"All pre-Abrahamic cultures understood the tremendous importance of remaining closely connected to the past if the present was to be invested with any spiritually significant meaning. They also understood that the most personally relevant and accessible portal to the empowering wisdom and goodness of the past was through their own direct, familial ancestors - those who shared their particular bloodline and DNA. Indeed, to honor and respect our specific family’s ancestors was considered to be as sacred a duty, and as much a part of being a spiritual person, as worshiping the gods, the guru, or the Supreme Absolute.
It was for this reason that all traditional cultures engaged in what is often called ancestor worship (
pitri-puja). There is no pre-Abrahamic culture on Earth that did not take great care to honor its ancestors in one form or another, often with each household maintaining a family altar in the home specifically meant to honor the family’s ancestors, and even the nation as a whole maintaining public altars to honor the greatness of the nation’s progenitors, the volksgeist of the entire people of the nation. This is a very important spiritual responsibility and tradition that used to be practiced universally by individuals, families and nations in the ancient past. The process of ancestor worship now needs to be revived in the modern world if we are to retain our sacred connection with our own cultural-spiritual heritage.
All followers of Sanatana Dharma should regularly engage in pitri-puja. Ancestor worship must again become a regular, household practice in modern times if we are to maintain a healthy connection with the hereditary current of power and blessings that our ancestors wish to deliver unto us. If you have not yet instituted the practice of ancestor worship in your own home, please consider doing so."
- Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya
Full article and guide to ancestor worship:
https://dharmacentral.com/article_Pitri-Puja-Honoring-Our-Ancestors.html
