Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Veda praises the distinctive nature of a woman ‘Mathrudevo Bhava’, secondly ‘Pithrudevo Bhava’ and finally ‘Acharyadevo Bhava’, hence the rank of woman is considered as supreme, it is obvious that a woman do not require any comparison.   There are four types of Ashramadharma known as Bhramacharya, Grihasthashrama, Sanyasashrama and Vanaprasthashrama.  A woman takes stronghold in Grihasthashramadharma, she holds significant role in the smooth functioning of the family.   Husband and wife are considered as two wheels of a chariot, if anyone of the wheel gets damaged, it will definitely affect the functioning of the whole family.  The Sanskrit word ‘Griham’ derived from the word ‘Grihini’ who is  Grihalakshmi/Grihadevatha as well.  She is born with uniqueness like motherliness, compassion, forbearance, kindness, love and intelligence.  Our sacred scriptures highly praise the chastity of a woman, illustrious women like Ahalya, Seetha, Thara, Panchali,   Mandodhari, Dhamayanthi, Nalayani, Savithri and Maithreyi and many more chaste Rishi Pathnis who have earned highest of the status with their perseverance.  Therefore, Acharya firmly state that a woman should not take up any extra-ordinary position in the society other than leading prime role in her family, in this way she is contributing a good citizen to the society, protecting the righteousness and preparing the younger generation to carry out the responsibilities of Sanathana Dharma.  A woman should be a Karmayogi, it is her responsibility to contribute selfless service to the family and society as well.  Some may feel that they are well capable to manage social as well as family life, but the undeniable truth is that they cannot be ingenuous to both.  She is indispensable part of the family; none can carry out the spiritual as well religious rite in her absence, she is the main source of serenity, peace, and happiness in the family.  In the same manner men of the family should perform all those responsibilities for the smooth functioning.  Acharya relates woman as Universal Mother who is immeasurable, she is the source of Icchashakthi/conceiving ideas, Gnanashakthi/wisdom and Kriyashakthi/execution of tasks as well, and as a result she should not dissipate all those indescribable qualities, she should utilize all those qualities for the protection of righteousness/Sanathana Dharma and  bringing peace and serenity in the family.

Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Sri Acharya speaks highly about the Sthree Dharmam/duties of a  woman who is  stronghold and persistence of righteousness, hence woman cannot be compared with man in any matter, she is beyond comparison, scriptures and Veda highly praise the perseverance, duties and responsibilities of a woman, she was often compared to Mother of Universe and Goddess Annapoornna as well, she is the source of living force, she carries out smooth functioning of the family, serving the family members with sumptuous meal and taking care of all the necessities of elderly people in the family, she is  a pillar of righteousness who stands beside her husband in the performance of spiritual, religious, and  traditional family rites, none of the rites becomes impossible in her absence.  She takes complete control   of initial preparation for all the religious rites with utmost dedication and faith, she stands beside her husband throughout the performance of rites by providing relentless support, she is serving guests, Sanyasins, and Bhramacharins.  It is the duty of woman to carry out charities, she should make all the possible effort to spend one tenth of the family’s income for the charity purpose, a woman should not be a spend thrift or obsessive of worldly matters, she should have thorough knowledge of income and source of income, her expenditure should not exceed the income of the family.  She should strictly follow the daily rites and should be able to cultivate the habit of spiritual and religious practices in her children as well.  A mother is not a cook, she is all – in – all, she is the first teacher to her child, she is the one initiate her child to spiritual path and brings nearness to preceptor, she is Annapoornna who  serves sumptuous meal after offering to deity, and therefore it turns out divine and keeps the family members hail and healthy.    She should make sure to bring discipline, moral conduct, humility, simplicity, compassion, love, care and kindness, along with the formal education in her child’s life; she should be able to provide a responsible citizen to the society.  She should serve the elderly members of the family with respect, care and love.  She should serve her husband sincerely and provide all the assistance for the performance of various spiritual and religious rites.

Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Paramacharya describes the significance of homage to ancestors, it is more important than the worship of deities, sacred scriptures affirms that people who do not follow the  homage  to ancestors  would take birth in low class, we need perpetual blessings of our ancestors to have a peaceful, healthy, wealthy and happy life.  It is believed that during the fifteen days of Mahalayapaksha our ancestors hunger and thirst would increase considerably, therefore offering oblations to ancestors during these days are treated as highly propitious. Garuda Puranam describes Pithrus/ancestors are people who lived a self-less life, performed abundance of charities, service to humanity and sincerely performed daily rites to deities during their life on Earth, after the death they ascend to the abode of Pithruloka.  They have made lot of sacrifices during their life time on Earth; therefore it is our responsibility to show gratitude by performing homage during the days Mahalayapaksham and Amavasya after following strict austerities.  Offering charities of sesame seeds, salt, gold, cotton clothes, iron metal on Uththarayanapunyakalam, Shuklapaksha Pournami, Krishnapaksha Dwadhashi day during the month of Karthik is considered as highly auspicious.  Charities should be performed with utmost humbleness, any contributions made with pride or to attain fame or publicize the same will take away all the merits.  It is compulsory to worship ancestors before conducting any auspicious events like marriage and Bhramopadhesham in the family, in order to attain their perpetual blessings.  Person who performs homage to ancestors on Dwadhashi would attain gold as wealth, person who performs homage to ancestors on Thrayodhashi would attain supreme intellect, wisdom, cattle as wealth, good health, freedom of living, long life, prosperity, wealth and all kinds of auspiciousness, person who performs homage to ancestors on Chathurdhashi would please his ancestors died of accidents.   Mahalaya Amavasya is the most propitious day to worship ancestors, worshiper would be blessed with all kinds of auspiciousness, and person who performs homage on all these sixteen days of Mahalayapunyakalam would attain higher status in life, recitation of sacred chants while the performance of homage to ancestors are highly significant, performer should be aware of the meaning of these chants and pronounce it with good clarity and intense faith.  Performance of homage to ancestors on the sea shore, near the ponds or shrines would be treated as highly auspicious. 

Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Paramacharya strongly recommend the regular performance of homage to ancestors and the basic principles to follow before performing the rite.   Humans are born with four types of debts, such as Devarina, Pithrurina, Rishirina and Manushyarina.  Though it is our primary duty to pay off all the debts we are born with, scriptures speaks highly about Pithrurina/homage to ancestors,  debts to ancestors cannot be disregarded because it can bring severe consequences in the family of the debtor, and performance of the rites needs utmost dedication and reverence to obtain the fruit of Karma.  If a family is not enthusiastic in performing the rite to ancestors is equivalent to leaving one’s parents without basic necessities like water, clothing and food, and serving the world with sumptuous meal.  It is traditional not to celebrate any other Kamyakarma/ rites performed for the personal benefit, in the house of a person other than daily rituals to deity, after performing homage to ancestors.   The person who is performing rites should follow strict austerities, even the daily rituals to deity are not allowed to perform on the day of performance of homage to ancestors, usually worship of deities are carried out after the performance of rite to ancestors.  Amavasya is the day of lunar phase of New Moon, highly auspicious to worship ancestors, performing charity, offering meals, and clothing to needy, it  is considered as highly meritorious, it is believed that our ancestors will be suffering from extreme hunger and thirst on this day, therefore performance of annual rite and oblation to ancestors keep them out of hunger and thirst, in return they will get immensely pleased with the worshiper, and bless the family.  New Moon day is the day to worship our ancestors, it is highly auspicious to perform charities and performance of homage to ancestors,  it is the day to remove the hunger and thirst of our ancestors, it is assumed that on this day ancestors of the each family would be waiting  at the front  door with great expectation that the family would serve them with meal and quench their thirst, if the family is not taking these matters seriously, the ancestors would get deeply dejected and return their abode with the extreme  hunger and thirst, and some may curse the family.  People who do not follow any of these rites may undergo curse of ancestors and the family undergoes constant struggle, afflictions, conflicts, illnesses etc.. Even the deity refuses to accept offerings from the worshiper.   Therefore performing rite to ancestors is important as taking greatest care of one’s own family progress, it is customary practice to cook particular type of meal, performance of fire sacrifices and offerings to ancestors, it is an opportunity to present substantial amount as contribution and serve  the performing priest, which could bring abundance of meritorious reward.

Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Paramacharya insists that a married woman should not leave her forehead empty, other than during the ceremonial rites like homage to ancestors, that too if it is applicable for her; she should have the symbolic mark with vermilion on her forehead and middle of the partition of hair as well.  She has the primary right to lighten the lamp in the house, men can do in her absence.  It is traditional to decorate the room of the deity and the door step with the rice powder mix; it is another form of charity, feeding the tiny creatures like ants and insects.  The preparation of meal should be done after bath with simple prayers, while cooking it is important to memorize the sacred chants or listening to Vedic chants, it would purify the meal and it turn out to be an offering to Lord.  It is compulsory to offer the meal to deity before it is consumed, otherwise we would remain thieves and selfish in all our lives.  Once the offering is over, it should be offered to crows, Lord Shaneeshwara will be highly pleased with this act, and it is believed that ancestors will accept the offerings and bless the family.    The meal consumed after offering to deity would turn out divine, and it will keep us hail and healthy.  A woman need not do recitation of any Vedic chants, other than simple prayers; she has become already a prime beneficiary of half of the piousness of her husband, if she makes sure that her husband is following the daily rituals meticulously, helping him with the preparation for the performance of daily rituals are considered as her primary duties.  According to the principle of Manu, men cannot perform any of the spiritual or ceremonial rites without the assistance of a woman, or any rites performed in her absence are considered as not a righteous deed. Thus Acharya beautifully described the Sthreedharma/prime duties of a woman, it is always good to follow our Acharya’s advice in all possible ways, he plays the role of father and mother as well, and none of the parents will leave their children in troubles, if we sincerely follow their uncomplicated advises with good heart.

Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Sri Paramacharya highly speaks about the indisputable truth, that women are the beacon for righteousness, our scriptures and Veda highly admire the contributions of a woman in various Dharmic rites, woman is the initiator to all fire sacrifices, she protects the family rituals with her attentiveness, dedication and faith, she is over and over compares with the Mother Universe for her forbearance, mental strength and physical abilities.    Her husband shares equal half of the results of her sinful deeds, in the same manner she would be the beneficiary of half of the pious deeds of her husband.  A woman   in the family holds vital position in carrying out all the Dharmic rites, she should have thorough knowledge of her family traditions, rites and customs, and so that she can pass it on to younger generation and in this way the family traditions can be kept intact.   Families where women are treated with respect and kindness will be the permanent dwelling place of Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi, and Goddess Saraswathi, even the five essential elements  would wait for her command.   Acharya was a walking University, he kept travelling from one place to another by foot and seldom in the palanquin, so that he can educate the people of remote villages like a mother who affectionately feed her bosom milk to her child; he was always concerned about the well-being of his attendants while moving through the toughest routes from villages to villages, those days devotion to preceptor was intense and pure.  Acharya’s compassionate grace was enough to cure the distress and afflictions of the people; wherever he goes  a large crowd would be patiently waiting to get a glimpse of this Godly saint.

Teachings of Lord Buddha –

One of the five precepts of Buddhism is ‘Morality’, all the religion insists to follow the principle of virtue and practice of non-violence, evade from misconduct, robbery, and addiction to intoxicating drinks.   They encourage attributes like generosity, simplicity, forbearance, honesty, serenity, love, care, compassion, kindness, and discipline; which can lead to the path of enlightenment.  Practice of mindful Meditation helps for mental development, it strengthens our mind and removes the mental confusion, it brings the serenity of mind, it improves concentration, creativity, vigor and it also helps to achieve good conduct.  Wisdom or enlightenment is the Supreme state of consciousness; we have to make every effort to achieve that the highest state of mind, the realization of supreme consciousness is possible only if the mind is calm and pure.  The human life is full of sufferings; it is an inevitable part of life, sufferings from physical and mental ailments, deaths, the pain of separation, loss, and failures, major reason for sufferings are attachments, endless desires, possessiveness, yearn for sensual pleasure, desire to accumulate wealth, money, fame, etc..  Suffering causes lack of control over anger, lust, desire, ego, pride, and jealous, surprisingly sufferings are an individual choices.   Hence, sufferings are not mandatory though it is an inevitable part of life, there are ways to put an end to sufferings once for all,  Nirvana is the supreme state where there is no suffering, in this state person will be freed from attachment and desires, there is no fear or anxiety.  Therefore, virtues and disciplined life can only lead to the path of enlightenment, leaving behind all the wickedness, cruelties, conceitedness, and following strict celibacy, simple way of living will help to create all new perception, right thinking, aspiration and desire to free from attachments, ignorance, and hatred.   The practice of meditation helps to achieve control over sense, words, actions, and thoughts; it promotes good thought, it helps to refrain from evil deeds, usage of abusive language, getting involved in improper means of intoxication.  Mindful meditation helps to attain complete awareness of body, mind, and feelings.  The overall well-being can be achieved through meditation, reading scriptures and taking part in religious rites.