om brhmahye namah.......
SRaaDH`DH
THE ETERNAL AND EVERGREEN
EXPRESSION OF
CONTINUITY & GRATEFULNESS
IN CREATION
SRaaDH`DH
Offering
Upon Birth of A Son
Upon birth of a son, a father should perform
naandi SRaaDH`DH and
then after the suutak period is over the father should perform
abhyudayik SRaaDH`DH
as explained below:
naandi
SRaaDH`DH
sanak-muni, the mind born son of brahmaa-dev
explains in naarad puraan slok 1.25. 2 and 5 about the
naandi SRaaDH`DH
a father has to perform when his son is born. This is one of the dharma
of a father in living the gruhastha-aashram
of his life. This SRaaDH`DH is to
propitiate one's pitruo at one's good
fortune of having a progeny who will do SshraaDdh for
oneself when one finishes the current life journey. sanak-muni
starts by a warning to those who do not follow their dharma
of one's
aashram (life stage):
"A person who forsakes his sva-dharma
(own dharma) prescribed by ved and shaastra
and lives life with dharma of others are known as adharmik
and would be thus be ex-communicated by all dharma.
(Thus one cannot have an excuse not to follow sva-dharma because
somebody else is not following dharma. Also ved
says that if one does not follow dharma and thus bring chaos to
life then dharma will destroy that living being. dharma
has to destroy an adharmik living being for preserving the rest
of creation to operate to the laws of dharma. dharma is
our creator brhmah's shakti which
sustains sustenance of creation.)
A father upon the birth of his son should take a bath along with the
clothes he is wearing and perform the post-natal rite of
naandi SRaaDH`DH with the prescribed utterance of benediction. "
abhyudayik
SRaaDH`DH
sanak-muni, the mind born son of brahmaa-dev
explains in naarad puraan slok 1.25. 7 about the
SRaaDH`DH
offering a father has to perform at the end of the suutak
period is over after the birth of his son:
"At the end of suutak
period of the mother, the father should perfrom the abhyudayik
SRaaDH`DH
for the son. At this
SRaaDH`DH
offering the father should observe a vrat
to restrain his speech (meaning not to say anything disagreeable or hurtful to
others and to say only that is necessary). The father should also indicate a
name for the son. "
suutak period is for the period of
purification of the mother after giving birth. suutak period is of the duration
of 1.25 moths or 37.5 days after giving birth to the son. This period varies
among different vedik peoples depending on the regional, local and gotra
traditions and customs. abhyuday
means prosperity, good fortune, and a festival to celebrate
prosperity and good fortune. abhyuday also
means accomplishment of a desired objective in life. Thus, this abhyudayik
SRaaDH`DH is a festivity to celebrate a man's objective of begetting a son
to continue his lineage which will ensure continuum of the
SRaaDH`DH
offering at least for his next generation.
Ensuring continuity of lineage is one of the dharma
of a father in living the gruhastha-aashram
of his life. This SRaaDH`DH is to
propitiate one's pitruo at one's good
fortune of having a progeny who will do SRaaDH`DH for
oneself when one finishes the current life journey. sanak-muni
starts by a warning to those who do not follow their dharma
of one's
aashram (life stage):
(SRii chmpklaal Daajibhaai miisTRii,
the compiler of the above GNaan, convey pranaam
to our guru Dr. G. V. Tagore from
whose English translation of the sanskrit naarad puraan we have
been blessed with the above knowledge of how
SRaaDH`DH offering to our pitruo is to be done ......the
above slok has been expanded with explanatory prose to make our learning
and understanding easier...also explanatory prose in included in brackets to
give backgrounder ved knowledge to provide supplementary explanation for
increasing the depth of our knowledge of life sciences......)
.......om namah
brhmah....
....our guru brhmah..
.....om tat sat....om shaanti shaanti....
Posted: September 2002
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