Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai Politics Talk Philosophy and Religion Forums

Pravrutti is the subject that is related to the human beings with respect to other living beings in this world. The rules of Pravrutti are called as dharma. The basic rule is that you should not hurt any living being including yourself. As long as this basic rule is not violated, the rules can be changed in any manner you like as per the need. God becomes angry and will grant you the hell provided you violate the basic rule. But, some ignorant people apply this punishment in hell to every change of rule even though the basic rule is not violated. It is their foolishness and rigidity of ignorance. They quote the rules and insist that such rules must be strictly followed without any violation, even though the violation of such rules does not damage the basic rule. It is the climax of the ignorance that sometimes some foolish rules are insisted in spite of the violation of the basic rule by such rules! Such climax of foolishness is due to lack of knowledge of scriptures and lack of right analysis.

Let Me illustrate this with an example. On the day of the ritual related to the anniversary of the departed parents, the foolish rule is that the doer of the ritual should not drink even water till the priests eat the food. It is said that the departed parents eat food through these priests. It is also said that if the doer does not fast on that day, the departed souls become angry and curse. The doer of the ritual is really tortured because while the priests enjoy the food on one side, on the other side, the doer has to prepare the balls of food (pinda). The doer is burning with hunger and before him, the priests enjoy the food. At the same time, he has to prepare the pinda by mixing the food with ghee and dal resisting himself from eating.

Really, the departed parents are pained since their issue is suffering with hunger and curse the priests for doing such sin in ignorance. The first point is that the departed soul will not eat the food through the priest. By giving food to the deserving priests, a good action (punyam) is done, the fruit of which is protection of the departed souls. But, remember that if the priests are undeserving, the donation of food becomes a sin and the departed souls will undergo more punishments in hell. A departed soul is always in the energetic body and the energetic body takes energy only as food. The departed soul in hell is actually punished with hunger since the supply of energy is stopped. Since energy is nervous energy, the soul will have hunger and thirst (manomayah pranashariraneta… Veda). In the heaven, there is no hunger and thirst due to continuous supply of energy (ubhetirtvaa… Veda). In between heaven and hell, the soul may go to pitruloka and the supply of energy is from moon.
(nirvishtasaram…) These three ways are for a non devoted soul.

The fourth path for departed devotee is the abode of God and such ritual is not at all necessary (nahitenapathaa tanutyajah…). Therefore, the departed soul never requires the materialized food. But, giving food to a deserving priest is recommended to help the departed soul. The departed soul is said to enjoy the food through the priest, but this is said to make everybody to perform this good action atleast by fear. Therefore, such a fabricated trick is not applicable to a person, who does the good action even without the necessity of such fear. Such a fabricated trick is meant for a miser, who does not donate food to anybody. Such a trick is also necessary, which is called as arthavada. Therefore, the entire ritual is based on a single point that whether the priest is deserving or non-deserving.

In these days, the deserving priests are almost nil. Assuming that we have achieved the deserving priest, the doer should not fast and become weak. He cannot perform the ritual in the absence of energy in his body. If he suffers with hunger, the departed parents will be pained and will curse the priest. Even the scripture says that the doer of a ritual should take limited food on the day of a ritual. The scripture says that a Brahmin should take milk and other castes can take some solids also, on a ritual day (payo brahamanasyavratam… Veda). You should not fast without food leading to weakness and you should not over eat resulting in sleep. Fasting means taking limited food. Brahmacharya means confining to one wife and does not mean not marrying at all. The Veda and the Gita say that limited food is always good (yuktaahaara…, adyatetticha…). According to the constitution, you can take liquid or solid food in limited quantities on that day. Here, Brahmin means delicate constitution with weak digestion and hence, milk is recommended. Therefore, if you recommend fasting without water, it is against the scripture also. But, these ignorant priests recite only the scripture without knowing its meaning.