om brhmahye namah.......

SRaaDH`DH
THE ETERNAL AND EVERGREEN
EXPRESSION OF
CONTINUITY & GRATEFULNESS
IN CREATION

vruDdhi SRaaDH`DH offering
for unexpected prosperity

sanak-muni, the mind born son of brahmaa-dev explains in naarad puraan slok 1.25.6 about the SRaaDH`DH offering to celebrate attaining unexpected prosperity or glory:

"One should perfrom the vruDdhi SRaaDH`DH either with gold or silver. He who performs SRaaDH`DH with cooked food shall be on a par with a chaaNdaal."

 (vruDdhi here refers to the following in life: growth, increase, development, increase in wealth or prosperity or affluence, profit, gain. chaaNdaal is a person who is outcast from the society because of his wicked or cruel karma or adharmik way of life or is an outcast person born of mixed marriage between a sudra man and a braahman woman.) 

This slok reaffirms one of the tenets of dharma which stipulates that when one performs any vedik vidhi (rite or ceremony), one should perform it in line with one's capacity of wealth. Most of the vedik vidhi requires offerings of various kinds to devo and to  braahmano who perform the vidhi  and who are invited to the vidhi as guests or participants needed as per shaastra. This means liberal use of wealth commensurate with one's capacity is a criteria prescribed for a successful vidhi. This use of wealth is in the form of dakshinaa (gifts for services rendered) by officiating priest and daan (charitable gifts) to those who are invited to the vidhi. In the case of vruDdhi SRaaDH`DH one is celebrating special fortune of attaining prosperity or glory. Thus it is expected by shaastra that  vruDdhi SRaaDH`DH be performed by use and giving away of as much gold or silver as one can afford. If one is miserly on this occasion then one called be called a adharmik person.   

(SRii chmpklaal Daajibhaai miisTRii, the compiler of the above GNaan, convey pranaam to our guru Dr. G. V. Tagore from whose English translation of the sanskrit naarad puraan we have been blessed with the above knowledge of how SRaaDH`DH  offering to our pitruo is to be done ......the above slok has been expanded with explanatory prose to make our learning and understanding easier...also explanatory prose in included in brackets to give backgrounder ved knowledge to provide supplementary explanation for increasing the depth of our knowledge of life sciences......) 

.......om namah brhmah....
....our guru brhmah..
.....om tat sat....om shaanti shaanti....

Posted: September 2002