Mahalaya Paksha - Pitri Paksha
This is considered the best time of the year for making offerings for our ancestors.
This year begins on Sept. 29th and ends Oct 13th
(Amavasya is the 13th in North America)
Send us the names of your deceased relatives to be included in our prayers. Names can be sent to somamatha@gmail.com - Please consider sponsoring our pujas for the deceased also. We recommend a contribution of $27 or $108, but you can contribute whatever you like also.
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The Mahalaya Paksha (the waning moon cycle around August / September each year) is the best time of the year for connecting with the ancestors through prayer. Mahalaya Amavasya, the new moon day during this time is considered particularly auspicious for the pitris (ancestors). Offerings are traditionally made at this time to help the souls of the departed to pass peacefully to the Pitri Loka (the realm of the ancestors). Prayers offered at this time by living descendants help the souls of the pitris in their inner journey between incarnations. Such prayers also help to mitigate unresolved conflicts between relatives and to release the entire family from the burden of family karma. Family karmas are karmas that can affect the entire family, or perhaps just males or females or children or specific people within a family. Conditions which are thought of as genetic in Western medicine are viewed as family karma in the East. Whereas these conditions are generally considered incurable by doctors, the wise Sages of the East have understood that these conditions may be remedied by prayer for the ancestors over time. It is customary to make regular offerings at home for one's ancestors and to have priests perform more elaborate rituals on their behalf annually. We are making offerings during this sacred time to help the souls departed in their inner journey, for the benefit of the living and the dead. Please donate whatever you are inspired to for the benefit of yourself and your family and we will include the names of your recently deceased relatives and friends in our prayers. Please include the known names of deceased relatives you want us to mention by name (you could also include the names of deceased friends) when you donate. Or you could email names to somamatha@gmail.com. If names are not included with your donation, we will simply pray for you and "all" deceased family members and acquaintances. We will be offering prayers this year throughout the waning moon cycle this month, culminating with pinda danam and tila homam on the new moon day.
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