RESCUING ANCESTORS FROM HELL

This is an article about Life. Granted, it has a title that implies Death. But both life and death are man-made concepts emerging out of the constructs of human language and human beliefs. In the article, you will come across language that includes Soul, Karma, Reincarnation, Ghosts, Hell, Heaven and other such words that you may either want to know more about, or to discount immediately. That is a choice you as a reader must make. It is your concept of Free Will. The origin of this article begins with an innocent enough question from a young university student to his Spiritual teacher – a student who seems perturbed by the apparent conflict between Karma and Free Will.

"Guru-Ji, I am confused. On one hand you tell me that the actions of my ancestors affect my life and on the other hand you tell me that I can exercise Free Will to change my life?"

"Both are relevant, my young friend. Tell me. Why are you here? Why do you come to see me?"

"Because I am sad. No matter how hard I struggle, nothing seems to work for me. I come upon roadblock after roadblock. Sometimes success seems so close and at the last moment, the earth seems to shift from under my feet and I fall again."

"So you are seeking Happiness?"

"I guess so."

"Isn’t the sole quest of humans the achievement of HAPPINESS?  We must  remember that out of this quest for Happiness comes DESIRE; and when Desire is thwarted, ANGER results.  From Anger springs irrational THOUGHTS, WORDS and ACTIONS; then from this irrationality, our daily ANXIETIES originate; our Anxieties lead to UNHAPPINESS and cycle self perpetrates.

"Sounds as if you just described the cyclical process of reincarnation Guru-Ji?"

"Sort of. The happiness cycle is but one example of the cyclical nature of life. As a more natural example, think of a tree. It begins from a small seed that grows and blossoms into a huge trunk, deep anchoring roots and a myriad of strong branches covered in lush green leaves. It bears large quantities of fruit that spreads and propagates to locations both near and far away from the site of the original tree.  Then the tree grows old, withers and dies. It becomes again a part of the earth."

"But the tree lives on because its species is propagated thousands of times over."

"You've got it my young friend. Lineage and ancestry are very relevant to our quality of life on the face of this planet.  A healthy fruit bearing tree will propagate healthy trees that bears sweet fruits and a diseased tree will bear fruits filled with rot and worm holes. If your ancestors were the Rockafeller family, for instance, you would have been a rich and famous man. On the other hand, if your ancestors were from a notorious family, you will be suffering from their sins."

"But I am my own individual. Why should I have to suffer for the actions committed by someone else?"

"You are an individual indeed – an individual soul that is housed in this material body of flesh and bones. Your soul, called the Jivatman in Hinduism, is a minuscule part of the Cosmic Soul or Paramatman. Remember that the universe is a connected web of life. Through the universal mother, the Cosmic egg or Hiranyagarbah, like the single fruit bearing tree, yields billions of souls which are born and reborn again and again. Only when right actions subjugate wrong actions does the soul or Jivatman once again be permitted to merge with the Paramatman or Absolute. If on the other hand, wrong actions exceed right one, the soul will have to endure birth after birth. With every birth in human form, the soul gets a renewed opportunity to walk the path of truth, because it is only in this human form that the soul has the power of discrimination between right and wrong."

"So you are saying that I am not really this ‘me’ that I think I am; but rather  I may very well be a reincarnated soul of myself when I existed as one of my ancestors?"

"That is likely."

"And that is why I have to bear the sins or actions of some past life?"

"You are beginning to make sense of all this my young professor. When a person dies, his thoughts, his desires and sometimes his very image remains in ‘limbo land’ – a dimension existing parallel to ours but one which we are not able to perceive with our 5 senses. They continue to exist in this way until another opportunity arises for that soul to take birth in a different womb."

"So this is how ghosts or spirits come into being? And that is why we only feel them as cold spots or see them as fleeting images or shadows?"

"Yes. But remember that not all dead ancestors remain as ghosts."

"I understand Guru-Ji. For those who lived a life of truth and whose actions were for good and righteousness, their souls get an opportunity to reemerge with the Cosmic Soul or Paramatman. Those whose actions were not for good; those who committed wrong against others etc. linger in the 'netherland' or the dimension of the ghosts."

"As they lived their lives in the human form, they continue to be that way in the ghost form. This is why people say that ghosts are miserable beings. If they were accustomed to steal, hurt and make other people’s lives miserable, that is exactly what they will continue to do in death. So when one lives in a house which is haunted by spirits you will find that a lot of things will go wrong in that person's life because of the unseen influences of those spirits."

"Is there a way to help these spirits, Guru-Ji? The scriptures refer to the sufferings of the souls in Hell. I believe in Hinduism you refer to it as Patal?"

"Allow me to refer you to Garuda Purana Part I Chapter 225. Read this chapter when you get a chance, my young friend. Verses 3- 6 reads: ‘After casting off the outer garment (i.e.: the gross body) the man takes another body (the subtle one). In 12 days, he is led by the attendants of Yama (God of Death). The water libations with gingelly seeds offered by the kinsmen in the world as well as the ball of rice (pinda) offered by them is partaken of by him in the region of Yama. From there, the meritorious man goes to Heaven and the sinner goes to Hell. After experiencing the benefits of heaven or torture of Hell, the individual (soul) enters the womb of women.’ You must remember, however, that a life coming back from heaven will be born into a righteous family of a righteous womb and one coming back from Hell will be born of a sinful womb. Thus the law of Karma is fulfilled. Now let us go on to see if we can answer your question about whether we can help to rescue some of these sinful souls lost in the depths of Patal. More importantly, why must we try and rescue these souls? Is there any benefit to us in this generation if we do rescue some of them?"

"Well for one, we will stop their suffering. Sometimes you can hear these ghosts making weird wailing sounds as if they are in great pain or misery. We will also break the cycle of re-birth through sinful wombs. Because sometimes a child born in poverty or with disease may not have a good enough opportunity to change his or her fate."

"You are almost too noble in thought my young philosopher. You are correct though. But there is a more down-to-earth reason as well. If you throw a rope to a drowning man and help him back to shore, will he not be eternally grateful to you? In the same way, by rescuing the souls of your ancestors from the suffering of their various Hells, will they not be grateful to you? For one thing they will stop being miserable and stop influencing your life in negative ways. Secondly, now that they have been rescued, will they not now shower thanks and blessings upon you? So now your life becomes easier AND you have ended the cycle of sinful birth. Plus, you have now acquired knowledge to guide you in your actions in this life to avoid falling into the same pitfalls over and over again."

"O.K. Guru-Ji. I now understand the NEED to rescue the souls of my dead ancestors. But HOW do I go about this? WHAT do I need to do?"

"You do show the impetuous impatience of youth."

"Oh No! Now you will teach me PATIENCE!"

"You are catching on really quickly. However let us leave that for another lesson and proceed with the Search and Rescue Mission for your ancestors. The Vedic name for the process is Sraddha. This process is accomplished by the performance of a Pitri Puja or as you may wish to name it an Ancestral Search and Rescue Puja."

"You do have a sense of humor Guru-Ji. I always thought of Vedic priests as silent, serious types."

"I guess we are in some ways.  It is good that you mention Vedic priests – someone who has authentic knowledge of the Vedas, because the Pitri Puja is not to be toyed with. Although it is not very difficult to perform, someone who lacks the proper knowledge can cause mistakes that can lead to disastrous consequences. I will therefore provide you only with a 9-step outline. The overall purpose of the Pitri Puja as we said before, is to rescue the lost souls to bring peace, happiness and prosperity to the lineage and to the land."

Step 1:
Ritual to Mother Earth for permission to rescue lost souls.

Step 2:
Ritual to go down to the lower regions (Hell; Patal) of the Universe to rescue all lost and displaced souls.

Step 3:
Ritual to the Lord of Obstacles to remove all blockages from the search and rescue mission.

Step 4:
Ritual to the Female Energy of the universe asking for permission for lost souls to be re-born in higher wombs.

Step 5:
Ritual to transport the lost souls through the ethereal sphere into the higher regions of the Universe.

Step 6:
Ritual to allow the souls receive new light from the 7 moons.

Step 7:
Ritual to provide balance to the lost souls by taking them through the Solar System.

Step 8:
Ritual to take the lost souls to a heavenly abode where they are able to receive love, knowledge, spirituality and ultimately achieve freedom from all sins. This ultimate achievement is called moksha or final liberation.

Step 9:
Ritual for the re-formation of the Earth by burning all the negative influences.

"You are right Guru-Ji. Going down into the dark depths of Hell does seem like a dangerous expedition."

"But one that is well worth it my young scientist. The persons who are desirous of rescuing the souls of their ancestors must prepare a short family tree with all the names. At the appropriate time during the ritual, the performer will then call on their ancestral fathers and mothers as we enter the lower regions of the Universe. All the ancestors who have committed sins, either knowingly or unknowingly, all who have taken lives, and all others who are considered lost souls will be called upon to present themselves at the location of the ceremony. Once there, they will be taken upwards through the ethereal sphere and in so doing, we will be able to correct some of the mistakes they have made in the past. We do it to avoid the continued suffering which can go on for many generations. We must be able to rescue the souls of the ancestors who committed these great sins so that the family line can be successful on earth. In turn when the lost souls are rescued, then the future generations will be blessed with wealth, happiness and prosperity."
 
 

Copyright © 2001 RamCharran