According to Hindu theory, Pind Daan in Ji is a ritual of paying homage to the soul. At other places Tirtha Daana is a very important Hindu ritual and is performed by the relatives of the person who has gone to heaven. There is a sacred area, where we can perform Pind Daan Utsav for our ancestors by eating food in Pitru Loka, which features their soul and helps us in getting the blessings of the ancestors. By performing the Pind Daan ritual in Gaya with utmost devotion and a calm mind, the performer gets the full benefit of this ritual and the blessings of his festival always remain. By doing pilgrimage, our ancestors go to the ancestral world.
It is believed that it was Brahma who first performed the pind daan ceremony in Gaya. Since then this tradition has continued. This is a step toward the reconstitution of a more substantial physical body (yatana ṡarīra) around the disembodied soul (preta) of the deceased. A tiny trench is dug in a ritually purified piece of land by a river, and the presence of Vishnu is invoked. Ten balls of barley flour mixed with sugar, honey, milk, curds, ghee, and sesame seeds are then placed, one by one, in the soil. As the first ball is offered, the priest says (and the son repeats after him), “May this create a head”; with the second ball, “May this create neck and shoulders”; with the third, “May this create heart and chest”; and so on. The 10th request is for the ball to create the capacity to digest, thereby satisfying the hunger and thirst of the newly created body.
Below are some reasons for pind daan being so important rituals:
