a few times during the pitru paksha period. 

I have therefore been doing the tarpanam ritual in the past few days in addition to my daily mantra japa. I have found that this simple five minute ritual brings me great peace and makes me feel connected in a positive way to my ancestors (particularly my grandparents who have passed away). I intend to make a greater effort to perform this more regularly in the coming year.

I would recommend performing the tarpanam ritual during this sacred time. The pitru paksha period culminates in an auspicious date known as 'Sarva pitru amavasya' (the new moon day of the lunar fortnight) which occurs on October 2 this year (it varies slightly each year based on the lunar calendar). 

This auspicious day in particular is said to be excellent for spiritual practices and especially for tarpanam (like other new moon days, it is not regarded as being particularly auspicious for material activities in accordance with the principles of Vedic astrology). In fact, if there is one day in the year when one should perform tarpanam, it is said to be the day of Sarva pitru amavasya.

This year, it so happens that a solar eclipse will take place on October 2. An eclipse is also a very good time to perform tarpanam (in addition to mantra japa) according to the yogis. So this year's Sarva pitru amavasya is particularly special for worship of God and performance of tarpanam based on the Vedic calendar.

May the souls of our ancestors be at peace, may they be released from their karmas, and may they bless us all with peace, joy and spiritual progress.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Note- if readers are not comfortable with the Sanskrit mantras for tarpanam, but would like to perform the water ritual, I feel that is perfectly acceptable and would recommend saying the prayers (equivalent to the meaning of the mantras) in your own language. 

While Sanskrit mantras do have their own value and effect, one's thoughts and feelings also have a powerful effect. While performing the water ritual (and pouring water in the manner described by Sri Rao), I feel it is quite reasonable to make the prayers in one's own native language (if one is not at ease with Sanskrit. However, the mantras for the simplest version of tarpanam, on the website mentioned above, are relatively easy and worth learning if at all possible).

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Bala Kanda Part 7: The legends of Ganga and Ahalya

Hari Aum.

Om Sri Ramaya Namah.

In the previous post on the Ramayana, we saw Sri Rama begin the work of His avatar on Earth to protect the good and destroy evil. We see Him rid the forest of demonic beings and grant safety to the sages engaged in spiritual practices.

Sri Rama and His brother now set off with the sages to the kingdom of Mithila to witness the worship of the divine bow of Lord Shiva. 

Their journey through the forests took a few days and as they walked, they engaged in many interesting conversations with the sages and learned about various subjects. A lot of the conversations began by Sri Rama asking Vishvamitra to tell Him about the history of a particular place or river that they saw. 

During the course of these discussions, Vishvamitra told Sri Rama a bit about his own family (his sisters and their marriages; one of his sisters had taken on the form of a sacred river known as 'Kaushiki'!). 

They also passed by the sacred river known as the Ganga, which represents a form of the Divine Mother. Rama asked about Her origin, and this led to an extremely detailed discussion about the Ganga, Mother Parvati, Lord Shiva and Kartikeya. (This is explained in very great detail in the Ramayana; I will provide a relatively brief summary here).

The deity of the Himalaya mountain known as Himavan, and his wife, Menaka, had two daughters. The older was Goddess Ganga and the younger was Goddess Parvati. 

Goddess Ganga had the capacity to purify anyone She came into contact with. The demi-gods thus requested Her presence in their celestial realm, Svarga, and so She went to reside with them. 

Goddess Parvati performed severe penance, against the wishes of Her parents, and achieved Her desire of marrying Lord Shiva. Their union led to the birth of a son, Kartikeya, who became the leader of the army of the demi-gods. 

In the meantime, various events took place upon Earth that led to the Goddess Ganga being brought from the celestial realms to this planet (the Ganga is said to flow in three realms-- heaven, Earth and the underworld). 

This in itself is a long story but, in essence, Her waters were needed to purify and release the negative karmas of a group of royal princes who had been cursed by a divine sage. Three generations of kings of this royal family (who were none other than Sri Rama's ancient ancestors) performed intense austerities to please the divine Creator, Brahma to obtain the boon of having the Ganga come to Earth. The first two Kings were unsuccessful, but their descendent, King Bhagiratha, finally succeeded in pleasing Brahma with his austerities. 

After granting the boon to King, Brahma reflected that the Earth would not be able to bear the tremendous force of the direct descent of Goddess Ganga from the celestial realm. He therefore told King Bhagiratha that he needed to perform further austerities to obtain Lord Shiva's help regarding this matter.

After the King performed further intense austerities, Lord Shiva appeared and said that He was pleased with him. He told him that He would allow the Ganga to flow through His matted locks of hair to enable Her to make a safe descent to Earth.

Thus, the lovely Goddess Ganga, daughter of King Himavan, prepared for Her journey to the Earth. She now assumed the form of an immensely great and powerful river. As She was about to descend upon the sacred head of Lord Shiva and enter His hair, She privately wondered if He would truly be able to handle Her power. She doubted it and reflected that She would probably end up flowing directly to the underworld carrying Him with Her! 

Lord Shiva, seeing Her pride, was not at all pleased and decided to give Her a fitting response! And so, as Goddess Ganga flowed into His hair, She found Herself in a vast realm similar to that of the Himalayas. She wandered about for a long time trying to find a way out but discovered that She was completely lost!

Meanwhile, King Bhagiratha, who had been anxiously awaiting Her arrival on Earth to free his ancestors, saw what had happened. He then performed another round of intense spiritual practices to please Lord Shiva and secure the release of Ganga from His hair!

The King finally succeeded, and at long last, the moment came for the Ganga to flow upon the Earth. Knowing that this would be a unique and spectacular sight, the demi-gods, divine sages and other celestials gathered together in the heavens in great excitement to watch. 

They saw Goddess Ganga emerging from the matted reddish-gold locks of Lord Shiva, and entering the Himalayas. As She flowed onto the Earth, there was tremendous sound, and great sprays of water rose high up into the air, forming foam that appeared like little white clouds. Numerous fish, dolphins, snakes and various other creatures were seen within Her sparkling waters.

King Bhagiratha was overwhelmed with joy to see that his penance had finally borne fruit. He now set off, accompanied by the Ganga, to a faraway place within the underworld where his ancestors had been cursed by sage Kapila and reduced to ash. The Ganga became a broad and fast-flowing river as She followed him. When She flowed over the ashes of the royal princes, their souls were purified of all past negative karmas, and they entered the celestial realms rejoicing.

Sri Rama and Lakshmana were enthralled to hear about the legend of the Ganga and the efforts of their ancient ancestors in bringing about Her arrival on to Earth. As it was now night time, Vishvamitra said that they should all get some rest. They went to sleep and, upon rising the next day, continued their journey towards Mithila. 

On the way, they reached the wonderful city of Vishala where they would spent a night before reaching their destination. Rama wanted to know about the history of this area too, and this led to another interesting discussion with Vishvamitra. This place was connected to a divine lila of Narayana which involved the churning of the divine milky ocean by the devas and the asuras (I have explained this lila elsewhere on this blog--the post on eclipses dated August 2017-- so will not describe it again here).

King Sumati, the ruler of Vishala, was delighted to hear the news of the arrival of the sages and the two princes, and warmly welcomed them. After ensuring that they were all well-rested and had eaten a delicious meal, he curiously asked the sages who these two princes of divine appearance were. 

The sages explained that they were the sons of King Dasharatha, ruler of Ayodhya. They told King Sumati that the Princes had been of great help in ridding the forests of asuras and in granting them protection. The King was wonderstruck and delighted to hear of the valiant deeds of the Sri Rama and Lakshmana and they all spent a very pleasant evening together.

The next day, they bade farewell to King Sumati and set off for Mithila.  After walking for a while, they arrived at the outskirts of the kingdom which appeared to be filled with great beauty and splendour. 

As they all gazed upon Mithila and praised its beauty, Sri Rama noticed a small hermitage not far from where they stood and asked Vishvamitra to tell Him about it. The sage explained that it was a place associated with misfortune and went on to tell the tale.

The hermitage had been the home of the noble sage, Gautama, and his exceedingly pretty wife, Ahalya. The two of them had performed spiritual austerities there for many years. One day, the sage went to the river to bathe and perform some worship. 

Upon his departure, Indra, King of demi-gods, and husband of the demi-goddess Sachi, appeared at the hermitage. Using his divine powers, he now assumed the form of Ahalya's husband, Gautama. Entering the hermitage, he beheld the beautiful Ahalya and addressed her with charming words. 

Declaring that those who desired enjoyment did not care for rituals related to appropriate timing (it was the tradition then to have intercourse based on favourable times of the menstrual cycle), he declared his desire to sleep with her at once.

Ahalya, using her own divine powers, recognised that the person in front of her was Indra in the guise of her husband, rather than the sage himself. As she too desired Indra, she agreed to his request and they slept together. Afterwards, they felt very satisfied and pleased with themselves, but then wanted to avoid being caught by sage Gautama who was known for his tremendous ascetic power!

Ahalya therefore requested Indra to leave the hermitage immediately, saying that he should guard both himself and her from her husband ever finding out about their deed. Indra, who was highly pleased, laughed and declared that he would depart as unobtrusively as he had arrived. He then took leave of her, walking quickly and hoping to avoid encountering the sage.

However, just as Indra approached the door of the hermitage, he saw sage Gautama entering, carrying sacred grass and wood for a fire ritual. The two Gautamas now stood facing each other-- one filled with anxiety and with lowered eyes, and the other glaring with intense wrath!

Realising what had taken place, the enraged sage Gautama pronounced a curse on both Indra and Ahalya. For his misdeeds, he declared that Indra would immediately lose his masculinity (this led to Indra being instantly castrated; he later sought the help of the other demi-gods and corrected this with some difficulty!).

Turning to his wife, Gautama declared that she should perform intense penance at the hermitage for several years to expiate her sin. He told her to remain there without food or water, and surviving on air alone. Declaring that she should henceforth sleep on ashes on the ground, and be filled with remorse, he stated that her beautiful form would, from now onwards, be invisible to all beings in the material realms.  

He told her that Sri Rama would visit their hermitage in the future, and she would be purified of all sin only after meeting Him. After this had occurred, he said that he would accept her back as his wife. Sage Gautama then left the hermitage and went to the Himalayas where he continued his spiritual practices.

After narrating the legend of Ahalya, Vishvamitra led Rama to the hermitage. As Sri Rama entered, His eyes fell upon Ahalya, who by now had an extraordinarily bright divine aura as a result of years of penance. 

In accordance with tradition, Sri Rama and Lakshmana touched her feet as a mark of respect. She in turn, welcomed them and Vishvamitra to the hermitage with great reverence and offered them food, drink and hospitality. 

After meeting Sri Rama in this way, Ahalya regained her original visible celestial form, and the demi-gods and other celestials rejoiced and showered flowers from the heavens upon them all. Sage Gautama now returned to the hermitage and joined his wife in worshipping Sri Rama (they then resumed their life at the ashram and performed spiritual austerities together once again).

After this auspicious event, Sri Rama took leave of sage Gautama and Ahalya, and left for Mithila with Lakshmana and the sages.

To be continued......

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.