र (Ra) is the 2nd letter in the consonant sequence य र.
म (Ma) is the 5th letter in the consonant sequence प फ ब भ म.
राम (RaMa) is equivalent to 2*5 = 10.
This Sloka says Rama 3 times: राम राम राम-इति (indicating 10*10*10) which is equivalent to 1000 सहस्र-नाम.
श्रीराम राम रामेती रमे रामे मनोरमे ।
सहस्रनाम तत्तुल्यं रामनाम वरानने ॥ 27 ॥
Srishti सृष्टि: Create
Sthithi स्थिति: Protect
Anugraha अनुग्रह: Blessings
Samhara संहार: Destruction
Thirobhava तिरोभाव: Conceal / disappear
Apasmara अपस्मार: The state of not knowing oneself, represented as a demon, also the term for Epilepsy, the neurological disorder.
There are different ways of acquiring knowledge (प्रमाण). Direct observation is the best. Inference from direct observation is the next.
The next & the most dangerous is the trusted source (शब्द). What happens if we blindly trust the word of something or someone that is untrustworthy? This misplaced trust is the power that is used to disseminate misinformation in media, academia, religious books & spy-craft. The one who can extract the right essence from this mixture of good & bad that is in the nature of the world is called a Hamsa. A Yogi who is good at Hamsa is called a ParamaHamsa.
The ancient multi-layered Vedantic தமிழ் saying: கண்ணால் காண்பதும் பொய், காதால் கேட்பதும் பொய், தீர விசாரிப்பதே மெய் summarizes the predicament. Literally, it means: what you see & hear is false, investigate for the truth. It also refers to investigating our own thoughts through Dhyana.
The other ways of acquiring knowledge are analogy, circumstantial evidence & the proof of non-existence.
Ancient Hindu Carvaka atheism accepted only direct observation, Vaiseshika accepted inference as well, Samkya & Yoga accepted the trusted word as well, Nyaya accepted analogies, Purva Mimamsa accepted circumstantial evidence while Vedanta accepted all of the above.
If you are someone interested in Hindu rituals for the departed (Pitrus), what should you do?
Summary for the departed father:
Rameshwaram -> Dhanushkodi -> Prayag (Prayagraj) -> Kashi (Varanasi) -> Gaya -> Kashi -> Rameshwaram
Summary for the departed mother:
MatruGaya
Details for the departed father:
To be performed by the son.
Go to Rameshwaram, Tamizh Nadu. Perform a Tila Homam. A small portion of the wife's hair is cut & immersed. Take dips in multiple Rameshwaram Tirthams. Takes 1 day.
Go to Dhanushkodi nearby. Perform a ritual of making a Shiva Lingam with the beach sand. Take a dip in the Samudram (ocean). Take some of the sand. Takes 1 day.
Go to Prayag, Uttar Pradesh. Dissolve the sand from Dhanushkodi in the Triveni Sangamam (joining of 3 rivers). Takes 1 day.
Go to Kashi. Perform the homam & rituals. Takes 3 days.
Go to Gaya, Bihar. Perform the Pinda Daanam. In addition to one's relatives, this is also done for people whose lineage has ended & for those whose rites were not performed. Takes a day to get there from Kashi. A day to perform the rituals & get back.
Go to Kashi. Take Darshanam of Kashi Vishwanathar Shiva. Take some Ganga Jalam (water). Takes 1 day.
Return to Rameshwaram. Do Abhishekam of the Ganga water to the Rameshwaram Shiva Lingam. Takes 1 day.
Details for the departed mother:
Do Pinda Daanam in Matru Gaya, Gujarat. Takes 1 day.
Annual rituals:
The son has to do annual Srardham rituals for a departed parent. The husband has to do annual Srardham for a departed wife. If an annual ritual is missed, it may be performed any time at Kashi, called Kshetra-Srardham.
For a departed child, there is no annual ritual; it is a one-time ritual.
Beliefs:
After passing, one may go to a better region, worse region, be reborn on earth with/without physical/mental defects in human or non-human form, remain on earth without a body (the worst state), be in a state of deep sleep (MahaNidra) or be united with the divine with freedom from rebirth (the best state). We have a Rnanu-bandhana (debt) to our ancestors who enabled our presence here. If they end up in a worse state, they can get temporary relief through these rituals. Without this relief, their misery can cause problems in family today. This is called Pitru-Dosham.
Some voluntarily perform these rituals for Indian freedom fighters whose lineage was extinguished as a mark of respect & gratitude. Some light Moksha Deepams in temples to give succor to the departed who are suffering. Others perform Nama Sankirtana.
Tips:
This requires lots of travel & enough savings for the travel, which is tough for the poor. It is recommended to perform this with the wife. Get it done as early as possible when the health is better & both husband & wife are living.
Pinda Daanam may be done any of the TriGaya Kshetrams, such as Shiro Gaya or Gaya (near Kashi), Nabi Gaya (in Odisha) or Pada Gaya (in Pithapuram, Andhra). For the traditional ritual, Gaya being close to Kashi is preferred.
There are also multiple Dakshina Kashis, such as TenKasi. At least in TenKasi, you can get a Darshanam of Kashi Vishwanathar, but no Srardha rituals are performed. I don't know if they can be performed in other Dakshina Kashis.
For Veera Vaishnavas:
Veera Vaishnavas won't visit Shiva temples.
Replace Rameshwaram with ThiruPullani, a kovil (temple) with Rama lying on the sacred Darba grass (Thiru-Pul in Tamizh) near Rameshwaram.
Replace Kashi with Badarikashram (Badrinath).
Historical political religious geographic events:
To destroy a culture, its most sacred symbols & rituals must be destroyed. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the Kashi Vishwanatha temple & built a mosque. The old temple walls are still visible in places & the old Nandi still faces the mosque wall. Ahilyabai Holkar, who Paramahamsa Yoganand called the greatest queen of modern India, built a new temple adjacent to the demolished temple & built the Kashi ghats that are still used by devotees. Independent India has legally prevented the Hindus from reclaiming of the demolished Kashi temple & all other demolished temples except Ayodhya through the 'Places of Worship' Act passed by the Indian National Congress.
Mughal emperor Akbar renamed Prayag as Allahabad. It wasn't renamed back until recently, after centuries.
In the first Islamic invasion of South India by Malik Kafur at the behest of Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji, a trail of destruction of the Southern temples followed. Rameshwaram was attacked & locals talk of a story of Kafur eventually not fully destroying the temple after witnessing a miracle of the Nandi eating grass.
Dhanushkodi was destroyed in a cyclone a few decades back & is now uninhabited.
Rameshwaram was successfully targeted by missionaries with the tacit support of the Tamizh Nadu government with a visibly changed demography. The Joshua project has stated that Varanasi (Kashi) is a crucial part of its plan.
The arguments that Protestants used against the Catholic priests have been repackaged to target the Brahmana priests performing these rituals in similar language. The Marxist academia, entertainment & media also serve up narratives mocking & demonizing Hindus in general & Brahmanas in particular with an aim to end the culture.
Naga Sadhus & Gosains, when they take Sanyasam, do Pinda Daanam to themselves indicating that their body is dead at that time.
There are 2 trillion galaxies & 200 billion trillion stars. Each star has its own solar system with planets. By the time you read this sentence, thousands of star systems were created and thousands destroyed.
Our own Milky Way galaxy, sun with its solar system & earth are like cosmic dust. We are just an insignificant speck of stardust.
Assuming something beyond our comprehension is responsible for this, would this entity bother about what an insignificant speck of stardust thinks? Would it really care if it is worshipped or not by this speck? Would it care if the speck thinks of it as with form or without form? Would it want to take the life of this speck or roast it in after-life in everlasting hell for not believing in it? Wouldn't someone who writes such an absurd work be considered an unimaginative, insecure neurotic with deep psychological issues? What can we think of someone who believes this without critical thinking?
Over 3 billion humans believe in books that state that the world is only 1000s of years old.
Over 2 billion humans believe that this incomprehensible universe was created by someone in the form of one specific life form.
Over 5 billion humans believe in forcing others to their way of thinking, failing which atrocities were committed based off some strange writings.
What is stranger? The infinite nature of the universe & the strange quantum universe? Or the infinitely strange nature of the humans?
