Shraddha
| Shráddha | |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Shrii Shrii Anandamurti |
| Date | 1978 October 18 |
| Time | Unknown |
| Place | Patna, India |
| Topic | Our responsibility regarding the dead |
| Included in | Ananda Vacanamrtam Part 3 |
| Location in Sarkarverse |
 |
Shráddha is a discourse given by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti on 1978 October 18 in Patna, India. This discourse is the sixteenth chapter of Ananda Vacanamrtam Part 3.[1]
Synopsis
So what should one do? Haven’t we any social responsibility for dead persons? When the necessity arises, we should offer shraddhá for them, not barley or wheat or woollen clothes or wrappers or ghee or sesame. What can we do? As long as a man is here in our society we have a social responsibility for him. Human beings are social beings, we have a social responsibility for them. And when they leave this world and go to the other world, they go beyond the scope of our responsibility. We cannot render any service to them. Our social responsibility is over as soon as the cremation is done.
Anandamurti starts the discourse by saying that there are different observations in regard to the departed. Some of them date back to prehistoric times. These are termed shráddhá in Samskrta. Anandamurti then explains that practices such as offering food and clothing to the deceased or repeating a special prayer to supposedly locate the dead in a secure surrounding are nothing but exploitation of the intellectually less developed. Anandamurti goes on explaining that our social responsibilities toward a person terminate when they no longer remain with us. The only thing we can do in this regard is ask Parama Purusa to take care of them. This is our only shráddhá.[1]
References
| Preceded by Superstitions about Death |
Ananda Vacanamrtam Part 3 With: Shráddha |
Succeeded by Ghosts and Evil Spirits |