In Hindu religion, blessing, ashirvada, flows from the deep-rooted Hindu virtue of venerating the elders. The custom of touching the feet of elders, by way of seeking their blessings, is common and the roots of this tradition in Hinduism can be traced to Vedas, Itihasas or epics, Puranas and Dharmashastras.
In Taittiriya Upanishad, students who are just about to
embark on a new life at the conclusion of their formal academic studies are
exhorted:
Matrdevo bhava, pitrdevo bhava, acharyadevo bhava (May the
mother be your God! May the father be your God! May guru be your God!)
There are rules to be followed when a young person salutes
the elders and seeks their blessings. One should prostrate full length on the ground
and say ‘Abhivadaye…’, etc., and repeat his gotra (family), pravara (lineage of
ancient sages), etc., and then utter his own name. The elders will also have to
use different wordings to bless the person depending upon his lineage. In olden
days, those who bowed before their preceptors were required to use the correct
svara (accent) also, which was then reciprocated by the preceptors.
How do we benefit from venerating our elders and getting their
blessings? Manusmriti states that longevity, learning, fame and strength
increase in the case of those who venerate their elders. Elders here include virtuous
people whose blessings will have great potency. Omission to respect the
venerable is similarly fraught with danger. Puranas and even Kavyas are replete
with instances of people coming to grief for forgetting to or ignoring to
revere the pious ones; King Dilipa, Indra and Shakuntala are among those who suffered
this way.
Valmiki, while describing the qualities of Rama in the
Ramayana, says again and again – Rama delighted in conversing with good men
grown old in wisdom, virtue and years; Rama showed the old marked deference.
At the end of all religious rites, especially marriage,
there is a special rite called ashirvada. Yajamana or the performer of the
ceremony spreads out one end of his angavastram (upper cloth) before the assembled
elders, and to the chanting of ashirvada mantras by purohitas, the elders put
akshatas (unbroken rice, smeared with auspicious turmeric) into the
angavastram. Akshatas are collected at the end and sprinkled on the yajamana’s
head by elders by way of blessing.
Chiranjivi Bhava, Chiram Jiva, Ayushman Bhava (May you live
long), etc., are some of the expressions for blessing when youngsters bow
before elders. Married women are blessed to live long with their husbands (dirgha
sumngali bhava or saubhagyavati bhava). Veneration of elders adds grace to
social life and promotes spiritual wellbeing. In the Srivaishanva tradition,
the act of blessing is called mangalasasana. This is done to the divine being
also since the devotee who considers himself as the parent, treats God as his
own child. The classical example is Periyazhvar, a mystic saint, who considered
the God as younger to himself in age and blessed him and his entourage with the
hymn beginning with Pallandu Pallandu… (May you thrive for several thousands
and thousands and millions of years,’ etc.)