Pind Daan at Gaya Ji

Pitra Rin is a karmic debt received from our ancestors, what we enjoy in the form of name, fame, reputation, and wealth.  Then what we owe from them, must be paid this debt called Pitra Rin in the form of Pind Daan.  

Pind Daan at Gaya ji has great importance in the Hindu religion and the way of Moksha and mukti from the rebirth and death cycle. We too planned with our family to visit Gaya ji. But visiting during Pitra Paksha in Gaya ji is very difficult since it is heavily crowded, and all the Pandas are busy with rituals. You will not get much attention to the puja you are performing and will be in a hurry basis.

Puja / pind daan at Gaya ji can be done during the whole year at your convenience. But it is said Amavasya day is very good to do Pind Daan and to offer homage to our ancestors (departed soul) who have left us for their heavenly adobe.

Therefore, we planned and reached Gaya Ji at 4:00 am in the morning (Amavasya) by Rajdhani from Delhi.  We booked our Pandit ji (Panda) from Delhi itself.  Yes, Hotels are a bit problematic in Gaya ji.  Not many good hotels or stay, restaurant, or shopping area is available in Gaya ji in fact it is not a developed city, and staying in Bodh Gaya is a little bit far away.

We were looking for a hotel in Gaya ji itself that does not serve non-veg but could not find any. In Gaya ji 99% of hotels are non-vegetarian even after having importance of Pind Daan culture and its belief in Sattvic realities.  Our Panda ji booked one small hotel for us near the place.  He picked us up from the Railway Station and took us to the hotel. Where we took bath, freshen up and changed our clothes, and were ready for the Puja. It is required to wear a holy traditional dress during this puja.  Pind Daan is generally performed by the elder male member of the family but in some cases, women are also allowed.  According to manyata mata Sita performed this puja for Raja Dasharatha in the absence of Lord Rama.

Our Panda ji again came up to the Hotel and took us to the Falgu River filled with abundant water with the effort of the Bihar Government, and performed puja. Falgu river flows in the heart of Gaya ji and its significant offering is Pind at its bank.  All the puja Samagri was provided by our Panda ji only.  Even then, we took ourselves rice, barley flour for pind daan, and new clothes for offering Pandit ji to receive blessings from him. Pind is made from rice and barley flour in a circular form like a ball and is offered to the departed soul by relatives. Panda ji performed puja at Falgu river offering rice, jaggery, sweets, etc. in the middle of chanting all the mantras.

It is believed that 43 vedis in Gaya ji are covered during the pind daan process. Puja is regarded as the most appropriate time till the afternoon only.

Our Second puja destination was Vishnu Pad very famous Temple for people to offer pind daan. This temple has footprints of Lord Vishnu.  Our Panda took an auto rickshaw and took us to the temple. Local transportation here is mainly auto rickshaws.  The taxi is not much popular, it seems. The roads are very bad.

We performed our pind daan puja at Vishnu Pad, Mangala Gauri Shrine, Pret-Shila, and Akshay Vat tree. Akshay Vat tree is an amazingly large tree with no dead leaves. It is believed that those who do their pind daan here, their ancestors go straight to Devlok.  

To visit Gaya ji for the pind daan purpose, we must have two days in hand.  One day will be quite short because puja is only performed in the daytime. Pain daan brings success, peace, and prosperity, receives a blessing from the soul, and positively influences one’s life.

As far as cost and expenses are concerned, it all depends, on different expenses you can keep in mind as it varies with your personal individual needs.

1st will be your mode of transport from your home to Gaya ji and vice-versa like by Air, Rail, Taxi, or bus.  Then your local transportation in Gaya ji, your accommodation expenses, Food expenses, and Puja expenses.  And last bhojan offering to Brahmins.

 We paid our Panda Ji 11,000/- while leaving after full puja and during performing pind daan at every stage and paid him roughly 1100 and 2100 at all places. This may vary to one’s requirement.

 There are different packages also available, they can ask for like Pind Daan, Akal Mrityu, or Tripindi Puja and they perform some other puja too and charges are accordingly.

 We were very comfortably ready to come back to Delhi the next night after spending two days in Gaya ji, fully satisfied with our pind daan puja. Our Panda ji helped us in dropping at the station and catching the train on time. We really thanked him for all the services he arranged for us.  We could not go to Bodh Gaya ji, since Bodh Mandir closes in the evening.

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