What are the rituals to ensure good status of my deceased father?
A male devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
I am cousin of ………………………………….. My father passed away due to heart attack on 31 January (it was the day of ekadashi). Now from the day of his death, he is coming in my dreams and telling me to come along with him. Sometimes he says something else and calling me somewhere else. Sometimes i remember the complete dream and sometimes its blur. Abhishek told me about Garuda Purana. He has made pdf of your post on Garuda Purana and send it to me.I read it. I want to do some rituals, donations, whatever possible to make his journey comfortable back to Yama cout and to lessen his pain. Is there anything i can do for his upliftment to higher(heavenly) planets ? Can i do some kind of fasting for him ? I am not a Krishna consioused devotee but i heard that observing ekadashi fast will give him relief. Abhishek told me to consult you. Please help me and suggest me the required thing that i can do for my father. I beg you. Please hide my name. Please reply as soon as possible.
REPLY:
Actually, Observing the ekadasi fast is to groom yourself to advance in the devotion to Krishna. Though it will
Also help the ancestors, the liberation of ancestors or deceased persons will happen only when we advance in devotion and also go back to Krishna.
So, we need not wait till we go back to Krishna to do something for the upliftment of your deceased father. You can do some simple rituals and procedures as recommended by Lord Himself in Garuda Purana that will give good status to your father for time being.
Then, if you sincerely follow devotion and become eligible to go back to Krishna, your father and also the seven generations will also get liberated.
In general, the following rituals/ procedures may help your father’s soul get good status after death:
(1) In Garuda Purana, Krishna insists on donating to the brahmanas or vaishnavas or services to the Lord as the major relief factor for ancestors. Those who donate more to the brahmanas or vaishnavas or services to the Lord will definitely get their bad karma reduced and the deceased soul gets painless next birth in a good family. Getting more and more blessings of brahmanas or vaishnavas will definitely do good for the donor and for the purpose of the donation.
(2) This donation to the brahmanas or vaishnavas or services to the Lord can be done in many ways:
(i) You can arrange a death ritual for the deceased calling a vedic brahmana. Usually, the death rituals should be done while cremating the body and on the tenth, elevbenth, twelveth and thirteenth day after death. The 12th day ritual is meant to take the soul out of the earth and connect them with the line of their ancestors.
(ii) In case you had missed those initial 13 day rituals, it can be done on an amavasya day. Please consult a vedic purohit in your area and perform a simple ritual for the deceased father. This may cost two to three thousand rupees including the donation to the purohit.
(iii) You can compensate the missing of these rituals by doing them on the Mahalaya Amavasya day that will be almost equal to doing in the 133 days after death.
(iv) Offer 100 grams of food to crows daily from today and the family should eat only after first offering food to crows.
(v) Additionally, you can offer food to Krishna every day and then offer that Krishna Prasadam to the crows as done by me. This will elevate the ancestors because the crows eating prasadam means the ancestors eating prasadam. This will also elevate them.
(vi) Arrange shrardha (annual rituals) for your father on the ekadasi thithi every year. The death thithi of every year will be easily identified by a purohit. Keep a purohit permanently for all the future rituals. He himself will remind you the annual thithi on which the ritual should be done. This may cost about Rs.2500 every year (as in the year 2019). There are many purohits in the banks of ganges, Yamuna and other important rivers and also in every towns and villages. Select one among them.
(vii) There is a ritual of donating a cow to a poor brahmana. You can buy a cow and donate the same to a poor brahmana. This can be done if possible. A cow costs about 20-30000 in the year 2019. If not possible, you can donate as cash to the brahmanas or vaishnavas.
(3) If you are confused to whom to donate as a right and genuine source, I too have given facility to donate to this sincere website preaching service to Krishna that will invite the blessings of Krishna for the donor for the purpose of his donation. So, you can donate liberally to our website service by GOING TO THIS PAGE of our site.
These are simple rituals / Procedures done for the deceased soul that everyone can. As said by Krishna in Garuda Purana, the baseline of all the rituals is to spare some of our earnings for the brahmanas/ devotees. More sacrifice of our earnings – more reduction of our karma and more blessings from the Lord.
All the advice in Garuda Purana are based on this fact of sacrificing through different forms of donations.
Hope this has helped you. All the best.