pitru tharpanam

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 24 Apr 2002, Sandeep B wrote:

> Thanks for throwing light on this.
>
> I however have a doubt: if say, I'm a man who has done only evil in life.
> After my death, say, I attain hell.
> Assume that my son performs my Shraadhha religiously. In this case, what's
> the fruit of the Shraddha, or what is achieved by performing the Shraddha?
>

The famous Mafia gangster Al Capone managed to evade capture for a long
time.  What was he eventually arrested for?  Income tax evasion.  Just
because he had gotten his wealth illegaly didn't mean he was absolved of
the need to pay taxes on it.

In the same way, meticulous performance of one obligation such as shraddha
doesn't save you from the effects of the non-performance of others.

The problem with karma is even good deeds have consequences which have
other consequences and the "accounting" of paap vs. punya can get quite
complicated.  That's why Advaita Vedanta recommends eventually breaking
free of samsara by giving up all karma.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/