The best way to honor your ancestors is by becoming what they were destined to be тАФ which Shri Krishna calls your Niyati or Liberation. Liberate yourself from ignorance and help the entire planet. That should be the meaning of Shraddh. Instead, it has become an elaborate ceremony of superstition, with beliefs about souls floating in other universes, being hungry, and talk of crows, sparrows, and crude myths.
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Questioner: Acharya Ji Namaskar. My name is Desraj Adhikari. I'm from Nepal, and I want to ask you a question about the Shraddh (a Hindu ceremony that honors deceased ancestors) ceremony. If death is merely a transition of form within the universe, as you have just explained, what is the most meaningful way to remember a loved one who has passed? Is the traditional Hindu Shraddh ceremony still relevant in this context, or is there a more authentic approach? Please help me understand.
Acharya Prashant: The best way to remember and honor the ones you have loved as your ancestors is by becoming what they were destined to become. I'll talk in a very worldly and practical way. If you have kids, if you have grandkids, and if you claim you are truly loving, you would probably want them to be much better than you. No?
That often does not materialize, but that is the ideal. Right? My kid should do better than me. And that is what is supposed to please the parents. That remains a utopia. Fine, I understand, but in an ideal sense, the kid should become better than me, and that would please the parents. What is the epitome of betterment? That which Shri Krishna calls as your 'Niyati - Liberation.'
