When you meditate, a little amount of merit goes to those who gave you this body. Somebody gave you this body and because of it, you are doing everything that you are doing.

🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷

       

       Chapter 2

       At the door of death 

      🌻 Day 7 🌻

Further in the Upanishad, what is the size of the soul, what all happens, how it moves is explained.

यथा पुरस्ताद् भविता प्रतीत 

औद्दालकिरारुणिर्मत्प्रसृष्टः ।

सुखँ रात्रीः शययिता वीतमन्युः

त्वां दद्दशिवान्मृत्युमुखात् प्रमुक्तम् ॥

First boon is granted – let my father’s anger be appeased. Many times, as seekers when you meditate, you feel, “Nothing is happening to me.” Do you know why? Because some of your merits are being passed on to your forefathers. There is no escape from it. When you meditate. Or do something good, a portion of it, those good vibes are passed on automatically. It is like clearing your past debt. When you meditate, a little amount of merit goes to those who gave you this body. Somebody gave you this body and because of it, you are doing everything that you are doing.

So some portion of your merit gets automatically transferred. Like inheritance – your father or mother or somebody passes on and you automatically inherit whether it is their loans or earnings, they just fall on your head. In the same way, in subtle world also, these things get transferred. A Sanyasi or a monk is the one who, while living, completely fulfils all duties and obligations and washes his hands off. Then there is no connection with the ancestors of any sort. That is monkhood- sanyasi, fourth of the ashrams. 

First 25 years learn as much as you can – the student life. Next 25 years enjoy your life as a house holder. Settle down, get married, have children and all that. Third quarter of your life, from 50-75 years is Vanaprastha, be a social worker. It means there is no more ‘my, my, my’! Now you are for everybody in the society. You share yourself with everybody and you are godfather or god mother to everybody. Broaden your scope from ‘only my child’, to ‘our children’, from a limited family to an unlimited society. The last quarter – from the age of 75-100 years, you are supposed to live as a recluse. You are in a state of ‘I am nothing’, ‘I want nothing’. There are four stages or ashrams in life. Some take a jump from first to fourth, they don’t have to go through the middle.

Some people lose interest in food when they are nearing to death. Some crave for more food towards the end of life. In that case, within those ten days, it is good to feed some people, the food the deceased were fond of. When they smell those foods, the spirit feels. “Ok, I have had this for now.” It gives them sort of relief.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Katho Upanishad