Yaksha Prashnam Question 25

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-question-6.html

The Yakshan asked Yudhishtirar to name that person who in spite of living well, enjoying life to the full extent, having a beautiful wife by his side and being respected by everyone is considered to be a lifeless corpse.

Yudhishtirar asked the Yakshan to provide more information about this person. The Yakshan added that this person does not offer anything to Gods, servants, pitris, or to Lord Narayana.

 Yudhishtirar answered that a person who does not do Salagramam Aradhanai and worship Lord Narayana, a person who does not honour his guests, who does not treat his servants well or enquire about their welfare, a person who does not perform Shradham but pays money to a Brahmin to perform Shradham on his behalf is a living and breathing corpse.

Guests are very sensitive to the words of the host. They must be welcomed with a happy attitude. One should never make them feel unwelcome. Similarly a person must treat his/her servants properly. Should not give them spoilt food or useless items. Should give them bonus and other incentives as a token of appreciation. One should not haggle with vendors who provide door to door service. We must appreciate their efforts in providing door to door service for our convenience.

After performing Shradham the host should obtain the permission of the priest to eat the food items. Food prepared for a Shradham must not be shared before offering it in the Shradham. Pitris are very sensitive and shy. They expect cleanliness and will not accept items which have been consumed by others prior to offering in the Shradham. Everyone must meditate upon Lord Narayana as the Antaryami. They must at least chant 1slokam.

Mahabharatam is often called as the fifth Veda. The Mahabharata mentions 4 types of debts every person has to pay off. The first debt is to the great Rishis who blessed us with great works like Divya Prabandham and epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. To show our gratitude we must learn these epics or at least chant 1 slokam or pasuram from their work regularly.

We are indebted to the Devas who work for our benefit. The Sun gives us light and warmth, they cause rain to fall on Earth and perform many such tasks for our benefit. To thank them we must perform Yagams. A Brahmin must perform agniohothram regularly. If it is not possible to perform agniohothram then he must perform aupasanam or at least chant the aupasanam manthram regularly. Lord Agni is also considered to be a guest. He has to be welcomed properly in our homes. Every Brahmin who is married must perform agniohothram or aupasanam along with his wife to worship Lord Agni as their guest.

All of us are indebted to our ancestors. The fact that we are here is a proof to their existence. In order to thank them Shradhams are performed.  By performing Shradhams we fulfill the debt we owe to the pitris.

The fourth debt is our debt to society. We must help people. We must not encourage social problems; for example by donating to beggars we increase the nuisance value. We make the beggars lazy as they can earn money without working for it.

Any person who does not pay off the above debts is considered to be dead.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo_12.html

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Based on, Yaksha Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakaran Swamy
(Any errors or inconsistencies in the following series are due to the mistakes I made while taking notes. ) 

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri Karunakaran Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/ . This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Yaksha Prashnam discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.