PITRUS' SHAPA (curse)

We must always be conscious of our Dharmika karma, our religious duty. Increasingly we see instances of Sastrigal being denigrated, skipping Sraaddha on some lame excuse etc. Such behaviour amounts to ingratitude and is unpardonable. 

Cantankerous arguments on the irrelevance of karmas like Sraaddha in this day and age are to be avoided, and in any case people putting forth such ideas are not interested in the explanations. Such persons may want to remember that their behaviour can invoke pitru shaapa or the curse of pitrus. 

The Sastras say that pitrus may not even utter a curse – they only have to heave a sigh of petulance or unhappiness, and that can have the impact of a curse.

One would do well to note the sage precept: a person of character performs out of love, but a person without character performs only out of fear. Let us develop character and do karmas with love, not out of fear of being cursed.

GAYA SRAADDHA & PRATYABDHIKA SRADDHA:

An opinion doing the rounds of late is that once we do a Gaya Sraaddha the annual Pratyaabdika Sraaddha is not required to be performed. This is wrong and quite contrary to the Sastras. This is like saying we don’t need to eat at all for the rest of our lives, once we have eaten a magnificent feast at a five-star hotel.

Gaya Sraaddha is a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime function that every one of us must try and do, but that has no connection to the annual ritual of Sraaddha, and can never take its place.