What is the explanation for Yajur Veda 19.37?

Question

Yajur Veda 19.37

Cleanse me the Fathers who enjoy Soma! Grandfathers make me clean! May Great-grandfathers cleanse me with a sieve that brings a century. May my Grandfathers cleanse me, may my Great-grand-fathers make me clean. With sieve that brings a century may I obtain full length of life.

Why is this prayer asking or praying to fore fathers to clean them?

I mean how it is possible, because once you are dead your soul goes for reincarnation. And takes birth on earth. So the souls of the grandfather and great grandfather will also go for reincarnation/rebirth. How can they clean.

What is the reason behind this verse and explanations to this verse.

Answer 1

We need to read and understand the underlying sloka/verse to decipher the correct meaning intended in the Vedas. But you need to be careful with western translations when relying on their interpretations of vedas. I will write the sanskrit verse below and provide meaning for it, and then clarify what its intention is thereafter.

But first, one thing I need to caveat - you said "I mean how it is possible, because once you are dead your soul goes for reincarnation. And takes birth on earth. So the souls of the grandfather and great grandfather will also go for reincarnation/rebirth. " -- that is not what the samhita portion of any veda says. That theory (you can never prove punarjanma in reality, it is just a theory) first came into picture in the vedAnta portion texts. As you are asking a question on samhita portion, lets stick to samhita knowledge base in understanding meaning of this verse. You cannot apply a non-samhita theory when trying to understand that samhita verse, right? Apples to oranges otherwise, so please stand corrected on that end.

Now, your verse is from the Vajasaneyi shaka texts of Shukla Yajur Veda. That kanda is for the Soutramani Yagnya and the set of verses 1 through 21, within which is the 19th verse you quoted, are meant for purification of the sacrificer and oblations to fathers essentially. So you need to keep that context in mind. Now your particular verse is the actual verse -

punántu mā pitáraḥ somyā́saḥ punántu mā pitāmahā́ḥ || punántu prápitāmahāḥ pavítreṇa śatā́yuṣā || punántu mā pitāmahā́ḥ somyā́saḥ punántu prápitāmahāḥ || pavítreṇa śatā́yuṣā víśvam ā́yur vy àśnavai |

Meaning: 'punAna' word underlying above verse means - wash off or destroy or purify. I am sure you know what 'pitarah' and 'pitamah' and 'prapitamah' means. The verse is literally asking our ancestors to purify us & allow us to live our full life. That is the meaning of it.

If you know Hindi, you can also see the correct meaning being provided below:

As you can see, 'cleanse' is the wrong word used. It is 'purify'. Secondly 'sieve of a century' is an incorrect translation, heck I do not see that word 'sieve' at all in that sloka. So, we need to be careful when relying on western translations of our Vedas.

So, you can see that this verse has nothing to do with asking someone to 'clean' us. It is worshipping our pitru devAs seeking their blessings to purify us & our life. That is all that is meant by it. Purification means removal of our sins, for there is no other way to purify us.

Hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

Well, this is not from a reputable source but i think this may answer your question.

"After death the spirit is confused, uncertain of what to do. It is up to you as a loved one to do your utmost to give some direction to the after-death experiences to minimize the feelings of loneliness and terror of the unknown. Pitri Tarpana is one of the after-death rituals which is really useful, if you perform it correctly. It is a process by which you invite your dead ancestors and attempt to satisfy their lingering desires which prevent them from making their way higher in the hierarchy of existence. Did you know that this can actually alter your genes and chromosomes for the better? Suppose one of your ancestors was a debauchee, very fond of sex. When he dies his lust will not disappear, he will carry it along with him. he will long for sex, but since his body no longer exists he will have no way in which to satisfy his desire. however, his genes and chromosomes still exist. They have been passed down to his children and grandchildren and so on. There is no real difference between seed and tree, is there? One is in an unmanifested form and one is fully manifested. So this old geezer's lust will be felt by his descendants; so long as they have some of his genetic material in them they will vibrate at his wavelength, at least to some extent. You have millions of genes; not all of them work at once. how does the body decide which ones work? This is one way. Now, if Pitri Tarpana is performed and this ancestor is made to take birth in a new womb - probably an animal womb since he is so overcome with the animalistic desire to copulate he will have a nice new body with which to enjoy sex. he will self-identify with his new genes and chromosomes and will forget his old ones. Then you will be free of his influence on your own genes and chromosomes, because he won't be there broadcasting lust for you to resonate with. This will make your mind firmer, less sexy. Your ancestor will bless you for giving him a means through which to fulfill his desires. Besides, you owe a debt to all your ancestors for having provided your physical body to you, and this is one way to pay off that debt and eliminate the karmic bond. Isn't this wonderful? Everyone is happy. This is one of the many reasons I hate communism. Communists are taught to forget their parents, to denounce them if they work against the state. If you destroy your parents, who are your roots, how do you ever expect to prosper? On the contrary, you'll degenerate, become more primitive and barbaric. I hate communism! Your ancestors are one of the reasons it is troublesome to be reborn. Every time you are reborn you have to cope with the idiosyncracies and whims of all your dead forebears, and by the time you are finished overcoming all those limitations your life is over."

From Book Aghora- left hand of tantra, chapter 3, Death and Smashan.

This book is written by foreign author Robert Svoboda, about teachings of his Guru Aghori Vimalananda.

According to Vimalananda ji, the qualities in our ancestors affects us even after their death. And here he explained by giving example of pitri tarpan ritual and his interpretation about it.

And here imo, the verse is to pray to our ancestors to cleanse us. It is maybe because the qualities of our ancestors still exist subconsciously inside us. We may not realise it. So, we pray them to cleanse it and the prayer is actually to our own mind to get cleansed. And offcourse this is to cleanse the negative ones. Our ancestors maybe have reincarnated but some part of them resides still deep in our mind.

Namah Shivaay

Answer 3

Both the answers above add value to the question.

There is one more perspective that I wish to add - the invocation of ancestors (Pitrs) is done as an appeal to their spirits to guide the individual because they have already walked that path before they left their bodies.

Om Swami has actually had a live experience invoking his ancestor's blessings while albeit while embarking on his Mantra sadhana, in the absence of any Guru. He writes about this in his book - The Ancient Science of Mantras.

The same way Pitrs can guide us and jettison our pre-conceived notions much more easily because we carry the same genes.

PS: I'll update this answer with the specific quote when I get some more time.