The offering of food and water!

While the rest of India perform Pitru Paksha (Pithru Tharpanam in Malayalam) on the immediate moonless night before Navratri festival, we Keralites perform Pitru Paksha in the Ramayana Month

This year Ramayana month started on July 17^th and will last until August 16^th

The ritual is performed at the river shore, sea , ocean or lakes, 

Ulsoor lake at Bengaluru witnessed thousands of Keralites on the 23^rd of July AM.

Any Hindu Ritual is always supported by Mythology.  Daughter performing Pitru Paksha is supported by Ramayana (The Hindu Epic)

It is believed that Goddess Sita did Pitru Paksha for her father in law King Dasharatha  (Lord Rama’s Father ) and hence the tradition followed In Kerala.

When Lord Rama had gone to have his bathe in the river before the ritual, King Dasharatha visits his Daughter In Law - Sita and ask her to offer food for him herself, and that is the reason why it is compulsory for daughters to perform Pitru Paksha not only for her ancestors but also her Ancestral In-Laws. 

Since the ancestors, it is believed that the current generation and the unborn generation are always connected ;  I performed the ritual today.

The person performing this ritual has to fast for 2 days ;

The ritual is performed under the supervision of the priest ;

Pitru means ancestor ..

For Pita : Father (Heavenly Parent)

Pitamaha : Grand Parents

Prapitamaha : Great Grand Parents

Why Keralites perform Pitru Paksha at this time of the year as against the rest of India is another question?

Because …. Valmiki completed Ramayana during this time of the year. 

Offering /Content included in the offering should have

Grass ,

Sesame seeds

Water

Balls of cooked rice mixed with Ghee 

Milk ( Cow’s milk)

Person performing the pitru tarpanam should wear a sacred grass ring;

In Kerala it is also called as Sesha Kriya (Ritual to be performed if any of your parents have departed)

Celebrating the evolution of mankind ;

An offering of tribute to ancestors ;

Preparation of the offering for ancestors ;

Contents of the offering ;

I offer you one drop of water once again “Our present is the amalgamation of the past, what we received from our parents and grandparents"

During the process the Avahanam Mantra is chanted by the priest ;

With this Mantra you invite the souls to the earth for a while and offer them food, milk (cow's milk), ghee and sesame seeds.

While you are inviting them , you need to break the rice ball into 3 portions ;

One portion is meant for your dead parent ;

Another portion for the previous 8 generations ;

And the last one is for those who were not our blood relatives , yet helped us progress in life , or helped our pitrus progress in life which also includes plant and animal life.

And then you chant another mantra to send them back ;

Dispose off the sesame seeds , grass , milk (cows milk) and food into water ;

And during the process of disposal one has to chant the following

Shaanta-Aakaaram Bhujaga-Shayanam Padma-Naabham Sura-Iisham
Vishva-Aadhaaram Gagana-Sadrsham Megha-Varnna Shubha-Anggam|
Lakssmii-Kaantam Kamala-Nayanam Yogibhir-Dhyaana-Gamyam
Vande Vissnnum Bhava-Bhaya-Haram Sarva-Loka-Eka-Naatham ||

What I find amazingly co-incidental is that every year Pitru Tarpanam date falls somewhere during my monthly cycle of 5 days, and you are not allowed to perform the ritual during your monthly cycle

But call it a series of co-incidences, or call it a series of pre-destined events that fell In place automatically, it just gets pushed by one week on its own and I get to perform the ritual without any hassles surprisingly

More than anything I feel that my ancestors, the departed souls want to connect with me 

Our ancestors have given us fire, wheel, construction of houses for survival and progression

When we progress further we will be able to give more technological perfections to the next generation, every generation is an inspiration for the future.

Let us bow our heads and thank our ancestors for giving us so much today ;

Today it is not difficult to send an email or make a phone call to someone in the forest or a remote village, similarly when your faith is true the offering you make to dead parents and ancestors will reach him /her for sure ..

Priest 

Remember we exists because of our ancestors

We never think about giving, we grew up because our parents gave us everything which is something we cannot repay, why can’t we shower our respect to them and thank them for what we are today.

We have taken everything we have today as granted , but without the generations that came before us , this would not have happened

A verbal thank you is only a word, but by performing this ritual we are performing an action of giving / offering

Organised by Nair Service Society Karnataka 

Every giving / charity /offering we perform has 2 results

One – when we give / donate something to someone and we see the result on their face Eg. Offer help to someone and see the happiness and reaction on his face

Two  – when we give something to someone selflessly (without any motive like the offering you make on Pitru Tarpanam) the entire world gets benefits which are invisible to the giver.

When we give, we should give selflessly without any motive,

Learn to give without any motive

Back home , food should be prepared at home and served to the raven ;

A gesture of respect to the chain of evolution

Truly honouring the ancestral spirits

So friends , if you have never offered Pitru Tarpanam or Pitru Paksha to your dead parents , pls do so at-least on the moonless night before Navrathri , its science and not any blind belief.