Shradh
Every question on the site tagged Shradh, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The rite performed for a deceased ancestor to offer nourishment and aid their peaceful passage — including the first-year Varshiki Shradh and the recurring Masik (monthly) Shradh.
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Why must ancestral rites (Shradh) be performed even without financial capability?
Ancestral rituals must be performed during Shradh Paksha to honor deceased forefathers — lack of financial capability should never prevent performing Shradh.
What happens to the subtle body during the ten days of Pinda Dana after death?
Per the Garuda Purana, a transitional Preta Sharira forms during the ten days of Pinda Dana performed by descendants, experiencing the fruits of past actions during the soul's journey toward Yama, until the Varshiki rites determine its future state.
What spiritual harm results from abandoning traditional Vedic Sanskaras?
Abandoning sacraments like the sacred thread (Yajnopavita), the tonsure ceremony (Chudakarana/Mundan), traditional cremation on a funeral pyre, and post-death Shradh and Pinda Daan causes spiritual disruption, Pitru Dosha, and material or physical afflictions.
What astrological damage results from ancestral neglect or mocking Shradh?
Ancestral neglect, unscriptural grave worship, or adopting philosophies that mock Shradh damages the 9th house (fortune/ancestors) and 10th house (profession/karma), leading to setbacks in education, administrative careers, and domestic harmony.
Can a big sadhana be done after a father's death, and until when not?
Asked by a listener whose father has passed away whether he can do no large sadhana, and until when, the speaker says: until the Holika Dahan takes place, after which in the new samvat you will again perform a new anushthan. Until then you can do as many recitations of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita as possible — do the repetition of any one adhyaya; it will be very good.
Will the pitrs accept a pind offered in anger?
Do you think, he asks, that after speaking such foul words your pitrs will take the pind, that they will accept it? There, of all places, the bhava should be greatest. The body they gave, the wealth they gave, the vaibhav they gave — by their kripa your body runs, by their kripa your breath moves; the pitr are your first devatas, and you sit and abuse them and say your welfare is happening. If there is anger within you while making the pind and you make it in anger — would you eat food that someone made and gave you in anger?
How long after a death in the family before sadhana may begin?
Asked how many days after the terahvin has ended one should begin some sadhana if a death has occurred in the family, the speaker answers: do it after a sava mahina. Do it only after forty-five days have passed — that is more excellent.
Where no shraadh or pitr karma has been done in a kula for a generation or two — and for the gati of the pitrs it nearly never is — trouble follows.
The first problem he discusses is the one relating to the pitrs. He says he has clarified before that if in our kula no shraadh or other karma has ever been performed for the pitrs for a generation or two — and for the gati of the pitrs it very nearly is not done, one may look and see that people do not do it.
What if pitrs have become prets and are drinking blood?
If the shraddh karma is not done for them by the vidhi vidhan, and panchbali is not done for them, then those pitrs will certainly become prets and drink blood, the speaker says. He points the questioner to the answer he gave a short while earlier to Atish Dubey about his father — that same thing applies here, and by doing those vidhans the prets will stop drinking, will obtain their right, and will attain gati.
When can pujan resume after a death in the family?
He tells Avadhesh ji that if the thirteenth has been done then do pujan; but see whether the barkhi has been done or not, and what the rule on your side is up to the barkhi. There are a great many places where people keep pujan-paath and mangalik work all closed until the barkhi has happened. Look at that and take the decision.
What does Makar Sankranti signify in this family reading?
When Surya Narayan enters Makar rashi from Dhanu we celebrate Makar Sankranti — a father going to his son's house, the speaker says. It is the turn from Dakshinayan towards Uttarayan and is kept as a parva kaal: shraadh of the pitrs and pujan of the devas are done on a large scale that day, and daan-punya has great importance.
Why should the Nandi Mukh Shraddha be done?
Because our own Kula's Pitrs should be satisfied first. Before all these things — before a Chandi or Saptashati as the previous questioner asked about — having the Nandi Shraddha done is very necessary. They belong to your house; please them fully first, and then perform the Devi worship. Only then is the full fruit obtained.
Should a weekday on which a forebear died be avoided for auspicious work?
This custom exists in a great many places, the speaker says — that no auspicious work is done on that day until a child is born on it — and by his reckoning it should be accepted and observed.
Safety of the Pitru Beesa prayog and its later use in any pitru anushthan
The speaker says there is no adverse effect at all in this prayog; no Tiryak Prabhava will come to you from it. The only thing to keep in special attention is not to do it at your place of worship, because if the Pitr are not already worshipped there they cannot come into that place. Once the Pitru Beesa has been made siddh this way, he says, whenever you wish to do an Anushthana or anything at all for the sake of the pitr, do it while reciting this same Pitru Beesa, and you will get a hundred per cent success.
Are the ancestors and deities pleased when a child is born into a family?
Yes. Just as ancestors are greatly pleased when a person sets out to perform Shraddha rites, they beat drums at a birth in the expectation that this soul will act well and perform Shraddha and Tarpan. The deities are pleased on the same grounds.
Annual shradh is done by tithi, not by the calendar date
The speaker says the forefathers performed the annual Shradh of the ancestors they knew, their father and grandfather, strictly by the tithi. People today go by the calendar: 12 September this year, 12 September next year, with no regard for which tithi and which month the person died in. Someone who died in the monsoon ends up having his shradh in Agahan, and he asks how that shradh can happen at all.
Can a Savan anushthan be done in the year of a death in the family?
A listener says his father passed away in May 2024. The new samvatsar had already begun, so the death occurred in this same samvatsar. Only if his varshik shraadh has been done should you perform the Savan anushthan, the speaker says; otherwise there is no bar upon Shiva ji's abhishek — do Shiva ji's abhishek, give arghya to Surya Bhagwan, and recite the sahasranama and the like.
May the photo of a departed relative be kept and worshipped at home?
It is a matter of ones own bhavna, the speaker says: if your bhavna is joined with them, you can keep them. As far as pujan is concerned, pujan should be within a limit, in his view — whoever a person loves, father, mother, grandfather, maternal grandfather, keep theirs. And as far as puja path goes, rather than doing their puja path in that way, one should do a path of Bhagavan, of the Gita and so on, and dedicate it for their sake; that is the most excellent puja. Otherwise, if you do their puja, their atma will be bound, will then not take gati, and will be caught in attachment.
Can pind daan still be done eleven years after a death?
A listener says his father passed away eleven years ago and the pindan has not been done. It can absolutely be done, brother, the speaker answers: have it done at a tirtha kshetra. Go to a tirtha kshetra and have it done there.
What if a brother or sister died without sadgati?
If in the kula a brother or sister of yours has died in any manner and their sadgati could not be accomplished, and Shani Deva is present in the third bhava — or here it also extends to Shani's drishti falling there, especially if Ketu is present there and Shani's aspect, the third aspect or any aspect, is falling on it — and if the death occurred, whether in the womb, after prana came, or later, or at any time at all; and if you did not have their sadgati performed, or it has not happened, which generally it has not, since he says 99% of people do not get it done today for want of knowledge and awareness — then they are present, and you begin sadhana.
What should be done for a departed relative whose gati is not accomplished?
If you perform shraddha and the rest for them a little vidhivat at tirtha kshetras, he says, and their gati is accomplished, then very good. If gati is not being accomplished, then know at once that they become your helpers — because you are doing satvik sadhanas. Keep this straight and clear, he says: not by doing shudra sadhana.
No deity worship or festivals at home until the first Varshiki Shradh
The speaker says that when a family member dies, the rule for the following year is that no worship of the deities is done in the house until the same tithi and month return the next year and the first Varshiki Shradh is performed. He says no Navratri puja, no Shivratri, and no festival such as Diwali or Chhath is celebrated in that period. He adds that the topic came up because in Pitr Paksha many people wrote asking whether they may do anything for a relative who died only two or three months earlier, or must wait a year.
Finishing the Shradh rites in three or five days has no scriptural basis
The speaker says that whoever completes the post-death rites (Dash Gatra, Ekadashi, Malin Shodashi and the rest) within three or five days, and whoever performs them for him from whatever sect or community, is only writing that family's downfall. He says there is no Vedic, scriptural or Puranic rule anywhere that lets all the Shradh rites be finished in five days so that the family is freed from Sutak. People do it for business or service reasons, he says, and however rich they are it does not take long for their intellect to be corrupted and for them to end up on the road. He adds, sarcastically, that if they only believe in three or five days they might as well cremate the body, bathe the next day and skip the fake Pind Daan entirely.
Varshiki Shradh done right after the thirteenth day lifts the year-long worship stop
The speaker says that if Dash Gatra, Malin Shodashi and the rest are complete, Gauri-Ganapati pujan is done, and after the thirteenth day one waits a day and performs the Varshiki Shradh vidhi, then there is no reason to keep stopping deity worship for a year. He notes some scholars insist the full year must still be observed, but says keeping every rule for a whole year is not possible for many people today, and for a householder without a joint family or elders who can carry those rules, this much may be accepted according to desh, kaal and paristhiti. Once the varshiki is done, he says, the rule of a year of Sutak is over.
Early Varshiki plus a fake year of no worship to save money invites Pitru Dosha
The speaker describes a trick some households play: they do the Varshiki right after the thirteenth day and then announce that no puja will happen at home until next year, to save the 15-20 thousand of Navratri, the Shivratri and Diwali costs, and the year's ghee and oil. He says that same cleverness gets written back against them. Either do the monthly Shradh every month and leave the varshiki for after a full year, only then coming out of Sutak, or, if the varshiki is done early, resume deity worship. Deceiving the deities this way, he says, deceives your own life and your children; the lineage suffers later, an astrologer then finds Pitru Dosha in the horoscope, and people call it humbug instead of tracing it to their own act.
Monthly Pind Daan in the year before Varshiki: donations are no substitute if a priest is available
The speaker addresses the family that has not done the Varshiki after the thirteenth day and has taken up the rule of monthly Shradh and Pind Daan on the death tithi, but wants to replace the pind daan with a donation to Brahmins or someone else in the deceased's name. He says that can be accepted only if no suitable person is available or there is genuinely no time. If one is anywhere in India where a learned person able to perform the shradh exists, one should take out one day a month for those who gave this body. He adds that being away for a job or business is no excuse: find someone nearby, since people there die too and have their shradh done, and do it there.
Worship still allowed in the year before Varshiki: mental puja, Surya arghya and shradh at a tirth
The speaker says that while worship is stopped for the year because the Varshiki has not been done, one cannot offer dhoop, deep or Naivedya, cannot bathe the deities, cannot do Havan or yajna, and cannot celebrate festivals in full. What one can do is Manasika Puja (mental worship), offer arghya to Surya, and, when visiting a tirth, skip darshan at the main shrine and instead perform the Shradh vidhi there for one's parents. He adds that where the varshiki has not been done this is generally forbidden, so one should follow the tradition of one's own region: do it if permitted there, otherwise do the tirth darshan itself for the sake of the ancestors.
Gita path in the mourning year: which chapters and how to sit
The speaker says there is no bar at all on Bhagavad Gita path in the year of mourning; everyone should do it through the whole year. If all 18 chapters are not possible, he says to read the third or the seventh chapter in Hindi with its mahatmya so the meaning is understood, and then the thirteenth chapter with full attention; at most it takes 15 minutes and can be done daily. One should not sit at the puja place but a little away or outside, on a Kusha Asana in white clothes, may do Achamana, wear a Pavitri and tie the Shikha, and keep the Yajnopavita in its normal position, remembering Narayan and mentally dedicating the path at his feet for the Sadgati of the departed. Done this way, he says, the grace of the deities and ancestors stays through the year.
What should be done on Sarvapitri Amavasya?
Tomorrow is the last tithi of Pitru Paksha. Whether or not you do anything else, make puri and kheer and feed it to Gau Mata with your own hand. Do that much without fail — recite or not, worship or not, but certainly offer the Naivedya to Bhagavati Gau.
Who receives worship first at any large function?
You cannot worship Jagadamba first, he says. Whenever a large function occurs, if a pandit ji or brahman ji who follows the vidhi-vidhan has come, he will first of all have the Nandi shraddh performed — the Nandi-mukh shraddh, the shraddh performed at a time of gladness. There the place belongs first to the pitrs, the right belongs first to the pitrs. After that it is Ganapati ji's, and only then that of the other devi-devatas.
Can sadhana be done after a father's death, and which adhyaya?
Brother, you can do sadhana even now, the speaker says. In sadhana, do the sadhana of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita. If the father's death has happened having attained a full life, then recite the tenth adhyaya, take the sankalp and do their sadhana. If it is sudden and the like, then recite the seventh adhyaya or the eleventh adhyaya.
What happens to a festival where a death occurred on that day?
Scripturally it is three years — where a death occurs during a festival period, that festival is not observed for three years and may be observed from the fourth. The local custom of waiting until someone is born on that day is a separate convention; ask your own priest which applies.
What should be done for the pitrs on Amavasya?
A listener describes a dream — seeing a kinnar cooking in a kachchi rasoi, then going into the kitchen to feed him and finding milk, sugar, butter, lassi and flour scattered about — and notes that today was Amavasya. The speaker answers: brother, do it for the pitrs. On the day of Amavasya, for the sake of the pitrs, every single person ought to perform Panchbali.
Should sutak be observed for a divorced cousin living in the same village?
Asked whether the sutak-patak of an uncle's divorced daughter, who had been living in her maike — that is, in the questioner's own village — for ten years should be observed or not, he says: absolutely it should be observed. If her death has occurred here, and she used to live in this very place, then her sutak will be observed with the whole subject, with the full niti and niyam. And for her sake it is you people yourselves who should do everything, for her gati.
How should a householder relate to a tradition's own particular rules?
The speaker points out that everyone knows that the parampara that sant belongs to does not keep the Ekadashi vrat and the like. If you are initiated in that parampara, then follow the rules there; and what is not in that parampara — a householder does best to walk within maryada, in accordance with the householder's state. He adds that they have also mocked the subjects of shraddha, and that such videos may be found.
Self-absorption in the garb of a sant produces ashastriya speech that harms ordinary householders.
He says this becomes excess. When you assume the garb of a sant and crores of people begin to ask after you, a person falls into self-absorption and utters many kinds of ashastriya words, from which the harm is only to ordinary householders. He points to videos saying — what will come of feeding laddus in someone's name after he has died, what will come of the thirteen days of mourning and weeping, do nam jap instead and his sadgati will happen. It would have been proper, he says, to say that the divinity is obtained when nam jap goes on alongside the feeding of laddus; but to forbid it outright is improper.
A rejection of karmakanda amounts to claiming to be greater than Parashara and Vedavyasa.
He asks whether, with the Pitr Karma Vipaka and all that the rishis and munis have taught, you have become greater than Parashara ji, greater than Vedavyasa ji — for if his words were accepted in that manner, then the Srimad Bhagavat that comes within the puranas Vedavyasa composed would come to an end, the whole account of Dhundhukari would come to an end, all the subjects would come to an end. If karmakanda has no importance and one need only do nam jap, then why is so much shringar of the Lord done there, why is so much flower thrown along the way?
What should be done during the shraddh kriya itself?
After that, when you perform the shraddh kriya and the rest in Pitru Paksha, at that time you must certainly have eleven repetitions of the eleventh adhyaya of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita performed. If you have that much done, the speaker says, there is a 99% chance that those who died through abhichar karma — and even if they are in the bondage of abhichar — will be released by the grace of Bhagavan Narayan. Their gati will take place from there and they will not remain bound.
How can a qualified brahman perform the third adhyaya for such a dead person?
If there is a qualified brahman who does trikal Gayatri and the rest, and who also worships the Shaligram shila, then merely by installing that Shaligram shila and having him recite before it, if a repetition of the third adhyaya of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is had done at least 27 times, or 21 times, or 11 times each day, in Krishna Paksha — or at the very least on the Amavasya — but targeting those who died an akal mrityu, then their sadgati certainly takes place. After that, however, you should do the shraddh and the rest; you should do the Tripindi and all these things. And if you do not have that much capacity, then at the least hold on to the Gita, so that their peace may come first.
What of a daughter-in-law whose in-laws neither do shraddh nor allow it?
A listener says her father-in-law and mother-in-law neither perform shraddh nor let it be performed, that she had an anushthan done secretly in Pitru Paksha, and that at home she only does the japa of the Pitru Stotra and the Svadha Stotra. No matter, the speaker answers. When the in-laws hold such a thought, this is precisely what is meant by saying that prarabdha does not come ready-made — people build it themselves. For such a person, even if someone says he is doing shraddh at Gaya ji so that their gati may happen, the gati of such people does not take place: they will become Dhundhukari-like prets, and after that there will be a dosha.
What is the standing of a kulavadhu who does the pitru karma herself?
See, the speaker says, the children are doing it anyway. And she who is doing this, who is the kulavadhu, is doing it for the sake of the pitrs of her own kula: nobody can stop her vriddhi. But those parents-in-law who are not letting it be done, saying no, all this is rubbish — see how great their mental frustration is, how much their brain has been washed that they do not wish all this to be done, or that they are not doing it. They are building it for themselves. One's own karma comes to oneself; gati and mukti are in one's own hands. Your doing and mine will not bring it about. But what is described in the shastras, the shraddh karma for one's own pitrs — whatever you can manage, that you must certainly do. You are doing nothing wrong; you have the capacity, you can do it, so do it certainly.
Should a lamp be lit before an ancestor's photograph?
If there is no rule about it from before, the speaker asks, then why are you burning so much of a lamp — if you burn a lamp their atma will never be able to go. Lighting a lamp before ancestors is not found anywhere: it is only when the das gatra and the rest take place, of ten days, that it happened — and a photograph, a chhaya chitra, did not even exist in that manner before. Only that it burned, that yes, for eleven days the state of the atma is there; and after the das gatra was done, his own journey began. For Vaikuntha, or for what we call the bhavsagar, the Vaitarani and the rest, his journey would begin, and it was a journey of a full year.
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