Without the presence of family members, is performing pinddaan beneficial?

What Is Pind

According to the Pandits for pinddaan in Varanasi, the part of Kashi Kshetra purohit, providing purohit services in Varanasi, pind constitutes a round shaped ball made up of the mixture of wheat and rice flour. It also has some sesame seeds, those are mixed with some milk and honey. These pinds are used for doing tarpan of the departed souls during the mantras enchanting by the pandits for pinddaan in Varanasi. Usually, 7 balls are made for doing the ritual. One is for the soul, for which the Pind Daan process is doing and other Pinds are for all other ancestors.

As per the Pandits for pinddaan in Varanasi, pinddaan is a mandatory rite, which is believed to bring salvation to the departed souls. This ritual is a must to do obligation of all Hindus. It is also believed that no work can be successful without the blessings of the ancestors and doing pinddaan performed by thePandits for pinddana in Varanasiinvokes blessings of the dead ancestors.

According to the Garud Puran, the Pandits for pind daan in Varanasi explained that pinddaan helps the souls of the dead people to cross over the vaitarani river. If the family member does GauDaan or donation of the cow to Brahmin people, it helps the dead spirits to cross the dangerous river safely to the other side by the help of the cow.

Pinddaan in Kashi performed without the presence of family members has the same benefits as their personal presence and the family members get the blessings of the deceased. Furthermore, after the conduction of pinddaan, the positive vibes start flowing back among the family members of the dead person.

Some of the derived benefits from Pinddaan in Kashi include:

• Making smooth the hurdles coming in the life of the family of the deceased
• Providing sudden and quick positive changes that can be observed in the life of the family members

Though PindDaan can be performed at any of the banks of the River "Ganga" the religious importance of performing PindDaan lies at some specific places like -

• Gaya
• Varanasi
• Kashi
• Allahabad Sangam
• Badrinath

From Preta To Petru

According to the Pandits for pinda dana in Varanasi, the soul that leaves the physical body is called Preta. On the day of 11 after doing of the shraddha, the soul of the deceased person is raised to the status of Pitru or Ancestor. Pitrus are the ancestors who dwell in Pitruloka region. Usually, there are three stages in ancestral life like father, grandfather and great grandfather, and likewise mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Beyond them, it is considered that either the ancestors have taken Rebirth or have attained moksha.

As per the Pandits for pinda dana in Varanasi, normally every year PindDaan should be performed on the date of death of the person (according to the Hindu calendar). If the date is not known to the family members and the only month is known, then pinddaan can be performed on no moon night of that month. If both - the date and month are unknown, PindDaan can be performed on no moon night of Hindu calendar month of Magh or Margashirsha.