Exploring Pitru Paksha
So you Hindus pray to your ancestors but also believe in reincarnation … shouldn’t they already be in other bodies by now?
Nope, the concept of pitras is a bit more complex & here’s the tea.
Just like in the animated movie “Coco” by Disney Pixar in 2017, which takes place on the Day of the Dead i.e. Día de los Muertos, even we Hindus in Sanatan Dharma have a similar fortnight to worship our ancestors, called “Pitru Paksha,” which is happening right now.
After we die, our soul doesn’t necessarily immediately go into another body. We go through a process of our karma being weighed & the soul passes through various astral realms. We may also come to pass through the Pitra Loka, the realm of ancestors.
This is like a sabbatical or waiting period before we’re sent to the appropriate bodies in higher or lower realms based on our karma.
We have the period of Pitru Paksha, during the Krishna Paksha (waning phase) of the Hindu lunar month of Bhadrapada. In simpler terms, this may usually be around Aug or Sept after Ganesh Chaturthi.
In this 16-day lunar phase, we do Shraddha i.e. rituals designed to honour the last few generations of our ancestors & ensure they have a smooth transition through the realms.
This includes homa (fire rituals), offer Tarpana i.e. water near water bodies & Pinda Daan i.e. rice balls covered in ghee, barley flour & sesame seeds as symbolic offerings to & on behalf of the ancestors, and also feed cows or Brahmins to help them get good karma points.
There’s a specially made lunch with pumpkin & beans vegetables also offered & if black crows & cows come to feed on the food offered, it is considered that the ancestors have come & accepted it.
This is basically to help in resolving any karmic debts of our ancestors so that their soul can peacefully & easily move ahead to higher realms without any blockages or delays.
During this time, the souls are believed to visit our Bhu Loka i.e. Earth Realm so we’re asked to grieve & pray for them, and avoid any major activities like initiating new ventures or making significant purchases.
Praying to our ancestors & getting their blessings is part of our duties, called as the “Pitru Rin,” which is one amongst the several karmic debts we must pay in our lifetimes for a smooth transition, such as “Guru Rin” (to teachers) & “Deva Rin” (to deities) & Rishi Rin (to rishis/sadhus).
You can learn more about this in the Rigveda, Garuda Purana & Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata.