Pind Daan :

DEITY (आराध्य) : PITRA DEV

PIND DAAN PURPOSE : 

Successful Journey (सफल यात्रा )

Freedom from All Problems  ( सभी  समस्या से मुक्ति )

Gain ( लाभ )

Progress (उन्नति )

Freedom from Fear ( भय से मुक्ति )

Freedom from prolonged illness (लम्बी बीमारी से मुक्ति ) 

Freedom from Fatherhood (पितृ दोष से मुक्ति )

AUSPICIOUS TIME FOR PIND DAAN :

Pitr paksh, All Amawasya,Date of Death(मृत्यु के तिथि पर ) 

AUSPICIOUS PLACE FOR PIND DAAN : 

PUJA PLACE :

This Pind Daan Puja with be performed in World's Oldest Existing City & Capital of Hinduism - Kashi (Varanasi).

Below are more auspicious places for performing Pind Daan Puja in Kashi & Your Puja - Japa will be performed in Vedic way at either of these places.

Pishach Mochan,Kapil Dhara, Ganga Ghat (Kedar Khand, kashi)

Pind Daan :

What is the meaning of Pind Daan?

The Hindu Sanatana Dharma followers since the Vedic period have a ritualistic belief to offer homage to the departed souls through pind daan. The traditional Hindu way of life covers concepts of life and the afterlife in one continuous and seamless process. When a person passes away, it is believed with him/ her the soul too leaves the body. And with this there ends a relationship between the body and soul, the body is consigned to flames and only the ashes are left behind which as per Hindu dharma is immersed in the flowing water bodies, and later on, the other post-death ceremonies are performed. Pind Daan is primarily the most important part of the Shraadha Karma (ritualistic offerings through prayers, charity, and food) performed with utter faith and dedication by the family members, relatives of the deceased person to bring peace and salvation to the departed souls of their ancestors and other relatives. Pind Daan is offered to both maternal and paternal lineages.

Shraadha Karma (Pitru Runa) as a debt to the forefathers:

Our Vedic tenets define three types of debts (Traya Runa) to be accounted for by a person in his/ her lifetime. The following three Runas (debts) have been referred to in the Rig Veda (8.32.16; 6.61.1), Taitriya Samhita (6.3.10.5), and the Satapatha Brahmana (1.7.2.11).

The three types of debts are namely:

1. Deva Loan (debt to the Supreme God) to be repaid through Vedic hymns/ prayers, Yagyas, etc.
2. Pitru Loan (debt to the forefathers) to be repaid by following the Vedic dharma-karma, marriage, and progeny as well by performing shraadha karma to the departed souls of ancestors. 
3. Rishi Loan (debt to the sages) to be repaid by seeking Vedic knowledge, to study and propagate Vedas. 

What is a Pind?

The word pind means a body. The word daan denotes charity or giving. Therefore, pind daan means giving charity to the body of the deceased person. 

In the Vedic scriptures, Griya Sutras, a pind is something that is in a circular-ball shaped form made with cooked rice, clarified butter mixed with black sesame seeds, or prepared with flour as per one’s ritualistic following and offered to the departed soul by his/her son, relatives during shraadha karma. The belief that the food (pind daan) that is offered by the doer (Karta) and is accepted by the deceased person’s soul (Atma) through the scent of smell, sound (Vedic hymns-mantras), and the transfer of emotions (bhava) by the person who is doing the pind daan and in return the family is believed to be blessed. Three pinds are made into small balls which are kept atop the banana leaf along with the darbha or kusha grass, black sesame seeds ( til)  and offered with either milk, honey, water, and hymns to the three generations of ancestor’s (forefathers) viz. father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Later these pinds are fed to the crows, and some other edible items are given to a cow and some offerings go in the flowing water bodies.

Post Death Ceremony-Shraaddha Karma, Tarpanam and Pind Daan:

The post-death ceremonies are often performed by the son/s of the deceased, except in the case of sumangali women. According to the Vedas, one must worship one’s ancestors daily and offer tarpan and pinddaan, apart from the specific day of their death (thithi), and on days like the New Moon day (Amavasya), Eclipse Days-Solar and Lunar (Surya & Chandra Grahan), even on eves (Parva Kala-Uttarayana, Dakshinayana), and also during the 15-days of Pitru Paksha days, and also while when one visits certain pilgrimage places.

Gaya Tirth : 

Bihar Rajya’s famous pilgrimage city, Gaya, is considered a holy place of worship - a tirtha sthal (pilgrimage place) for Hindus. They come here at least once in their lifetime to perform shraddha karmas, tarpan, and pinddaan rituals for the departed souls of their loved ones. Gaya city is associated with Gayasura and Lord Mahavishnu in particular, the river Phalgu and the famous shrine Vishnupada marked by a large footprint of Lord Vishnu engraved in a basalt block. The other places of importance are the Akshaya Vat, PindVedis, PretShila, Ram Shia, Vaitarni Sarovar, Pisachmochan Kund, Ganga Tat, Kapil Dhara, etc.

Who all performed Pind Daan at Gaya:

Our Vedic scriptures refer to Lord Brahma as the first person to do shraadha karma and offer Pinddaan here in Gaya in the Satyuga. Many epics also associate Gaya as the place where Lord Ram, with his wife Sita and younger brotherLakshman, offered pinddaan to their father, King Dasharath. Later on, the Pandavas too came here. The writing also denotes that the Maurya and Gupta dynasty kings, apart from Kumaril Bhatt, Chanakya, Ramakrishna Paramhans, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and numerous other well-known personalities, have done pind daan here. 

The story of Gaya: 

Gaya was named after the demon Gayasur. As per the Vayu Purana, Gaya was the name of a demon whose body became pious after he performed strict penance and secured blessings from Lord Vishnu. It was said that the body of Gayasur was transformed into the series of rocky hills that make up the landscape of today’s Gaya city. 

Legend has it that though Gayasur was born in the Rakshasa (demon) clan, his overall behavior was good and he had a helping nature and he respected the Devas (Gods). But Gayasur had one thing in mind - that irrespective of his being good, he was born in the Rakshasa clan and he will not get a name and fame. Thus he started doing penance and was able to convince Lord Vishnu and attained a boon. The boon was that Lord Vishnu exists in Gayasur’s body and whoever looks at him; the living beings' sins may vanish and let it attain the Swarga Lok. After receiving the boon Gayasur went all over and by seeing him all attained the Swarga Loka (heavens) hence, a lot of dead sinners converted into pious beings and ultimately huge rush. Lord Yama (the lord of death) was in great trouble; he rushed to Lord Brahma and requested him to see to this. Immediately Lord Brahma had a plan, he went to Gayasur and told him that he wants to perform a Yagya and needs a pious place and requested Gayasur to offer his body, the back on which he will perform the Yagya with others. Gayasur readily agreed and all the Gods were invited but still, Gayasur kept moving and let people attain moksha. Now Brahma and the other gods got worried that they could not stop Gayasur’s movement irrespective of the huge weight of all of them on his body. Now Lord Brahma approached Lord Vishnu to be present here, finally, Gayasur decided not to get up, stop his moving around as his Lord himself was seated along with others. Thus he requested Lord Vishnu to convert him into a series of rocks and place him here. Lord Mahavishnu was pleased and the Devalok’s problem got resolved. Lord Mahavishnu was pleased and asked Gayasur to ask any boon he wants. Gayasur asked Lord Vishnu and other Gods to be always present in His divine forms in the rocks of Gaya. This so, whoever does their post-death rituals for their ancestors may get moksha and their descendants live in peace, prosperity and harmony. The boon was granted, and since then, this place as Gaya named after Gayasur, and Lord Vishnu’s footprint at the Dharmashila or Vishnupada and Shraddha karma on the banks of the Phalgu River and at the Akshaya Vat till date continues.  

Some Mentions, the significance of Puja at Gaya

The Kurma Purana (34/7-8) mentions that the ancestors or forefathers appreciate a pilgrimage to Gaya tirtha by their descendants. By doing the pinddaan here at Gaya, the soul achieves liberation and looks forward to salvation and freedom from the clutches of rebirth. Further, it says that, whoever goes to Gaya for pind daan and shraadha rituals, is blessed by the ancestors from both the paternal and maternal sides and their seven generations will be benefited and attain salvation.

As per Garud Purana, any person/s who does shraddha karma and pinddaan at Gaya then their ancestors attain moksha or salvation, they are lead to steps of the Swarga Dwara (gates of Heaven). 

As per the Vishnu Purana and Vayu Purana, in Gaya, Lord Mahavishnu himself stands by as the Pitrudev, and thus this place is also referred to as the Pitrkshetra.

The Curse by Sita Mata to Phalgu River and Sand Pind daan by her:

Legend says that when Ram, Lakshman, and Sita came here at Gaya to perform the pind daan of King Dashrath, and while Ram and Lakshman had gone for arranging things for the pind daan rituals and Sita was waiting there. It was almost time for the pind daan rituals, and both had for yet to come, all of sudden in front of Sita appeared King Dashrath’s soul and demanded the Pinds. Sita could not believe this and could not keep him waiting for the pind, thus taking the sand she made three ball-shaped pinds and offered to King Dashrath and the witness to these offerings were the Phalgu river, Gau Mata (cow), Ketki flower (screw pine flower) and the banyan tree (Vata Vriksh). However, soon Ram and Lakshman were back and what they saw was pind daan performed. Sita then called the witnesses and narrated that King Dashrath demanded the pinds and thus she had to do so, but out the four three of them denied this. Sita then cursed them, the Phalgu river thus flows beneath the earth, and not like other rivers, the cow or Gau Mata was cursed that she will go to the bhooloka (the earth) and eat rubbish too; and the Ketki flower will not be offered in my prayers. The only one the banyan tree told the truth and stood witness thus was granted the blessings of Sita Mata and till date stands for the shadow of millions and here at the Akshaya Vata place whoever performs pind daan for their forefathers will attain salvation.    

Other Important rituals at Gaya:

Recitation of the three suktams, the Brahma Suktam, Vishnu Suktam and the Rudra Suktam is also done here. By chanting these Vedic hymns the ancestors' souls feel blessed and happy and they are rid of the birth and death cycles, they attain moksha. Further, this also gives peace, prosperity, good health, and well-being to the person, his family performing the rituals at Gaya. Apart from these chants and prayers the Mangal Shanti Puja is done which removes all negative happenings in the family, brings in the life’s ambitions, and qualifies one to earn the desired progeny and success in life. All Manglik dosh nivarana puja (to remove the negative effects of the Mars planet) is also done. Also, people perform the Kumbh Vivah Parihar puja to remove the efficacy of the Mars planet in one’s birth chart. And many a time people after the pind daan ritual go for the Mangal shanty puja and Kumbh Vivah. Mantra Jaap of 10,000 counts and the Mangal Stotra is also conducted to see the blessings of the planet Mars along with the blessings of the ancestors.

Pind Daan at Holy pilgrimage places: (Varanasi & Haridwar)

Pind daan apart from Gaya is also performed at Varanasi and Haridwar.  According to Hindu mythology, our ancestors since ages have been performing the post-death rites on the banks of holy rivers, and especially pind daan on the banks of the holy Ganges is believed to be more pious, further, the Ganga possesses in itself the power to wash away mortal sins of ours. The legend of Ganga coming from the heavens via Lord Shiva’s jata (hair) to the earth, and the penance by sage Bhagirath to wash away the sins of his ancestors, etc. is famous.

Legend of Lord Shiva stopping River Ganges mighty flow nearing the city of Kashi (Varanasi) finally slow it down by his trident (Trishul). The belief that whoever dies in Kashi attains salvation, and performing final rites to the deceased here as well shraadha karma, pind daan one is freed from the cycle of rebirth.

At Varanasi, the following ghats (banks) like the Manikarnika, Panchaganga, Dasaswamedh, Varuna, Assi, and many more are there for the last rites of the deceased, but as regards the performing of pind daan people prefer the Pisachmochini Talab, Vimal tirtha, etc. 

Pind daan at Haridwar, too, is considered sacred, people in their lifetime stop for religious pilgrimage here. The Ganga starts though from Gaumukh but its holiness is considered from here. Taking a dip in the holy Ganges and performing shraadha karma and pind daan for one’s departed souls are considered pious and the deceased ancestors attain moksha here too. The main places where pind daan are performed at Haridwar are Kushavarta Ghat, Har-ki-Pauri, Narayanshila temple, Kankhal Sati Ghat, etc. 

However, in India there are many religious pilgrimage places where Pind daan is performed, they are Haridwar, Badrinath’s- Brahmakapal, Pehowa in Kurukshetra, Pushkar tirtha at Rajasthan, Siddhpur and Dwarka in Gujarat, Mathura, Prayag, Varanasi, Gaya, Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, Jagganathpuri, Rameshwaram, etc. 

Types of Pind Daan: 

There are various sets of post-death rites which are supposed to be performed depending on the type of death.

Ekodrishti Gaya Shraadha Karma: This is performed in a day. For Ekodrishti Shraadha karma, you need to cover only three important vedhis. They are the Phalgu River, Visnupada Temple, and the Akshaya Vat. If the death is abnormal (say accidental etc.), then you need to visit the Pretshila, Gaya Koop, and Dharmaranya.

Vrihada Gaya Shraadha: Vrihada means elaborate, this requires the investment of more time and you will have to visit 54 Vedis or locations and the rituals too are time taking. 

TirpindiShraaddha: Tirpindi Shraadha is done for people having died unnaturally. This shraadha helps in removing Preth Baadha and removes all difficulties created by the ancestors/family members who died unnaturally. The shraadha by the name of Narayana Bali and Naaga Bali is done for satisfying the wandering souls of ancestors and relatives.