Pure Pink Salt for All

An act of gratitude to bring health into our food. A HLP Store initiative to Donate Pure Pink Salt and not to Vend anymore……

Pink Salt for All

Four years ago, this group started accidentally to remind parents about next Pushya day to administer Swarnaprashana. We never knew it would turn into a holistic group that would expand into various traditional medicinal and lifestyle practices. Very soon it became a community effort, many parents stepped into the show by taking up projects on their shoulders and few made home remedies based products.

On the same lines, when we introduced our  project, hoping to share knowledge and not as a sales point. We set a strong standard to protect this platform from any commercial drive rather each shift needs to be People driven and wisdom centric. Over a period of time, awareness of ancient traditional products among our parent community transformed this into a community shopping. Now, many parents work together to get those indigenous food ingredients to each of us every month, one side we work on quality and on other side, we take lot of time and efforts into refinement that is happening in parallel. In spite of all these changing dynamics, we all moved together with high spirits. Above all, every month, we kept pushing ourselves to next level in introducing a new rare indigenous variety and remedy. Its really amazing how a simple whatsapp group has turned into a social enterprise.

When we turn back and ask ourselves ,what kind of positive changes we really made in terms of food in our community. One prominent issue that has surfaced that has been staple in many of our lives are 5 Whites. We at the group, kept on talking about, avoiding 5 type of white food. We want to revive the practices from ancient days, at least do our part of removing one white in every house of our parent group and outside people without any bias or condition.

By Rainer Z ... - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
By Rainer Z Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Salt was one thing, that came to mind. Today, table salt being the main culprit for many health problems. HLP community has put in lot of efforts to make Pink Salt more affordable. On this Mahalaya amavasya, I proposed about donating Salt for anyone and everyone without any condition, if nature blesses us, we will continue this Salt for all without money or any catch.

All the religious and ancient text talks high of Salt and it has to be donated. Some References are.

“He is the one who has set free the two kinds of water, one sweet and palatable, and the other salty and bitter. And He has made between them a barrier and a forbidding partition.” (Quran, 25:53)

Some mystics have deeply interpreted these verses as referring to the invisible barrier between man’s spiritual perceptions on one side and his worldly desires on the other side


Salt is blessed and used with water for baptism


Exorcism – Japanese Sumo wrestles throw blessed salt in the ring before wrestling to drive away the evil spirit.


A very famous expression ‘being worth one’s salt’ has been consistently associated with ‘salt’ and ‘precious’.


‘Salt’ – as a catalyst to India’s freedom struggle – The Dandi March was propelled by salt.


The offering of ‘saltless meal’ to departed souls according to hindu traditions signifying salt as an earthly ligature with respect to the cosmos.


Garuda Purana Preta Khanda chapter 29 Verse 30­33 states
“Salt is on par with everything divine. It yields everything the person
wishes for himself. No dish is tasteful without salt. Hence, salt is the favourite
with the Pitrs (ancestors).


As per the ancient text, Salt is considered to be one of the 10 greatest donations.

Thank you Aicha Imtiaz, Roopa, Sri Nandhini and Yamini for sharing references.

When I shared this proposal, Mani willingly said “Yes, Velu, Let’s do it, at least, I am happy, I am part of removing table salt once and for all, this will bring lot of health benefits especially for parents who never got a chance to taste pure salt.”

That said, our community will NOT PROVIDE SALT ANY MORE rather, we will Donate 1/2 Kg Pure Pink Salt for any one and everyone. Irrespective of whether you are part of our group or part of core parenting team or take swp from dr. Lakshmi or buy home remedies from other parents or HLP Store, any one can book one pack salt / family. You do not have to pay for the salt. (We expect you to cover the DTDC charges of Rs.30 apx). Every month, we will buy a limited quantity and donate. Hope to cover all of us in our group soon.

For any one, who gets the products Subscription you do not have to book it, the team will automatically, add a salt pack for you.

The team has expressed their willingness to donate in any charity project. In case if you would like to gift or donate salt, do join us for your contribution. To make it transparent, we will open a google doc to track … How many made this healthy shift and what kind of changes we are bringing in lives of people and our society.

Kindly notice, I have not used FREE as i do not believe in Free concept rather I see this as an act of gratitude and responsibility.

On this great day of Mahalaya Amavasya, We share this yet another milestone of our group. Gratitude to all. Let us fight to remove the table salt out of life atleast now!!

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Author: Velu Jayaprakash

Velu Jayaprakash is a social entrepreneur, product manager, techy, photographer, meditator, father of two angels, ancient wisdom seeker, holistic adviser and Soul coach. You can reach him at velu.jayaprakash AT gmail DOT com

Tharpanam/ Tilodakam

Discovery the spiritual science behind the new moon day and our ancestors.

Tharpanam means “That offering which satisfies”. But what we mean by the word Tharpanam is the offering of water mixed with black Sesame seeds to the manes-(dead ancestors). Though we have several ancestors, this offering is addressed to three generations of father, grandfather and great grandfather along with their wives (Sapatnikaan if the wife is dead). Only those whose father is dead are eligible to do Tharpanam.

Amavasya is the name of new moon night in ancient Indian way of life ((during and after the vedic times). It is the first night of the first quarter of the lunar month. Since the moon is invisible on the day, Amavasya is also referred as no moon night. Amavasi holds great importance in Bharatha Boomi till date. Many Indians choose this day to make offering (tharpanam) to the dead ancestors especially the Thrimathastha.

All the manes are supposed by our ancient Indians to live in the Pithru loka for some time and either be reborn as any being or go to lokas like deva loka, Vaikunta or even attain salvation. The pithru loka is populated by three group of pithru devas viz, Vasu(father), Rudra(Grandfather) and Adhithya(Great Grand Father)

“VasurudraAadithya swaroopanam asmath Pitru Pitamaha Prappitamaha aavahayami”.

These devas receive our oblations and make it reach to our manes wherever they are and in whichever form they are. The pithru loka is supposed to be on the unseen side of the moon. This portion gets exposed to sun on the new moon days. It is according to our concept lunch time for the people populating the pithru loka. These pithrus, since they have left the world are solely dependent on only their progeny to feed them. This feeding is done through Tharpanam. It is believed that if Tharpanam is not performed then the Pithru devas will curse us so that we may not have male descendants to offer tharpanam to us.

The regular tharpanam which is supposed to be done on all amavasyas. Four Month beginnings mesha, karkataka, thula, and makara and also during eclipses. Our books have asked us to perform tharpanam on 96 days in a year but this is not being done nowadays.

Mahalaya Amavasya is the highly auspicious time for performing Pithru Puja to pacify the departed souls of the anscestors. The period starting from the Pirathamai Thithi (Tamil) or Pratipad Thithi (Hindi) (that is) the day next to Full Moon day (Pournami) in the tamil month of Purattasi (Sept 15th – Oct 15th) and ending on the Amavasya Thithi (New Moon day) is the most auspicious time for performing this Pithru Puja.It is good if the Pithru Puja is done on daily basis (15 days). For Pitru 365 days is equal to 1 day, As per the our ancient Indian calender (Panchagam) we have 1 amavasya and 1 Pournami so for 1 year we have 12 Amavasya. This 12 Amavasya is equal to 12 hrs of the day for our Pitru. Hence when the monthly Tharpanam is given to the Pitru it is done with Darbe, Black Sesame seeds and water(The Argyam) and for the yearly we offer the prathyabdhika shraadha which is with black Sesame seeds and rice(Pinda Tarpanam)

Why Black Seasme Seeds?

The Seasme seeds are considered to be sacred and it satisfies the hunger and the thirst of your ancestors. When the seasme seeds are offered to the dead ancestors along with the water, it slowly reduces the binding relationship between the dead ancestors and their erstwhile members of the family. When the bond between the dead ancestors and their family members are broken, then the departed soul would be ready to make another journey for a re-birth in another family. Thus the Seasme seeds acts as a catalyst to break the bond between the living family members and the dead ancestors.

Things that needs to be followed while doing Pithru Tharpanam:
  1. Never do this Pithru Tharpanam without taking head bath and your body & mind should be clean and calm
  2. Must do this Pithru Tharpanam on empty stomach (no coffee/water too)
  3. Never eat Non Vegetarian foods on the day that you do this ritual
  4. It is highly sinful to offer Non Vegetarian foods/alochol to the departed souls
  5. It is highly damaging to mix seasme seeds with any non vegetarian foods
  6. Should not take bath (for the whole day) after completing Pithru Tharpanam or Pujas
  7. It is always good to offer foods to those who are in really need of it
  8. Never do Pithru Tharpanam on your Jenma Nakshatras
  9. It is good to visit temples after completing the Pithru Tharpanam.

Why you shouldn’t cut nails during New Moon day (Amavasya)?

Diwali from the water in Varanasi, India

Moon has significant influence on us. If you wonder how these bodies in space could affect us, ask a person at beach on a full moon day. Those rising tides are due to the effects of full moon. From common sense, when moon can influence an ocean, think about a human body? Our body consist of more than 50-70% of water, this is even higher in infants. Our brain consist of more than 75% of water. So it should be clear that moon influences our brain, which is translated to thoughts and reactions. Hence the word “lunatic” is derived from the word “Luna” means moon.

All most all traditions and religious rituals gives much importance to moon’s relative position to us on earth. From spiritual-scientific angle this makes lot of sense. At our holistic childcare group, we often remind parents (or even push them in our Whatsapp Group) to follow certain tips. One such thing is, we request them, not to cut nails (particularly toes) during new moon (or Amavasya) in tandem, we advise parents not to cut hair on a full Moon day (or Purnima).

Without exploring more into various religious rituals connected to Moon, We will analyse from a spiritual angle. Life force in our body keeps oscillating all the time, this is relative to various chakras, nadis, surrounding, etc. On a full moon day our life force is at the head level.

full moon

Now exploring further about the connection towards hair’s effect to health will be clear. Hair is the extension of our nadi. there are around 72,000 nadis in our body. Ida, pingala & sushumna were few important nadis that you must be aware of. It is through this hair tip we sense subtle sensation. If you had visited some ancient south Indian temples, Male devotes are requested to remove their tops while entering the main shrine. Because the spiritual energy are sensed through hair in their chest.

On a full moon day, the life force is high and near the top of the body, head, so cutting the hair will affect the nadi and this will affect the life, health of a body on a longer term. In the same lines, on a New Moon day, when you do not see the moon at all, so less effect on us. So, the life force is at foot level. Nails are also an extension of nadi and it is also through this we sense subtle energy. Now you know the reason, we see all ancient spiritual-scientists (or in other words, rishis, yogis or siddha, prophets, healer, etc.) grow a lot of hair and do not cut nails.

Since, the life force is either pulled to top of the head on a full moon day or at the foot level on a new moon day, it creates indigestion problems. That is one of the reason why people choose to fast on this day. This (biweekly fasting) is good for healthy living.

DS181 Subtle
If you are a regular yoga person or a meditater or a person who can sense the inner sensations of your body, you would for sure feel the pulse at a certain location of your body, particularly on full moon or new moon day.

We are a by-products of our ancestor’s karma. Those passed souls on new moon day, settle at ground level, and it is this time, if you show gratitude, they might bless your family. This is 1 of 12th blessing essentials for our growth mentioned in ancient texts.

From Wikipedia.

Even today, traditional workers like masons do not work on Amavasya in India. However, they will work on Saturdays and Sundays. Even High Court judges of 18th century India used to observe Amavasya as a day off. It was the British Rule that brought the Sunday-off principle to Indian industry.

There are plenty of situation we can use moon to our advantage by knowing its position, We will explore this in great details in coming future. Do ask questions or share this with others.

Author: Velu Jayaprakash

Velu Jayaprakash is a social entrepreneur, product manager, techy, photographer, meditator, father of two angels, ancient wisdom seeker, holistic adviser and Soul coach. You can reach him at velu.jayaprakash AT gmail DOT com