[Advaita-l] Sanyasin and his duties toward his ancestors

Bhaskar YR bhaskar.yr at hitachienergy.com
Tue Jul 11 06:44:05 EDT 2023


praNAms 
Hare Krishna

> I am not a sanyasi but heard something about it hence sharing.  If you feel it is worthless just ignore.

I am trying to understand sanyasa dharma and a householder's dharma.

>  both are different ashrama-s and respectively they have their own do's and don'ts.  

For a householder , not doing pinda darpan alone results in pithru dosha.

>  Not only pitru kArya, if the gruhastha is not doing his nitya naimittika karma it is dosha only.  Pitru kArya is obligatory since it is pitru R^na.  

On the other hand, If one takes up sanyasa, then he renounces his family relations and his relationship with his parents. 

>  And strictly speaking alongwith external renunciation he renounces the relationship with himself i.e. his BMI as well.  That is the reason why, as the sign of sarva karma sannyasa,  he will remove his yagnOpaveeta and shikha.  And if I am right, Atma shrAddha also will be performed during the rituals of saNyAsAshrama sveekAra.    

So he cant

>  instead of 'he cannot' it would be better to say he is not 'supposed to'.  

1. Take care of his parents when they are old.

>  if he is not parivrajaka and has a stable place and facility he can take care of elder ones without attaching any sentiments and relations to this karma.  Shankara bhagavatpAda even though a sannyasi, to keep his promise came to perform the last rites of his mother.  I believe ramaNa maharshi allowed his mother to stay with him during her last days.  

2. Will not have a child . So he doesnt help in the Propagation of his family clan or growing the family lineage.

>  It is called sannyasa complete renunciation of materialistic world / comforts / attachment.  He will not have family of his own (pUrvAshrama saMbandha) and his aim is ONLY AtmOnnati.  

3. Will not offer pinda darpana or shradda ceremony to their ancestors

>  pinda pradAna and other related rituals to pitru-s is the kartavya (obligatory karma) of the householder not for sanyasi-s.  

 But sanyasa is hailed as supreme. 

>  yes for the jnana prApti , mOksha sannyasa Ashrama is strongly preferred.  Ultimately mOksha is the parama purushArta for the human beings.  


In common perception, all of the above causes pain to his parents and indirectly to his ancestors too.

>  I think he has to take permission from his parents before taking sannyasa.  And if he realizes his svarUpa jnana after taking sannyasa nothing like that since there is shruti vAkya that his 7 generations would get mOksha as the result of this paramArtha jnana.  

 Shouldn't there be a consequence of a renunciate not-doing of pinda-darpana to his ancestors, not taking care of parents doing old age, not having a offspring for the propagation of the clan?  Is it considered during the sanyasa rituals ?

>  In the viraja homa everything will be offered to yagneshwara, he is free from all these household duties and his sole aim is svarUpa darshana.  

what does the scriptures say about the consequence for sanyasin as well as the consequence to his parents and ancestors?

>  As said above he is free from any obligatory duties that is prescribed in gruhasthAshrama.  His duties or his routine are entirely different from that of a householder.  

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar



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