Human body is made up of five Koshas – 1. Annamaya Kosha (body), 2. Pranmaya kosha (heart), 3. Manonaya Kosha (Mind) 4. Vigyanman Kosha (wisdom and knowledge),5. Anandmaya Kosha (blessings). These five koshas are intertwined into one another so as to help us transcend the cycle of life and death and attain liberation or merging with the Supreme.
After death, 4 koshas remain in this world. Other koshas keep moving and their movement is called Bhootgati. These Koshas leave the body one by one. In the end, when human body is burnt, soul departs from human body and all the koshas enter in Pretyoni. Manomaya kosha is very important in this yoni. So, it is human body which ends at the time of death and the soul which resides in the body, bears pleasure and pains because of desires in this yoni. When these desires end then this kosha is also liberated. All other three Koshas attain Devgati. Now, Anandnaya kosha remains alone and this gati is called Ishtgati. It denotes both manifestation and completion of the physical universe in total. In Ishgati, the being does not feel pleasure or pain and reaches Surya lok. From Surya lok it comes back to earth by the rays of the sun and enters the womb. In the tenth month it takes birth as human body in this world. Those who are liberated after death, their fire koshas are also liberated and they do not suffer in any one of these Gatis.
This is the natural cycle, which indicates that a being mainly faces two types of Gatis after death. One is Liberation and second is being trapped in a continuous cycle of life and death. In the first case, a being is liberated from all pains and desires. In the second case, being has to go or bear four Doshas and Yonis. Bhoot Yoni dies after the body is burnt, that is why a dying person hardly stays in that Yoni. At this time, there is no reason to perform any Shradhkarma or yagya. Of course, pind daan can be done. The duration of staying in Pretyoni depends upon the lust and desires of the dying person. The more it is involved in lust, the more it has to stay in Pretyoni and suffer. One cannot perform any Karma or religious work; neither can it experience physical pain or happiness because of its karma.
Happiness and sadness both are state of mind. Both virtuous and vicious get liberation from their subtle body after bearing the fruits of their karmas (good or bad) and when their desires are gratified. It is evident that by performing Shradhkarma in Shradhpaksha for the peace of ancestor’s souls in this birth, deceased ancestors get liberation from their bad deeds or sins. That is the reason, those who are physically present in this world, perform shradkarma for their dead ancestors during Pitra Paksha (fortnight of the ancestors is a period of 16 lunar days when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors especially through food offerings).
Some Pandits believe that Shradhkarma should be performed only in the honour of deceased ancestors, who are now residents of Pitralok (abode of ancestors) because when invocation is performed, these ancestors come and take whatever is offered to them. But if we think theoretically, we find that the ancestors who are unsatisfied souls who could not gratify their desires in their lifetime need respect and help from their successors to liberate them from the pain, as they are incapable to free themselves from the pains due to their non-existence in the world. Ancient literatures have described the instances of the appearances of the dead souls from Pitraloka during the time when Shradhkarma was performed. Some scriptures have described only the instances of some great men, accepting the homage performed by their successors. But these scriptures do not have references of receiving homage by ordinary souls. In fact, our ancestors have not been benefitted much by Shradhkarma, the way their successors or children are benefitted, because it is a ritual to repay debt to our deceased ancestors by gratifying their spirits and it is their religious responsibility also in order to make free their ancestors from their sins. That is the reason; Shradhakarma should be done with full devotion and in accordance with the principles described in Shastras.
Funeral rites and Shraddha must be distinguished from each other. Funeral rites (antyeshthi) are amangal (inauspicious) while Shraddha are mangal (auspicious).
To understand this it should be borne in mind that when a person dies, his or her gross body (sthula sharira) is burnt. This being in fact the ‘Antya ishthi’ (antyeshthi) the last sacrifice offered in fire, but the soul cannot quit the gross body without a vehicle of some kind. This vehicle is the Linga-sharira or subtle body, sometimes described as angushtha-matra (of the size of a thumb), invested in which the deceased person remains hovering near the burning ground or crematorium.
He or she is then in the condition of a simple individual soul invested with a subtle body, and is called a PRETA, i.e. a departed spirit or ghost. Thus an embodied soul (jiva) who has departed from the physical body at death is called a Preta. He or she has no real body capable of enjoying or suffering anything, and is consequently in a restless, uncomfortable plight.
Moreover, while in this condition he or she is held to be an impure being, and all the relations who participate in his or her funeral rites are held to be impure until the first Shraddha is performed. Furthermore, if a person dies away from kindred (relations), who alone can perform the funeral ceremonies, and who are perhaps unaware of his or her death, and unable therefore to perform them, he or she becomes a ‘pishach’, a foul wandering ghost, disposed to take revenge for its misery upon all living creatures by a variety of malignant acts.
The object then, of the antyeshthi or funeral rites, which are carried out for twelve days after death, is not only to soothe or give shanti (peace) by libations of consecrated water to the troubled spirit, but to furnish the preta with an intermediate body, between the ‘linga’ or subtle and the ‘sthula’ or gross body- with a body, that is to say, which is capable of enjoying or suffering, and which is composed of gross particles, though not of the same kind as the earthly gross body. In this manner only can the preta obtain gati or progress onwards.
A brief account of Shraddha and tarpan
On the first day after death a pinda or round ball (made from rice flour and milk) is offered with libations of water etc. on which the preta is supposed to feed, and which endows it with the basis of the requisite body. Next day another pinda is offered with water etc. which gives it perhaps, limbs such as arms and legs. Then it receives hands, feet etc. This goes on for twelve days and the offering of the pinda on the twelfth day gives the head. No sooner the preta obtains a complete body then it becomes a PITRI, when instead of being regarded as impure, it is held to be a deva or deity, and practically worshipped as such in the Shraddha ceremonies, the first of which takes place on the twelfth day after death.
Shraddha is the name of the ceremonies performed by relatives to help the departed soul. The ceremony of Shraddha performed to help the soul at this stage is called PRETA_KRIYA. Hence a Shraddha is not a funeral ceremony but a Pitri-Yajna or worship of departed ancestors, which worship, however, is something different from a puja (ceremonial worship) to a god. It is performed by making offerings of round balls of rice, flour etc. with accompaniments of sacred grass (kusha grass), flowers, and sprinkling of water, and with repetitions of mantras and texts from the SamVeda, the whole ceremonial being conducted, not in a temple, but at any sacred spot such as the margin of a river.
It takes many months for the departed soul to reach the abode of the Pitris or the souls of the ancestors. The word Pitris primarily means the immediate ancestors. Viz. Father, mother etc. This abode of the Pitris is known as Pitri-loka.
Shraddha proper is performed for three generations of Pitris (the father, the grand-father and the great grand-father), or to all Pitris. Three cakes are offered to the father, grand-father and great grand-father. Gifts to deserving Brahmins (priests) for the benefit of the Pitris, in the proper time and place and with faith, are known as Shraddha. Shraddha gives satisfaction to the Pitris. Performance of Shraddha and Tarpan (libations of water) relieves the hunger and thirst of the departed soul during its journey to the Pitri Loka. By the offering of the Shraddha, the son helps his father to dwell in joy with the Pitris. The rites that the son should perform for his father are known as Sapindi karana.
Shraddha must be performed with faith, devotion and reverence. The son who does not perform Shraddha and Tarpan is an ungrateful son. The sacred scriptures declare: "He who does not perform Shraddha will lead a miserable life and suffer from poverty". The ceremonies performed during Pitr-Paksha have very special effects. According to a legend, the offerings of libations of water-tarpan, arghya etc. to the departed reach the Pitris immediately, due to a boon from Lord Yama (the God of death).
The Bhagavad Gita, which forms a vital and philosophically important part of the great epic Mahabharata, states that on the eve of death the individual soul contracts all its energies and centers these into the subtle body. Our ordinary sight is incapable of perceiving it. How the individual soul inhering in the linga-sharira enjoys the consequences of its needs from one birth to another can only be perceived by the Yogis with their extraordinary cognitive insight.
