Offering food to the dead
[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]
DAILY READINGS
Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.
Day 870
Swamiji speaking on Shraaddha or funeral rites [please note 'Shradhaa' means faith. This term, pronounced Shraaddha or Shraad is not the same thing, although it shows faith in the ancestors.]
If you do this for your father it is good. You may eat that food because your karmas [in this case, life-scripts] are alike. If you do it for your mother it is good because once again your karmas are alike. But we don't want to mix up our impressions [samskaras or vasanas] or karmas with anyone else, because that makes it difficult for a sadhaka [spiritual aspirant or practitioner]to concentrate.
Another reason for not eating the food at a shraaddha ceremony is that often they offer fish, wine, brandy etc. [laughter] As it is prasad [Swamiji joking that it's sacramental food], how can you leave the wine and only eat the other things?
A sadhaka who wants to go towards God should pray for the souls of the deceased to get liberated, rather than calling the souls again and again by giving them food and making them some sort of devata [demi-god, guardian spirit, angel].
If your father was alive would he eat and leave me [a stranger or guest] half his food to eat? No. So, after he has died – and after you have offered it to him at the shraaddha [ceremony] – why would you offer his leavings to me then? This would be worse still. You are embarrassing him wherever he is.
But if you eat the food as his daughter or his son then it is good. He will be happy. You can safely take your father's food, your husband's food or your child's food and eat it.
1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time.
2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.
There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order.
Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.
For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:
Sri Ramakrishna Sri Sarada Devi Swami Vivekananda
Swami Nischalananda Swami Shivapadananda
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online
Reference websites – please mouse over the name and click to connect:
Ramakrishna Math and Mission Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa Ramakrishna Dham