Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Acharya describes piousness and sins elaborately, pious deeds are righteous deeds which is  the source of happiness, contentment, and peace,  any immoral acts cause sins which  results in  mental and physical ailments, miseries, sorrows, grief, and pain of separation etc…  human beings are constantly engaged in various activities to earn necessities of life such as food, clothing, and shelter, none of the creatures are  idle on the Earth, first of all, it is impossible to remain idle, so they keep engages in activities, some people spend their life earning with an intention to perform charities in the future or after retirement from the work, and it is far better than people who spend their life in worldly matters, lazing, and spreading rumors.  The interesting fact is that if a person decided to do some charitable work, he will see all the possible ways to make it work; all that we need is enthusiasm.  The practice of recitation of sacred names of Lord while commuting to work would keep the person away from worldly matters; it is an act of piousness.  We can do pious deeds with the body, speech, mind, and money.   We are constantly committing various sins with the body, mind, intellect, and words; it has become a habit in us, therefore we should make effort to destroy those sins with the above four means itself.     The greatness of supreme spirit lies in liberating a soul from its sin; hence we should engage ourselves in constant remembrance of Lord.  Bhagavan Krishna says to Arjuna, there is no one on the Earth free from sin; therefore the ocean-sized sins can be easily crossed with the wisdom like a ferry.  Mahanarayana Upanishads says to destroy sins with the performance of righteousness.  Any deed is performed out of personal reason or desire is the sinful deeds which could bring miseries and grief, all the forbidden acts are sinful, all the good deeds are a pious act, giving is a joy, act of goodness brings happiness.  All are aware of the end results of piousness and sins; unfortunately, we are compelled to commit various sins as it was innate in us, in this way we have accumulated huge bundle of sins through various births, even though none of us wants to commit sins or undergo miseries and sorrows in life.  Arjuna asks Krishna ‘who force us to do all those sinful deeds?’ Who is responsible for that?’ Lord Krishna explains that endless desires are the driving force behind various sins, everyone wants to fulfill their desires, if it is not possible to accomplish them in an ethical manner, they will make all efforts to achieve the same in a dishonest way, in this way living beings on Earth accumulates their sins.

Sage of Kanchi –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Paramacharya !

Vedas and sacred scriptures describes the Sthree Dharmam/duties of a woman in a precise manner, a woman in the family attains all the piousness and abundance of meritorious reward by serving her husband, she need not required to perform Sandhyavandham or recitation of Veda, other than offering water to sun deity on a regular basis, a simple deed of prostration before her husband would remove all her sins, even the deities and Pithrus get highly pleased with this act.  She should not be a spendthrift, she should have thorough knowledge about the income of the family, she should be smart enough to run the family within that income, moreover she should be able to keep a certain proportion of the income for the charity.  A woman is often compared to Mother Earth for her forbearance and love, everything is possible with love, and she should spread love and happiness within the family and in the outside world as well.  It is always good to rise early in the morning before sunrise, it is good for mental as well as physical health, cleanliness is essential, and purity at home brings the eternal presence of all the deities, which removes impurities of mind, conflicts, arguments, and unhappiness in the family.  Lightening earthen lamp in the morning and evening with simple prayers are considered highly auspicious, decorating the room of deity and front door with the rice powder/Rangoli is an act of generosity, in this way the insects and ants get fed on regular basis.  Our Sanatana Dharma strongly recommend  that a married woman should be presentable always, she should decorate her eyes with Kajol, hair with flowers, forehead with vermilion, hands full of glass bangles, ornaments on the chest and waist,  anklets, an ornament on the toe.  A married woman should not leave her hair untied, it is treated as inauspicious.  Cooking is an indivisible part of her work while cooking listening or recitation of sacred chants would bring an abundance of goodness in the meal, it removes any impurities so that it can keep the members of the family free from mental as well as physical afflictions.  She should make sure that all are leaving to bed early by 9.00 PM, so those mornings will be fruitful.

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.