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Summary of Question:	Re: Prayers To Ancestors?
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Tuesday, 10/30/2001 6:06 AM MDT

Sat Sri Akal,

I was reading one of your replies to the question sent in recently 'Prayers to Ancestors?'. You said rightly that it is wrong to pray to pictures, i.e. of our ancestors.
I wanted to ask, is it ok for us to pray for our ancestors by having an Akand Path?
My Grandad passed away last December and my family are going to hold an Akand Path because it will have been a year since he has passed away. I'm not sure whether or not this is right, i.e. is it the sikhi way of life? Everytime I go to the Gurdwara, I pray for my Grandad and one of my best friends who passed away recently. Is it right to do this?
Do you think we should be having Akand Paths because someone has died? I know that when someone is born it is ok to have an Akand Path because it is a happy occasion, as is someone's birthday, etc. But a death of a person is not something to be celebrated. Please help me on this.

Thank you very much for your time

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REPLY
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Sat Siri Akaal. Akand Paaths can be very helpful when one is dying or has just died, for it creates a vibration that helps the soul detach, let go, and move on like it is supposed to. It is not about whether the occassion is happy, because for the one who has died, it can be quite a happy occassion to leave the earth plane. Akand Paaths create a powerful vibration that through intent and how it is carried out, assist person(s) in dealing with difficulty, such as (mental) illness. When done for a newborn, the intent should be to give the newborn the experience of gurbani through Siri Guru reading (which means the newborn should be in the Akand Paath room as much as is feasibly possible).

I think the question to ask about the Akand Paath for your grandfather who died nearly a year ago is: is this being done as a veiled attempt to 'pray' to him? That is, the intent is what's important.

Your reasoning is correct that Akand Paath for one long dead is not strictly in keeping with Sikhi. Better to take the approach that as a way of REMEMBERING this family member, the Akand Paath is done as a prayer for the well-being of the family he left behind, not as a ceremony for the one who has passed.

Guru rakha,
-DKK