Akshaya Trutiya (a spiritual celebration) falls on the third day (trutiya) of the bright fortnight of the Hindu lunar month of Vaishakh

Akshaya Trutiya - a spiritual celebration

http://www.forumforhinduawakening.org/articles/id/living/akshay-trutiya

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The importance of praying to Vaibhavlakshmi along with Lord Vishnu

3. The ritual of offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan)*

3.1 Offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan) to deities

3.2 Offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan) to departed ancestors

3.3 The spiritual experience of a seeker related to tiltarpan

1. Introduction

On Akshaya Trutiya, which falls on the third day (trutiya) of the bright fortnight of the Hindu lunar month of Vaishakh, the combined frequencies of Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu descend on Earth from the positive spiritual planes (loka). This increases the spiritual purity (saattviktaa) on Earth by 10%.

On this day, if we sincerely worship the deities, Who continuously provide us happiness and prosperity, with the spiritual emotion of gratitude, then Their grace (krupaadrushti) never reduces. Therefore, one should worship God on this day with spiritual emotion (bhaav) to derive His continuous grace.

The rituals performed on this day encompass a bath with sacred water, ritualistic worship (pujaa) of Lord Vishnu, chanting, a sacrificial fire (hom), donations and offerings to ancestors (pitrutarpan). The scriptures recommend a rite for the departed (shraaddha) with the use of rice balls (pinda) if feasible or at least an offering of sesame seeds. Articles which give protection from the sun, like an umbrella or a pair of slippers should also be given away in charity, on this day

2. The importance of praying to Vaibhavlakshmi along with Lord Vishnu*

On this day, the king or any governor responsible for the protection and well being of society, should collectively pay obeisance and perform ritualistic worship (with spiritual emotion) of the idol of Goddess Vaibhavlakshmi along with Lord Vishnu. This endows happiness and prosperity upon the residents of the kingdom. Goddess Lakshmi is the divine energy (shakti) of Lord Vishnu. While doing ritualistic worship of Goddess Lakshmi, if we do not invoke Lord Vishnu, then how can His energy (shakti) (which is with or within him) come to the place of worship and bless us? Hence whenever we want to pray to Goddess Lakshmi in any form, we should first invoke Lord Vishnu. This way a worshipper derives the maximum benefit from the Lakshmi principle (tattva)

3. The ritual of offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan)*

Due to an increase in spiritual purity (saattviktaa) on Akshaya Trutiya, on average there is a 60-70% chance of feeling good and 30-40% chance of experiencing distress due to departed ancestral souls. By sincerely offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan) with devotion and spiritual emotion (bhaav), the debt unto God and ancestors reduces to some extent as God and the ancestors are pleased. They bestow their blessings on the seeker for his spiritual progress and obstacles in his personal life are removed

3.1 Offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan) to deities

Method: First invoke the deities. Take a plate made of copper or any other spiritually pure (saattvik) metal in your hands. Then invoke Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu or Lord Datta (who is combined form of both of them) and invite them to arrive in the plate. Then have spiritual emotion (bhaav) that the deities have actually arrived in the subtle. Take sesame seeds in your hands with the spiritual emotion (bhaav) that the principles of Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma are in these sesame seeds. Then have the spiritual emotion (bhaav) that you are offering them at the feet of the deities.

Effect: When sesame seeds are offered at the feet of deities (who have arrived in the subtle), they absorb the spiritually pure (saattvik) frequencies emitted by the deities. Subsequently when water is offered, the spiritual emotion (bhaav) of the person offering it, is invoked. Due to the bhaav state, saattvikta absorbed by the sesame seeds is received by the person offering it, in greater amounts. From this, we can understand that God is desirous of spiritual emotion (bhaav). When we offer our ego and spiritual emotion (bhaav) to God, He rewards us with abundance.

3.2 Offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan) to departed ancestors

Importance: On this day, spiritual purity (saattvikta) is received from the higher positive spiritual planes (loka)**. A lot of embodied souls (jiva) from the nether region (Bhuvalok)** come near Earth to get the benefit of this spiritual purity (saattvikta). Most of them are our ancestors. Due to this, there is a higher probability of an increase in our distress on this day. We owe our ancestors a lot of debts and God expects that we repay these debts. Hence it is advised to offer sesame seeds (tiltarpan) to ancestors on this day, so that they can move on in their after-death life.

Method: In another plate, we should invoke our departed ancestors. Before offering sesame seeds to ancestors, we should pray to Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma so that their principles are absorbed by the sesame seeds. Then we should have the spiritual emotion (bhaav) that our ancestors have arrived in the subtle and we are offering sesame seeds and water at their feet. Then after two minutes, offer the sesame seeds (charged with the divine principle) and unbroken rice (akshataa), to ancestors by releasing water slowly over the sesame seeds placed on our palms so that the seeds fall into the plate. We should pray to Lord Datta or Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu to elevate our ancestral souls so that they can move-on in their after-death life.

Effect: Sesame seeds have a higher capacity to absorb spiritual purity (saattviktaa) and they remove the spiritually impure component (raja tama). While offering sesame seeds(tiltarpan), based on the spiritual emotion (bhaav) of the worshipper, the black covering around the symbolic subtle body of the ancestors (arrived in the plate) is removed and the spiritual purity (saattviktaa) in their subtle body increases. Thus they gain the energy required to move-on to the next spiritual plane (loka). The benefits of this are that the seeker gains spiritual purity (saattviktaa) by offering sesame seeds to God and if his spiritual emotion (bhaav) is 40% or more, then God creates a subtle protective covering around him. Due to this the seeker offering sesame (tiltarpan) to ancestors gets protected from any distress. This helps to reduce the overall distress due to ancestors*** by 5-10%.

3.3 The spiritual experience of a seeker related to (tiltarpan)

Experiencing strangulation while performing the ritual of tiltarpan mentally

On the morning of April 19, 2007, while travelling by train, I was reading the special Akshaya Trutiya edition of Dainik Sanatan Prabhat (the daily Sanatan newspaper). Then I started performing the ritual of offering sesame seeds (tiltarpan) mentioned in the article, mentally. All the rituals mentioned in the article were done by me, with spiritual emotion (bhaav). Then when I started inviting the ancestors for the offering (tarpan), I felt strangulated. I immediately prayed to Sree Krushna to 'please destroy the subtle sorcerer (maantrik) troubling me, with Your divine weapons.' After the prayer I felt some golden rays striking and being absorbed by my neck and I started feeling better. Then I completed the remaining rituals. After the completion of all the rituals, I experienced that the black covering around me had been destroyed.

- Mr. Nandkishore Narkar, Kalwa, Thane.


* Based on divine knowledge received by some seekers doing saadhanaa per Gurukrupaayoga.

To know more about this divine knowledge please visit the about us section of this website.

** Ref: Spiritual Science Research Foundation: Regions (subtle) of the universe

***Ref: Spiritual Science Research Foundation: Ancestral Problems