Kuladheivam or Ancestral Deity is a particular family, clan, or group of people belonging to the same deity / God which is passed generations after generations.
These are considered as the ancestral deity, meaning the deity that has been worshiped by our forefathers for several generations. For some Kuladheivam might be formless as well, also known as Nirguna without form, it is worshiped based on awareness/realization. Whereby Saguna means the manifestation of God in form.
Kuladheivam is the patron deity of our clan, for a specific purpose for our clan. Some families have more than one deity. The easiest way to know your Kuladheivam is by knowing our ancestral village of our patrilineal or matrilineal. Kuladheivam can be from first world Gods or second world Gods,
common various forms of deities are Vishnu, Shiva, and a form of Parasakthi these are from first world Gods. Second world gods can be from the reincarnation of first world gods or demigods, demigods are who once were human and later became God. Kuladheivam deity can be in a form of a male or female deity. The other types of kuladheivam are usually in the form of AYYA or AMMA, deities for fertility and guardian respectively according to one’s family belonging.
We should worship kuladheivam because we carry the same genetic / DNA as our ancestors, it can create certain energy through the genetic track. If one is still praying to their kuladheivam, this will not only benefit that one person but their whole Kula/clan will benefit from it as all of them are connected. This concept was practiced then, as it was understood and genetic lines were maintained so strictly and energy source was established for that particular DNA and genetic trend.
We need to connect to our kuladheivam first before we pray to any other Deity / God. This is because the kuladheivam can act or listen to our prayers faster as we already have previous birth connections through our ancestors and they will take care of our family and save us from all hardships and hindrances. It’s like giving energy/message through our subconscious mind.
It is said or believed that women benefit more from kuladheivam, a female body will have seven generations of DNA thus this DNA will automatically get connected to their kuladheivam when you seek them. Our older generation has the habit of praying for their kulam to be taken care of, if this was done by our mother or grandmother so we will definitely benefit from this. In this modern era, we hardly pray such a thing.
To add on to this, another reason why we fall on elders’ feet is that we will get past seven generations’ blessings, these seven generations have prayed to our kuladheivam thus the kuladheivam will pass on the blessings of our generations.
If we don’t know or don’t worship to our kuladheivam, it’s like we are starting all over again from the very beginning and registering our new database of DNA material by giving our name, rasi, nachatira, asking to do something for me to the deity that we are praying to. But if we know our kuladheivam, our ancestors already connect and it will be easier for us to connect to them as our DNA database has already existed. Sadly, our database is not transferred properly, it is all mixed up and it could not work the same way in today’s world because of the lack of worship to kuladheivam.
The importance of worshiping to our kuladheivam is also mentioned by Kanchi Maha Periyava, when we pray to our kuladheivam, we not only gain the grace of our kuladheivam but our ancestors also bless us from their heavenly abode watching out prayers to kuladheivam. The sins are also washed away. That is why one should not break from worshipping kuladheivam and should do it for a lifetime.
Worship of kuladheivam tradition has it, governs by paternal lineage and wife is part of this lineage. Once we are married for the females we should adopt the kuladheivam of our husband’s family as primary kuladheivam, however, the link with the females kuladheivam should not be broken. Children to the couples can worship to both their parents kuladheivam although the primary is paternal kuladheivam. Some may have more than one kuladheivam in one’s clan, but it will be based on our lineage practices.
Things that we should do for our kuladheivam is offering daily prayer in our home, annual visits, visit after marriage and birth of a child. Besides these, we should also do Pongal as a festival celebration and do monetary contributions to the temple liberally.
One may seek various ways to discover their kuladheivam, there are many ways mentioned in the books and internet examples as below:
– Take some turmeric and kumkumam and coin, put them together in a piece of yellow cloth, and tie it into a knot. This then needs to be tied at the entrance of your house. Place an oil lamp and offer aarti with lighten camphor and sambrani, treat it like your prayer alter. It is believed your kuladheivam will usually be at the very entrance of your house. By doing this, you will attract their attention. This is said to then compel the kuladheivam to reveal itself to you via dreams or some other way.
As for me, once we realize the importance of worshipping to our kuladheivam and we seek deliberately we will definitely find them, they will reveal themselves sooner or later.
“When the search begins you will definitely find the answer to it”
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