Significance of feeding crows during the Shraddha ritual in Pitrupaksha

[sumayyah87]

Short summary : Did you know that you can do something to help your departed ancestors in the afterlife ? This article explains why crows pecking at the ritualistic food offering made to departed ancestors during the Shraddha ritual can denote that they are being helped.

1. The importance of spiritually helping our departed ancestors especially during Pitrupaksha (the fortnight for departed ancestral spirits)
Not many people know that they can actually intervene and help their departed ancestors in the afterlife.

This is especially so during the fortnight for departed ancestors (popularly known as Pitrupaksha). It is a period that falls in the Autumn of the Northern Hemisphere and is a time when our departed ancestors come closest to the Earth or the physical plane of existence. The onus of helping our departed ancestors lies squarely on us descendants.

It is said that the period between death and the next birth for the subtle body of a departed ancestor is like that of an unborn child in the womb. Just as care is taken to ensure the healthy growth of the foetus in the womb, care of the departed ancestors needs to be taken through various spiritual rites such as the Shraddha ritual.

Some of you may wonder – ‘Why would my departed ancestors need help in the afterlife ?’

Actually, the vast majority of our departed ancestors do need help in the afterlife.

In the current era, most departed ancestors have many desires when they die, and they lack spiritual energy. This is primarily due to a lack of proper spiritual practice or regular spiritual practice when they were living. Wealth, fame, educational qualifications, etc. have no value in the afterlife. The only things of value in the afterlife is the spiritual energy of a subtle body which is directly related to its spiritual level, and the actions (karma) of the person while on Earth. Most of our departed ancestors are at a low spiritual level. As a result, their subtle bodies do not have the requisite spiritual strength to reach their final destination, which is usually the Nether region (Bhuvarlok) after breaking out of the Earth plane of existence and moving through the Region of the Dead (Martyaloka).

In this journey, they usually experience a lot of distress due to their own worldly desires and are prone to attacks by negative energies. They require spiritual help from us descendants to provide them with the requisite momentum in their onward journeys in the afterlife.

https://www.spiritualresearchfoundat...a-pitrupaksha/

[jay999]

We've done that during funerals...Saying "ka ka ka" then emptying the dish by a tree