Pitru Paksha - Amavasya

Devotee offering Water to the Ganges - Tarpan

Offering to ancestors is a tradition of Hindus, and this special feature that is not found in any other religion is unique to Hindus. In this way, the Mahalaya Amavasya offering is very important.

Tharpan means to satisfy.

Satisfying the souls of deceased ancestors and fulfilling their needs is a method taught to Hindus by the sages and sages. There are many subtleties here. There is a subtle science and a very profound spiritual philosophy.

If you want to satisfy deceased ancestors by offerings, then there is the immense wisdom and mystery of Hinduism.

There are five bodies: the physical body, the subtle body, the guna body, the anjuka body, and the karana body. We cannot see anything except the physical body. Apart from this, the human soul is made up of four types of bodies.

This is said in another way.

The body is called the Annamaya Kosam, the Pranamaya Kosam, the Manomaya Kosam, the Vijnana Maya Kosam, and the Ananda Maya Kosam.

That is, there are four stages beyond the visible body. The last stage is the state of great bliss in the Supreme.

To reach that last stage, a soul must overcome these four previous bodies. Each type of need is necessary for them in these five stages.

The human body, that is, the physical body, needs food called Annam. Its influence is also felt in other stages. This subtle body receives energy from the universe.

It is believed that this body receives energy from the moon. That is why Hindus made offerings to the gods on the new moon day when there is no moon.

That is the importance of offerings during eclipses, just as the physical body cannot survive without air, souls cannot find peace without the light of the moon.

The offerings given to them by humans on that day give them energy. This is the truth that the sages said.

The Hindu calendar may be based on the sun. But the soul philosophy has dates. Its basis is the moon.

That is why the date of death of a person is important, but the day itself is not. Hindus have taught in this subtle way how the moon is related to a soul.

The ancestors would leave the physical body and live in other bodies, invisible to the eye, but with certain needs. They said that sesame seeds and water should be poured on them to energize and satisfy them.

Why did they say sesame seeds, water, and vegetables?

Hinduism also told a mythological story about why these were mentioned.

"Sesame seeds are sacred because they came from the sweat of Vishnu." They placed sesame seeds to indicate that all souls come from the Supreme Being and return to the Supreme Being. Sesame seeds do not germinate easily. And that too if they are submerged in water, they do not germinate easily. Thus, the previous souls were told to worship to attain the state of non-birth.

That is, those souls were told to pray to attain salvation and attain good fortune. There are many subtle reasons why sesame is given an important place. However, philosophically, this is it. The size of a sesame seed is a sign that they were told to pray to attain good fortune even though they were sorry for their sins. Sesame is powerful in subtle terms.

Its universal gravitational power is so high that its lamps in temples should be lit only with sesame oil. For this reason, they were told to place sesame, water, and flowers in front of it.

They were told to give this tarpan every day. Those who said that it is especially important on new moon days without a moon said that the three new moon days are important, namely Aadi New Moon, Thai New Moon, and Purattasi New Moon.

The sun stands in the northern corner during the Thai new moon and in the southern corner during the Aadi new moon. In the month of Purattasi, the southern part of the sun stands directly in front of the middle and the earth. At that time, the southern part of the moon also stands directly.

The scriptures of the Rishis say that the tarpan offered at this time will easily reach the ancestors.

Why did they ask to remember it for three or seven generations? If they said that only men should do that, then that is where the wisdom of the Rishis lies.

There are 84 features in human genes. Some of them are given by the ancestors from generation to generation. Some features also come from the beginning.

Since it is the duty of men to carry these genes received from the ancestors to the next generation, and to carry it to the future generation, only they can do it, they prioritized men.

At the same time, Hinduism allowed women to perform tarpan in specific positions and places.

Why did they ask to name some generations?

A man cannot know all his generations. It is not possible. But if he knows some generations, he knows the way he came. He knows the origin. He also knows what duties they performed for this society. In the same way, we will know what we should do or what we should not do.

That is why those who told us to think about some generations told us to think more deeply who came from three or seven generations ago, who were their ancestors, and who were their ancestors?