Tula Masa Amavasya Maheshwara Puja

The Amavasya of Tula Masa, falling at Deepavali, carries the energy of the whole festival of lights — the light that is offered for the departed as well as the living. On this day KAILASA's Temples Around the World offer the Maheshwara Puja to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAVAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for our Pitrus.

Significance

In Hinduism, it is essential to reconcile with the parts of our being contributed by our departed loved ones. Maheshwara Puja is the ancient practice of offering food to the departed souls — helping them find liberation and freeing ourselves from karmic bonds — by offering that food to the one who manifests as the living incarnation of Paramashiva. In our lives, that being is THE SPH. Amavasya and Purnima are the days on which the doors between the Pitru loka and the earth plane stand most open.

Offering the Maheshwara Puja on this Amavasya brings completion with our Pitrus at the very time THE SPH's Incarnationhood is celebrated, so that our ancestors too receive the blessing of the day the world was told, "Be Blissful."

The Ritual

Annam, prepared with devotion, is offered to Maheshwara — Paramashiva as the Guru — with sankalpa made for the departed members of the devotee's family. As THE SPH accepts the offering, the Pitrus receive it through Him. In KAILASA, this world's oldest tradition of ancestor completion is revived as part of the grand festival calendar.

When

• Mon 9 Nov (Tula Masa Amavasya) · 6:00 AM IST (Sun 8 Nov, 8:30 PM ET) · All KAILASAs

Shastra Pramana

शरीरमिन्द्रियं प्राणश्चार्थः स्वजनबन्धुता । मातृकुलं पितृकुलं गुरुरेव न संशयः ॥ २६० ॥

śarīram indriyaṃ prāṇaś cārthaḥ svajanabandhutā | mātṛkulaṃ pitṛkulaṃ gurur eva na saṃśayaḥ || 260 ||

Translation: “The body, the senses, the vital energy, wealth, one's own relatives, the mother's clan, the father's clan — all these are present in one's Guru. There is not the least doubt about this.” — Guru Gita 260

Benefits

• THE SPH blesses and completes our relationship with our Pitrus, and we attain completion with the parts of our being contributed by them.
• The departed are helped toward enlightenment.
• Freedom from the karmic bonds and unresolved patterns carried down the family line.
• Our ancestors too receive the blessing of Deepavali — the day the world was told, "Be Blissful."