Research that shows impact on three generations – vindication of 3 generation link in Pitru Tarpan.

A recent study conducted on rats showed that upcoming three generations could pick up alcoholism if the pregnant rat consumes alcohol during the period that is equivalent to the 2^nd trimester in human beings. This information is interesting and important as well because of 2 reasons:- (1) the food that is consumed during pregnancy does create an imprint in the off springs and (2) that imprint goes upto 3 generations with certainty.  This study reminded me of the ideas I wrote in the Tarpanam series in 2008. This study vindicates the basis of tarpanam that one bequeaths one’s physical, vital and mental faculties from the 3 generations of ancestors.

The study involved feeding the pregnant rats with one glass of wine for four days in a row during the pregnancy period that is comparable to the 2^nd trimester in human beings. For a rat, drinking a glass of wine is certainly heavy. Drinking it for 4 days continuously has created an imprint in the drinking urge of the offspring and also has made them more insensitive to alcohol. This imprint had been transferred to subsequent generations with a minimum of 3 generations of off springs showing these tendencies in a marked way. These findings vindicate the view of Sanatana Dharma that a person inherits his body and tendencies from not only his parents, but also from grandparents and great grandparents. It is to pay back this ‘debt’ that the tarpan ceremony or pitru ceremonies are devised.

For research purpose (to get a marked result), heavy dose of alcohol was administered to the rats. But the findings indicate that whatever is consumed by the pregnant rat could create an impression or could pass on an impression in the gene map of the offering that is carried on to future generations. In this context, we must recall that studies have shown that even habits like smoking was found to be present in the genes (habitual smokers had a similar gene map which is not present in non- smokers). How that could have happened might perhaps find an explanation from the present research on rats.

What interests me most is the trimester and the nature of item consumed – namely a fluid. As per Hindu Thought anything has 3 levels of constitution. The easy code word to remember them is Bhu, Bhuva and Svah. They refer to physical, vital and mental aspects of anything. Simple example is the earth. The land part is physical or Bhu. The waters are Bhuva, the vital organs of the earth. The atmosphere is Svah, the mental part of the earth. 

Like this, every being has these three aspects. Every being inherits these three aspects from 3 generations of ancestors. The physical is inherited from parents, the vital (liquids, blood, hormones etc) is inherited form grandparents and the mental faculties are inherited from great grandparents. These are governed by 3 deities namely Vasu, Rudra and Aditya. These three are the Pitru Gods representing first, 2^nd and 3^rd generations of parents.

A person does tarpan to all these three levels of parents on the pretext that he has bequeathed his faculties of all the three nature from these 3 generations. The recent study on rats showing the inheritance of a single impact in the pregnant rat to 3 generations is proof enough for every other impression or faculty to be transferred to minimum 3 generations.

This study vindicates the Vasu- Rudra- Aditya theory (Read my articles this and this to know about these three pitru devas) expounded in Chandogya Upanishad. The three can be identified in any area of development. At the cosmic level, Agni, water and earth were the three factors that were formed in that order. As per Sanatana Thought, they are represented or governed by Vasu, Rudra and Aditya. Anything of fiery component is Vasu. Anything of watery component is Rudra and anything of earthy component is Aditya.

This concept can be explained in the gestation period also. The first trimester is Vasu (agni tattwa). The 2^nd trimester is Rudra (water tattwa). The 3^rd trimester is Aditya (earthy tattwa). In terms of constitution of the body, the basics of physical development must happen in the first trimester, the vital fluids in the 2^nd trimester and the mental faculties in the 3^rd trimester.

At the level of Dhatus, the pittha elements (bilious) get manifest in the 1^st trimester, the kapha elements (Phlegmatic) in the 2^nd trimester and vaata elements (windy) in the 3^rd trimester. I don’t know how far this is true scientifically and how much we have tested and known for sure. But the intake of foods of the nature of specific dhatus in the corresponding trimester would and must create an imprint in the genetic map of the foetus which will be transmitted for 3 generations, is what is known from the present research on rats.

In this research, a watery substance was tested in the 2^nd trimester – both (substance and period) representing the Rudra tattwa. As per our concept, the watery component must make an impact or must merge well with the Rudra tattwa in the 2^nd trimester. I wonder whether they would have got the same result if they had tested this in the first or last trimester. It could also be possible that they tested in those periods but found the result only in the 2^nd trimester. The watery or fluid substances in the 2^nd trimester seem to make an impact with reference to the same substance in the 3 future generations.

Though the prospect of what the pregnant mother eats or thinks influence her offspring is something known to scientific community, its reach to a minimum of 3 generations is established by this study. Of all that happens within that pregnant mother, the compartmentalisation of the three basics as represented by Bhu, Bhuva and Svah in their respective time periods is something that is seen as the tip of the iceberg in this study.

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From

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/Alcohol-during-pregnancy-may-affect-many-generations/articleshow/51123054.cms

Alcohol during pregnancy may affect many generations

inking alcohol during pregnancy may affect not only your child but also increases the chances in next three generations of developing alcoholism, warns a study conducted on rats.

"Our findings show that in rats, when a mother consumes the equivalent of one glass of wine four times during the pregnancy, her offspring and grand-offspring -- up to the third generation -- show increased alcohol preference and less sensitivity to alcohol," said Nicole Cameron from Binghamton University in the US.

For the study, pregnant rats were given the equivalent of one glass of wine -- four days in a row -- at gestational days 17-20, the equivalent of the second trimester in humans.

Juvenile male and female offspring were then tested for water or alcohol consumption and adolescent males were tested for sensitivity to alcohol by injecting them with a high-alcohol dose, which made them unresponsive and measuring the time it took them to recover their senses.

The results, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, suggest that if a mother drinks during pregnancy, even just a little bit, she increases the risk that her progeny will become alcoholic.

The team claims to be the first to investigate the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and alcohol-related behaviour on generations that were not directly exposed to alcohol in the uterus during the pregnancy.