[Advaita-l] Pitru Rina and progeny

Nithin Sridhar sridhar.nithin at gmail.com
Tue Jun 20 09:23:45 EDT 2017


Is there an option in Dharmashastras for the daughters to perform pitr
karya and give tarpans in case sons are not there?

The reason I am asking is, the name putri, like putra means one to saves
the pitr.

Regards,
Nithin

On Jun 20, 2017 18:05, "Vidyasankar Sundaresan via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> This issue is not at all irrelevant to this group, because it pertains to
> naishThika brahmacarya and brahmacaryASramAd eva saMnyAsa.
>
> 1. If a couple have a biological inability to conceive, the SAstra provides
> for various options, from adoption to niyoga, depending on deSa and kAla.
>
> 2. If only daughters are born, that is not a problem either. The maternal
> lineage is also given pitRtarpaNa, so if the daughters go on to have sons,
> the pitR RNa is still met that way. In addition, there is a special
> provision given in the dharmaSAstra texts, whereby the father of a bride
> gets an assurance from the prospective groom that the grandson would now
> belong to the maternal grandfather's gotra and would function as a son
> instead of a grandson, for all ritual karma. Such a grandson, formally
> agreed upon at the time of vivAha itself, is called a putrika. This
> practice is still being followed when necessary.
>
> 3. If someone has reason(s) to avoid getting married, there are allowances
> for that possibility too. The AcAra dictates that a qualified guru should
> give his blessing to this alternative. This is because the validity of the
> reasons cited by that person has to be examined and verified by a competent
> authority.
>
> 4. Not being able to fend for oneself, in times of war etc etc would all be
> covered under the category of Apaddharma. Again, the advice of a well
> qualified guru should be taken, because each situation will be different
> and there can be no one general solution to a host of specific problems.
>
> Best regards,
> Vidyasankar
>
>
>
> On Jun 20, 2017 5:45 PM, "Aditya Kumar via Advaita-l" <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> Namaste All,
> Please delete this post if you feel it is irrelevant to this group.
> I understand that to be free from Pitru rina, one should procreate and
> bring forth progeny. For those that do not follow this rule, the doors of
> the upper worlds are closed, as per Shastras. The only exception to this
> rule is to those who take up sanyasa right after brahmacharya. Because
> sanyasins are considered as dead. But there seems to be a lot of
> exceptions. I request advice from learned members :
> 1) What if parents cannot conceive? Is surrogacy allowed in Vedas?2) What
> if parents have only female child?3) What if a man decides to spend his
> lifetime observing strict rules of brahmacharya (Like Bhishma)? Although, I
> don't think people generally would have a compelling reason like Bhishma to
> choose the Brahmacharya mode of life. 4) What if a person finds a lot of
> fault in Grihasta mode OR if a man cannot fend for himself save his
> dependants OR testing times like war torn nation or great misfortune?
> Thanks
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