[Advaita-l] I have a question on reading of Garuda Purana at home after the death of a relative *\(Father in my case)

[Keshava PRASAD Halemane]

sorry to hear the bad news - about the demise of your beloved father.
may God bestow you all the courage to face the pain - take it with sportive spirit as it is an unavoidable part of everyone's life. 
may your father's soul rest in peace.

i am writing this from my experience with carrying out those kriyas, and also based on some that i attended; and certainly not at all based on any expert knowledge - so it is all subject to corrections.


if you wish to follow vaidika dharma samskara procedures, it is better to consult a vaidika purOhita - because the nitty gritty details of the procedures depend on your vEda-SAkha (Rk -or- kRShNa-yajur -or- Sukla-yajur -or- sAma) and your gRhya-sUtra parampara - e.g. ours is kRShNa-yajur vEda bOdhAya sUtra).
when my father expired in 1987 we cremated the body in our town area (at that time it was firewood based, but now things are changing to electricity based, but that is fine) and after that we carried out all the uttara-kriyas in gOkarNa-kShEtra. 
[you need to collect some asthi/bone from the cremation place, as per our tradition - it is required for later kriyas]
In our tradition, if we are in a village with our own land/property etc., the collecting of asthi is to be done on the fourth day.
[the 'counting' of the days starts with the day of the death itself counted as the first day - maybe as in jyOtishya also; why not, if the compuer scientists prefer to count starting from zero onwards, . . . ]
the main part of the uttara kriyas fall on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th days [we call those kriyas in our colloquial tongue - dashakriya, bojja, sapinDi, patanga]
the reading of the garuDa purANa is done - in our tradition - on the 12th day [as part of the sapinDeekaraNa kriya]
sometimes one can also arrange for what is called as vaikunThasamarAdane for which one can invite outsiders etc.; whereas the earlier mentioned kriyas are supposed to be followed strictly as per the instructions of the vaidika purOhita based on the specific gRhya-sUtra, and therefore there may not be much flexibility for outsiders to attend etc.; participation is generally restricted to the immediate children and close relatives only; although for the 11th day (bojja) if performed in a vilaage setting, they do invite others from the 'community' and the neighbours within the village, etc. 

finally, every thing depends upon your belief-system (i mean, you & your family, those who are your father's other children, your kith & kin, etc) 

certainly, advaita-vEdAnta view point is one thing to keep in mind - that gives the best courage & strength to face all ordeals in life.
following one's tradition as per one's dharma SAstras can also be looked at as a prescribed exercise for the overall antahkaraNa-Suddhih of the survivors - that is, each of us who are/feel close to the departed soul. 
so please do follow your swadharma - as per your conscience. 

harih Om
Om tat sat
Yours Truly,
Keshava Prasad Halemane




>________________________________
> From: RAMESH RAMANAN <rameshramanan at yahoo.co.uk>
>To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
>Sent: Friday, 1 February 2013 9:21 PM
>Subject: [Advaita-l] I have a question on reading of Garuda Purana at home after the death of a relative *\(Father in my case)
> 
>Dear members,
>
>Pranams and Sashtanga Namaskarams. 
>
>I am extremely sad to inform you that my respectable father, aged 79, passed away on 30th January at 2.05 pm, after undergoing a lot of hardships in an hospital in Chennai. He had a paralytic stroke,burst heart-vessel (he had a by-pass surgery in 2009) and  severe brain hemorrage. on Monday28th January. 
>
>Now, I would like to know from all of you, honestly, whether a good reading of the Garuda Purana will give peace to my father's spirit and if yes, when should the reading be done by the Sasthrigal (is it before or after the 13th day karmas?) And for how many days should the reading be performed, minimum and maximum number of days and do all the children and wife of the departed soul have to be present at the reading? 
>
>My father was a very quiet, nice person, who never wished ill for anyone. He sacrificed all his life taking care of us and though I took care of him for the past three years like my own baby,, I am ashamed and sad to say that I did not take sufficient care of him. I  want Janma-raahitya Moksha (birthless salvation for him), as I definitely do not want him to take another birth in any form and suffer 
>
>So I would definitely appreciate a good, well-thought-out answer to the above questions.
>I am extremely sorry to take your time and trouble you with my questions, but my heart aches and cries out for the peace of my father. Ramesh Ramanan.
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