Pithru Dosha – in simple terms

In our previous post on karma, we may have got a broad understanding of karma and how it relates to our own true self. The link between spirituality and karma was explained – here is a summary for those who hadn’t got a chance to read it yet:

• We are actually true souls in human bodies
• As long as we do not realize the above fact, all our actions yield karma.
• “You get back what you give” – this is the simple law of karma – coming from the fact that we are all ONE indeed and the separation is only a mental condition that we have. So whatever we do, good or bad, comes back to us – to make us realize the fact.

When and how does karma act?

All the actions we do, based on our mistaken identity with our body, is definitely bound to produce karma. But when and how?

The karma that we produce across all our different lifetimes gets accumulated and is, in total, generally termed as ‘Sanchita karma’.

When we get born in this earth, one portion of this Sanchita karma is allocated for this lifetime – this generally goes in the name of ‘Praarabhdha karma’ – in tamil we say “Praaptham illai” or “Avarukku praaptham irukku” – this is nothing but stating that the person is not having (or having) the “luck” to experience the result of a good karma he has done in the past.

Whatever actions we do in this lifetime, gets accumulated as ‘Agami’ karma – simply meaning that it is yet to get accumulated into the overall Sanchita karma that is pending already. We have the opportunity to reduce it’s impact in this lifetime itself, if we realize the mistakes we did and start changing our course of life for the better.

The actual names of these karma doesn’t matter. It is purely for referring to it while discussing.

Ashta Karma

The praarabhdha karma that is planned, when we are born, can be known from our birth Rasi chart. DNA astrology students can easily find out the applicable karmas of a person, from ‘View your karma’ software. All that is needed is just the place, date and time of birth of the person for whom you would want to get the karma charts.

The Ashta (eight) karmas are – Sun karma, Moon Karma, Mercury Karma, Mars Karma, Venus Karma, Jupiter Karma, Saturn Karma and Rahu Karma. We will have a detailed look into these karmas in successive blogs soon.

In this post, let’s try to dig deeper into Rahu karma – which indicates a particular curse from our ancestors – called “Pithru Dosha”, in one’s karmic charts.

Pithru Dosha

What does ‘Pithru’ mean? Pithru means our forefathers, our ancestors. Dosha means curse or the results of a bad action.

Why would our forefathers or ancestors curse us?

Let’s go back to our basic understanding of karma. When we don’t realize our true nature, all our actions produce karma. When we leave this body, our mind still has a false identity with our body. Although we depart from the body, we still identify ourselves with a subtle body (more about this in a later blog post), generally in the same shape and form, as per our mental conditioning.

Who are these pithrus?

Some of our ancestors may have done a lot of soul searching and may have progressed well in the journey to identify their true nature. They may have accepted life as it comes, avoided hurting others or getting hurt themselves. May have done a lot of good unto others. Such good souls, who had developed a desire to realize their true nature, generally go to a different world called ‘Swarga loka’ or ‘Deva loka’, when they leave the body.

There are yet others who may have done a lot of sins or may have hurt others (or themselves) a lot and may not even deserve to be born again as a human being – as they had not used this birth effectively to identify their true nature. They may get born as lower level creatures in the animal, insect or plant kingdom. In this or other alternative worlds. More about it later.

There are others who have unfulfilled desires in their lifetime. When they had left their body, those desires may have had remained unfulfilled. And they may have had a lot of attachment towards their family and would may have had been eager to get born in the same family. Isn’t it? More often than not, many of our ancestors who passed away long ago, also may be in the queue to get born in our family, even now. And with the current birth control rates, the queue is getting longer – lol! These ancestors generally fall under the category called ‘Pithru’ and is believed to be in ‘Pithru lokam’.

Pithru Lokam

Pithru lokam is a different world in an entirely different time scale than ours. One day in Pithru lokam is one month for us. Our forefathers and ancestors, in their eagerness to visit us and be with us, come to our house daily (in their time scale), typically on a “dark” day (amavasya day or new moon day) as they are not yet “enlightened”. The ones who progress towards enlightenment in the effort of identifying their true selves, generally ascend to ‘Swarga loka’ or ‘Deva loka’ in sometime, or seek enlightened beings in poornima day (or full moon day) and ascend to other lokas subsequently with the blessings of their gurus.

It may be known that many cultures around the world have events on amavasya days in remembrances of their ancestors. These ancestors eagerly visit us directly in their subtle form, or using “crows” or other animals like “cows” etc as medium, to experience our family love through the tasty food that they once experienced amidst us. They would be “at home” in their own home, wouldn’t they be?

Significance of Mahalaya Amavasya

During the month of September / October, we celebrate the Mahalaya Amavasya. This is nothing but midnight in Deva lokam, a different world were superior beings named ‘Devas’ are said to be residing. Deva lokam has a different timescale. Our entire year is merely one day for Deva loka. This means, every two human hours is one month for them. Margazhi month, (around December 16th) is the start of brahma muhurta (3.30am to 5.30am) in Deva loka and that’s why Margazhi month is auspicious and Lord Krishna declares in the Gita that he is ‘Margazhi’ month amongst months.

So, during Mahalaya Amavasya, many ancestors eagerly come not only to bless us, but also get blessings of other ancestors who may have ascended to Deva loka or other lokas. It is believed that these evolved ancestors come to bless the entire family, purely out of their love towards their own family descendants. And that’s why we are told to celebrate Mahalaya Amavasya and conduct rites to even forgotten ancestors for whom we may have missed to conduct these rites.

In fact, some of the evolved ancestors may also be worshiped as the family deity itself! Read this short story by Vinothini S, if you would want to know more about the benefits of praying to your own family deity.

How is Rahu karma associated with Pithru Dosha?

Rahu, represented by a snake head with no body, represents our unfulfilled desires. Why snake? Snake is believed to have memory across lifetimes. Just like a body-less head can consume any amount of food but may never digest the food, people with Rahu karma have unsatiable desires. Many of our ancestors, when they had left their body and moved on to Pithru Loka, probably had a lot of such unfulfilled desires. Some of them could be caught in a web of illusions created by their own mind and may not even know the right path to get enlightenment. Some of them may have had accidental deaths or may have taken off their own lives. They may be in a state of confusion and may be seeking help.

Some of them may be very hungry but may not have access to good food. Hence, they visit our homes daily (in their time zone) in search of family love and homely food. As per our culture, we are generally encouraged to prepare food to the linking of the ancestors. And we consume the food only after offering it to the ancestors, typically on amavasya days. Why only amavasya days? Remember our one month is one day for them and they tend to come on “dark” days owing to their ignorance (lack of illumination). Remember bright sun represents the soul and enlightenment is nothing but realizing ourselves as pure souls!

However, not everyone follows these ancestorial practices in their life. Even if they do, they may not do it for all the ancestors or not do it regularly. So what happens then? Imagine, for a minute, if one of your family member goes without food for several days, how would they react? Won’t they be very unhappy, weak and starved? Won’t they curse you? However, if you serve them food regularly, won’t they bless you whole-heartedly? Remember, these ancestors are part of our own family, in fact, they are the ones who gave you “your life” – aren’t we supposed to take care of them?

Effects of ancestral curses

These ancestral curses (or pithru dosham) bring a lot of health related issues, confusions in our minds, fights amongst the family members, or even deaths in rare cases. As a result, our work gets affected and we face a lot of hurdles in everything we do, especially in achieving our goals. Some of us may have huge unending debts, increasing by the day. Sometimes, we may not feel “at home” in our own home. Others may feel the presence of evil spirits. They may not have positive vibes at all, even in their own home. Instead of identifying the root cause, they would be blaming the luck of the home!

How to find Pithru Dosha in our birth chart?

Based on the Bhavam in the Rasi chart, we can determine which position the shadow planet Rahu is placed. This reveals that the unfulfilled desires were related to that bhavam. We will see examples of these in upcoming blogs.

If ascendant or ascendant lord is associated with Poosam, Visagam or Sadhayam stars, then these persons are said to have Rahu karma, and hence Pithru dosha. If Moon is placed in these stars, then the applicability should be taken as 50% only, whereas if the ascendant or ascendant lord is associated, then it is applicable 100%.

The planet Jupiter also radiates Rahu karma as it is believed to be born in Poosam star. Hence, wherever Guru is present, that Bhavam also is radiating the Rahu karma always. Also, Rahu is associated with the ninth bhava and with Sagittarius (Dhanush rasi) – being the ninth from Aries or Mesha – starting of kala purusha.

Hence, combination of 1 (Ascendant), 9 or Guru is also indicative of Rahu karma implying that pithru dosha is certainly there in that family.

Our DNA Astrology Guru Vishal Lokeswaran has articulated this very well in this video – a must see for all aspirants.

Performing ancestral rites regularly is definitely the best remedy. It is also equally important to take care of elders at home, especially our own parents & grand parents and their siblings, if they are still alive.

Hoping this post would have been useful to many, will continue more on this in upcoming posts soon…until then, would be happy to take your feedback and your valuable comments in the section below.