GAYA SRARDHA
K.N.RAMESH
GAYA SRARDHA
In the Aadi month of Khara varsha (July 2011),
accompanied by my wife, I went on a pilgrimage to Gaya, Prayaag and Varanasi
(or Kasi), to fulfil the religious duties including sraaddha, and returned with
great peace and tranquillity. Naturally many friends came to enquire about the
tour and I gave them the details of where I went and what I did.
Subsequently quite a few people asked me to write about my experiences in these places and publish it as a booklet, and add on other fac-ets like sthala puranas (history or legend of the place), and I obliged. The booklet was written in Tamil and published some time ago. The slim volume in your hands is a transcription into English of the same booklet.
Sri V S Kumar of Srinagar colony, Chennai took interest and helped me in doing the translation. He has done a great job and I thank him very much for the same. I must caution the reader that this is by no means an exhaustive treatise on Gaya Sraaddha. I have only tried to paint a sketch, give you a feel for the „Gaya magic
.
For a Vaishnavite the pilgrimage is considered complete with the Sraaddha and related Pitru karyams at Gaya, and it is not mandatory to cover Kasi and Prayaag.
For a Smaartha however, a tour to Gaya for performing „Gaya sraaddha is not complete without covering Prayaag (also known as Triveni Sangam) in Allahabad and Varanasi (also called Kasi). As a rule an Iyer therefore undertakes a package tour of all the 3 places. “..For a smaartha however a tour to Gaya for per-forming “Gaya sraaddha” is not complete without covering Prayaag and Kasi…”Sri sarma sastrigal
SRI SARMA SASTRIGAL-GAYA SRAADDHA
Accordingly my program – we being Smaarthas – was modelled on the following lines: Reach Varanasi at 8 am travelling by Ganga Kaveri Express from Chennai
Day 1: Visit temples, tour Varanasi and participate in the Ganga Harati at night
Day 2: Leave for Prayaag by Road, about 125 km. away, early morning and return to Varanasi the same night
Day 3: Perform Ganga snana (bathe in the river Ganga) under the Mahasankalpa, do Tirtha Sraaddha etc., at Kasi, leave for Gaya (240 km. away) in the evening by Road and reach in about 7 hrs
Day 4: Perform Gaya sraaddha, starting at 7 am and concluding by 5 30 pm, get back to Varanasi by midnight
Day 5: Perform Pancha Ganga ghat sraaddha and Dampati puja (worship by a couple), and fly back to Chennai after lunch and reach the same evening
Pilgrims to Gaya can avail themselves of the services of purohits and guides who will help them perform pitru karma as specified. All that is required of the Karta is sincere and steadfast focus on doing the karma.
You can in fact experience the awesome power of our pitrus when you under-take a Gaya trip – they make sure that you conduct the entire pilgrimage with comfort and with-out any hitch. The active participation of the karta’s wife is absolutely essential for the success of a Gaya sraaddha.
Generally for proper fulfilment of any vaidika karma the lady of the house has to be totally involved, but this is even more crucial for Gaya pilgrimage. It just won’t do if the karta decides to undertake the tour – the wife’s willing cooperation is a must. The benefits to the lady from actively enjoining the efforts of her husband in a Gaya sraaddha are immense: it has far-reaching favourable impact on her health and the well-being of her family. The position allot-ted to women in our Sastras is truly exalted.
Another sign for a satisfactory Gaya sraaddha is total and unquestioning trust that our pitrus exist, albeit in a different form, that we can communicate with them and seek their blessings, and that they are in some respects Godlike and can give us the boons we ask for.
Gaya sraaddha is not to be done out of fear that pitrus will otherwise curse us – no! We have to learn to view them as our friends and facilitators for leading the Brahmins life as ordained, to the extent feasible in today’s world.
We should know and believe that the pitrus will sense our visit to Gaya even as we are packing our bags and will be ready to receive and accept our karmas. The contentment of pitrus from our deeds results in an impressive basket of goodies for us – health for the karta and his family, progeny, knowledge and wisdom, and wealth and prosperity.
If my writing of this booklet gives a fresh impetus to persons who are thinking of a trip to Gaya and makes them act on it with anticipation and joy, I shall consider it a job well done.
I pray Almighty to bestow health, happiness and prosperity on everyone.
Sarma Sastrigal
Preface
“..WE SHOULD KNOW AND BELIEVE THAT THE PITRUS WILL SENSE OUR VISIT TO GAYA EVEN AS WE ARE PACKING OUR BAGS AND WILL BE READY TO RECEIVE AND ACCEPT OUR KARMAS…”
The very mention of Gaya invokes in us a sense of devotion suffused with pride and excitement. It is every son’s duty to go to Gaya after the demise of his parents and conduct Gaya sraaddha. Apart from delighting the pitrus his act bestows eminence on his family as well.
“Jeevator vaakya karanaat,
Pratyaabdam Bhuri bhojanaat,
Gayayaam pinda daanaat,
tribhi: putrasya putrata”
say the Sastras.
“When the parents are alive, obey their commands. When they die, perform their annual sraaddha properly. And go to Gaya and offer pindas for them. You can be called a son to your parents only when you do all these three things.”
Gaya is in the state of Bihar. It is located on the Kolahaala Mountain in a beautiful place called Champaka. God is ensconced here as Gadaadhara.
How many sraaddhas do you have to do at Gaya? As per the sastras you will require at least six days to complete all the sraaddhas required of you. But over the years mandatory observances have been reduced to two Hiranya sraaddhas and one Paarvana sraaddha. This is the least one has to do at Gaya.
The modus operandi for this „minimum‟ observance is described below.
1. At Phalguni River: You should go to the Phalguni River and bring the water, and on the banks of the river itself your lady will make the havis, with help from the locals. She will then take out one part of the broth and make 17 pindams from it. You will do pinda pradaana of the 17 pindams with sankalpa mantras right there on the banks, and after doing „yataasthana you will give the pindas to the cows there.
2. At Vishnu Paada: This is where you go next, to do pinda pradaana. You may recall that when we do sraaddha at home we chant “Vishnu paadaadi samasta paadeshu dat-tam” at the time of Brahmana bhojana. You literally do this now. You take the remainder of the havis cooked at Phalguni River and make 64 pindas, and do pinda paradaana with sankalpa mantras. And you have the great fortune of reaching these 64 pindas directly to Vishnu paada (the feet of Mahavishnu), instead of imagining it. The satisfaction you get when you do this is indescribable.
3. Paarvana sraaddha: You may undertake the next part of your observance, the Paarvana sraaddha, in the place in which you are staying. We stayed at Karnataka Bhavan, which offers the facility. You should do a sraaddha with homa, with five Brahmins present. At the end of the sraaddha again you have to make 64 pindas out of the havis cooked here, and take them to Akshaya Vata.
“you have the great fortune of reaching these 64 pindas directly to Vishnu Paada (the feet of Mahavishnu) instead of imagining it.. The satisfaction you get when you do this is indescribable…”
Vishnu Padam
4. Akshaya Vata: You may recollect that in the course of our annual sraad-dha we say „Akshaya Vata‟ when doing the namaskara (obeisance) at the end of Brahmana bhojana. This is the place to which you now take the pindas made out of the paarvana sraaddha havis. Akshaya Vata is a huge peepul tree and you offer the pindas in the shade of this tree. A speciality of the pinda pradaana here is that 16 of the 64 pindas you offer are for the mother and are referred to as „maatru shodasi’. You can sense an exhilarat-ing, almost supernatural vibration as you enter Akshaya Vata. Another feature of Akshaya Vata is that you can offer pindas not only for your fore fa-thers of your Gotra but even others and pray for their journey to** pitruloka.
My note- It could be to other Heavenly worlds since Pithrus occupy Pithru loka already
This can include your near and distant relatives, friends, even your enemies. So it would be wise to prepare a list of people for whom you would like to do pinda pradaana, note their gotra, sarma nama (the name by which they are supposed to do their Brahmin karmas) etc. and have the particulars ready. It is a matter of great significance that in the Ramayana we are told that Rama and Sita offered pindas for King Dasaratha. You should consider it as nothing short of a divine blessing that you are doing pinda pradaana at such a sanctified spot.
5. A vegetable, a fruit and a leaf: At Akshaya Vata, you usually take a pledge to drop a vegetable, a fruit and a leaf from your diet and not to eat these for the rest of your life. You decide the names and inform a Purohit there, and he will do the sankalpa for you. At the end of the sankalpa you offer a Brahmin there the consecrated water (tirtha), which he takes, con-firming your pledge. When you finish all the foregoing observances you realize that it is far beyond your usual lunch time, and you didn’t even feel hungry! Now that you have completed this leg of your stipulated rituals, you eat the pitru sesha bhojana (the remainder of the Sraaddha food).
The legend of Gaya:
Gayasura was a great Asura whose powers of tapas (penance) were comparable to those of Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu. The Devas approached Brahma, Siva and Vishnu – in that order – to make him desist from his penance, as they feared he would ask for boons that could be their undoing. Brahma tried to convince them that Gayasura was of a noble mind and would not ask for anything deleterious to their welfare, but their fears remained. They watched with trepidation as Vishnu offered boons to Gayasura. Gayasura asked the Lord: “Make mine the most sanctified, the purest body on this earth, much purer than even those of devas, rishis, mantras and other sanyasis. And anyone who touches me should be cleansed of all his sins and become pure.”
He further prayed: “All Gods, with or without form, should be consecrated at this place as long as this Universe exists. This sthala could be named as Gaya, after me. People who come here to do sraaddha and pinda pradaana should get promotion to Brahmaloka after their death, in spite of any sin that they might have committed on the earth.”
My note- Here I have my doubt. Whether it is by translation or not- People come to Gaya and offer Pinda to promote their ancestors to Brahmaloka. Not themselves after death.
Mahavishnu, who had expected Gayasura to ask for mukti (freedom from rebirth) was pleased that he had prayed for something that would benefit the world at large, and gave him the boon. He was wonderstruck at the sacrificing nature of Gayasura‟s boon-seeking.
But the Devas realized that the boon would be a double-edged sword, and could do great harm. This was because one key deterrent to wrongdoing is fear of hell, fear of being condemned. If people were to be rid of this fear by the knowledge that anything they do can be absolved with a visit to Gaya, sins would escalate and the very foundation of Creation would be shaken. They approached Vishnu again. Mahavishnu conveyed their view and anxiety to Gayasura and asked him to offer his body for a yaga (penance). Gayasura was delighted to submit to the Lord‟s wishes and lay down across the Madhuban called Champaka aranya, with the Kola-hala Mountain for a pillow. This became what is Gaya today.
Gaya Sraaddha-“Akshya Vata is a huge peepul tree, one can sense an exhilarating almost supernatural vibration as you enter Akshaya Vata
Buddha Gaya: If you have the time and the inclination, do visit Buddha Gaya and the Bodhi tree under which Gautam Buddha got his realization. You can also go to the Buddha temple in this place.
Pratyabdika sraaddha and Gaya Sraaddha:
A word about this. It is absurd to think that doing Gaya sraaddha exempts you from doing pratyabdika sraaddha or the annual ceremonies for your departed parents. This is quite contrary to what the sastras say. If you have a stupendous feast at a five-star hotel one day, don’t you need to eat the next day or for the rest of your life?
Sraaddha at Gaya is a very fulfilling ritual, and one should try to do it in one’s lifetime. But it has no correlation to the pratyabdika sraaddha that you have to do annually. The annual ceremony has to be done, and there is no exception. When you complete the Gaya sraaddha and touring around Gaya, you will find it difficult to leave Gaya, the place re-nowned as “Pitru Kshetra” We had to be literally wrenched away, for the second leg of our tour – Kasi, which we reached after midnight, leaving Gaya at 6:30 in the evening.
PRAYAAG (TRIVENI SANGAMAM)
Prayaag derives its name from a magnificent Yaga conducted in this city by Brahma with three agni‟s (fires) – Aahavaneeyam in the east, Gaarhapatyam in the west and Dakshinaagni is the south. Prayaag, also called „Tretagni Prayaag‟ for this reason, is situated to the west of Ganga, north of Yamuna and south of Akshaya Vata. The Rig Veda accords Prayaag a very special place.
Bhagiratha, as we all know, was responsible for bringing Ganga to the earth. Thanks to his prodigious achievement, not only did the pitrus of Bhagiratha but those of countless other human beings since then have been blessed by Ganga Mata. When we read some of the Rigs in Rig Veda about Triveni Sangam, or the confluence of Yamuna and Ganga, which generated from the head of Lord Shiva, we can sense the greatness of Prayaag.
Normally pilgrims from south come to Prayaag first after alighting in Allahabad, complete the rites here and then proceed to Kasi. However we went to Kasi first and then to Prayaag from Kasi by car, a distance of 3 hours. Prayaag is the confluence or Sangam of not just Ganga and Yamuna, but the river Saraswati also. But to the human eye only Ganga and Yamuna are visible: Saraswati flows as an undercurrent and cannot be seen. Worship together by a couple, is recommended at Prayaag. The man shaves, takes a bath in the Triveni and does Hiranya Sraaddha. After this the couple perform the puja at the Triveni with the assistance of the Panda.
The wife personifies her husband as Madhava and he accords her the status of Veni, combs and pleats her hair, cuts off an inch at the tail of the pleat and offers it to the Panda with kunkuma, chandana and akshata (saffron, sandal and rice pellets), which the Panda offers to the river. While all the other things float, the hair-piece alone gets sucked into the water and dis-appears.
The word Veni has the meaning of Triveni, and it also connotes the plait of hair. And just like Triveni Sangam, where one of the three merging rivers is not seen, one of the three strands of the pleat is not visible – only two strands are seen. This analogy explains the procedure described for the Dampati Puja.
My note- I had first performed our ceremonies at Prayag though our ticket was to Benaras. Our Sasthrikal asked us to get down at Prayag…
Gaya Sraaddha
“it is absurd to think that doing Gaya Sraaddha exempts you from doing pratyabdika sraaddha or the annual ceremonies for your departed parents…”
Triveni Sangam
Bathing in Triveni Sangam: This is a memorable experience. Even as we walk on the shore towards the boat we can feel the sanctity of the occasion. The Panda also gets into the boat with us, as the boat takes off in the Yamuna, and does sankalpa (pledge) for us. Vapana or shaving is also a key aspect of the rite, and so the barber travels with us as well. The boat is brought to a halt at the point of the Sangam, and while you see water all around you, the place where your boat is parked is shallow and you can see the sandy floor of the river. The boats are fastened onto wooden poles specially erected for this purpose. A platform is also erected on the water, on which you can stand and take bath.
Collecting Ganga Jal (water from Ganga):
It is here that you collect Ganga Jal or the water of sacred Ganga and not in Kasi, as some people believe. You get containers of all shapes and sizes here itself, and the shopkeeper seals the container for you after you have filled it. To get Ganga Jal, your boatman takes you a little further into the river after you finish your bath, and you collect the sacred water of Ganga in the receptacle you may have brought. It is believed that after the bath you should discard the dhoti, saree and blouse etc. you had worn.
The legend of Prayaag:
After the 18-day war of Mahabharat Yudhishtra takes a tally of lives lost in the war on either side. When he realizes that along with his brothers he has been responsible for the deaths of countless blood relations of theirs, he is dumbstruck by the enormity of the sin that would accrue to them. He seeks from Markandeya the way for absolution of the sins.
Markandeya tells Yudhishtra that going to Prayaag is the surest – nay, the only way to absolve himself and his brothers of the killing of his blood relations.
He explains to Yudhishtra that Prayaag is called „Tirtha Rajan‟ because it has the power to remove your ignorance and cleanse you of all your sins, and the mere setting of foot on its soil has the force equal to the conduct of an “Aswamedha Yaga”.
Accordingly Yudhishtra goes to Prayaag and performs penance as directed, and acquires the power and glory that equip him with the ability to do great Yagas later, including the Rajasuya Yaga. He also gets the title of “Dharma Raja”, or Rightful King.