Sraaddha ceremony: Hinduism Rituals - Sraaddha ceremony

By www. hinduwebsite.com

Sraaddha ceremony:

According to Hinduism, when a person dies, he either travels to heavenly worlds or to the ancestral worlds depending upon his previous deeds. We are told that the departed souls can be elevated to higher planes of existence and pushed further on the scale of evolution if their direct descendents on earth, especially the male progeny perform some annual rites and make sacrificial offerings to them. With such rites, not just one but the entire family of ancestors would be benefited and spiritually uplifted.

So when a Hindu departs from this world, his descendents make ritualistic offerings as prescribed in the sacred texts so that the departed one makes further spiritual progress in those worlds also.

The obligation towards the departed souls is thus a part of ones ordained duties, or obligatory karma, the performance of which brings happiness not only to the departed soul, but also to the ones who performed it.

Sraaddha ceremony is way of repaying ones debt towards ones parents and ancestors. A person is indebted to his parents and ancestors because they were responsible for his birth on earth. Without even one of them in the ancestral line, he would never have been. He is thus greatly indebted to them for his corporeal existence. He can repay this debt only by performing annual rites for the departed ancestors. He is therefore expected to perform these ceremonies without fail and save himself and every one before him from misery.