why continuous rituals in Hinduism?

09-23-2005, 04:50 AM

In Hinduism why continuous rituals are performed after the death?

When householder dies the rituals are performed and the cow is donated
(Godaana). This proves that a householder certainly goes to the hell because the
cow is donated to help the householder to cross a river of blood and pus called
Vaitarini flowing in the path of the hell. But when a saint dies these rituals
are not done and the cow is not donated. The tradition itself proves that the
householder who is doing all the rituals, worshipping the statues and doing
Gayatri Mantra is going to the hell. A saint is not doing any one of these
things and is doing only the propagation of divine knowledge. A saint does not
mean removing the cross belt and putting the saffron cloth. The quaky uniform of
an actor cannot make him a police. A police is valid while doing his duty even
in mufti dress. Therefore a saint is He who works for the propagation of the
knowledge. The rituals consist of two parts. 1) Prayers to the Lord 2) Sacrifice
of fruit of work in the form of money to the deserving
people. Prayers will give satisfaction and peace.

The practical sacrifice will bring the fruit from the Lord. When a person is not
doing these two things while he is alive, he is not getting anything when His
son does these things after his death. The son will get the fruits and not the
father or mother who died. Therefore one should pray the Lord while he is alive
and get the peace and satisfaction. Similarly one should sacrifice the fruit of
his work (food and money) to deserving people while he is alive. The food
offered by the son will not reach the dead person. The Lord has made all the
arrangements for food in the upper world. Even for a jailed person the
government arranges food. The Lord will certainly arrange the food to all the
souls present in all the worlds. The threat of giving food to the parents who
died was given so that a greedy person is forced to do these rituals. But there
is no truth in such threat. A person who did these things while he is alive does
not aspire either for sons or for such rituals. Sankara,

Vivekananda, Meera etc., who participated in the propagation of divine
knowledge and devotion, did not have children and they never bothered about such
rituals. Their path is the path of knowledge (Archiraadi Marga) as said in Gila
(Ekayaa Yatya naa Vrittim). It is said that such people do not need such rituals
“Nahi tena Pathaa Tanuthyajah, Tanaya Varjita Pinda Kankshinah” i.e., the people
in the path of the service of the Lord do not require the son and such rituals
after death.

A person must be wise to pray the Lord and to donate a deserving person, while
he is alive he should not depend on his sons for this after his death. In that
unhappy moment the sons will not be able to get a proper deserving person to
receive the fruit of the work (money and food). When they sacrifice the fruit to
the undeserving persons, sin is purchased by the donation of food and money.
Therefore it is better to do the donation while one is alive by searching a
proper deserving person who can be the human incarnation of Lord or at least a
great devotee of the Lord. If this real aim of the rituals is not understood,
performing the rituals after the death are simply a waste, which are done as a
formality. In such rituals the priests are reciting the hymns without knowing
their meanings like tape recorders. The concept of prayer is completely lost in
such recitation. When you donate to such undeserving tape recorders you cannot
get the real fruit and you will get the sin in such
rituals. If one has prayed the Lord and donated to the most deserving person
while he is alive such rituals are not necessary for him after his death.

at the lotus feet of shri datta swami
surya

SURYA
surya@...
www.universal-spirituality.org

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