I dreamed about my recently died mom that she came back alive and was cooking at home. What does it mean?
Hello!My sincere condolences to you and your dear ones on the loss of your mother,that too at such a young age.This is the first time I'm answering a query on Quora but this is because I have had similar experiences, specially after my father passed away some 7 years ago.The first thing we need to know is that the soul is eternal and has the capacity to travel and help their close ones.I used to often see my father asking me to do some tasks like repairing the house or looking sad or hungry when his room was not kept nicely.He even asked me to give him a particular fruit and water in one of his dreams and to check his room ( he lived in another city), as it was not cleaned for some months and to my surprise that turned out to be true!I offered some water and fruits in his name and kept it in front of his portrait and saw to it that his room was maintained & the dreams stopped for atleast a year. This sometimes baffles me because the soul is supposed to be amongst the loved ones or family for about 40 days or the Shradh period ( in Hinduism), but I think there is more to it.Perhaps the soul is around for much longer and gradually goes to a dimension we do not know of when the dead person is content.I would like to tell you to remember what your mother was cooking in that dream and prepare the same dish and keep a little next to her picture with some water and light a candle or incense stick and pray for her soul.You saw her alive because that's what you want and she too probably had dreams she could not fulfil hence she would like you to do what she left unfinished.Do not be scared since there are things we can't explain-life is energy and the soul too is a superior energy minus the body and so we can feel it amongst us just like all other energies in nature.Good luck and God bless you. Do read Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss, it will help you .
During the thirteen days after a death in a Hindu family, does the soul remain present with their family members?
Hindu death rituals are explained in Grihya Sutra which I have not read. There is some coverage about it in Garuda Purana which talks of a 11-day sraddha and not 13-day mentioned in the question.Here are some passages from Garuda Purana that talks about what happens during the 11-day period.No sraddha can propitiate the soul so long as it does not enter the body. If the soul is not propitiated daily during the ten days (after it leaves the body) it will have to wander in the ether without food, agitated by hunger.The soul (of the deceased) stays in the water for three days, in the fire for three days, and in the ether for three days, For one day, it stays in Indra's heaven.When the body has been burnt in fire, the descendent should offer water libation to the departed soul. The mourners should take bath and feed upon the cake or the rice-meal.They shoul perform the Nautaka sraddha on odd days, viz., the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and the eleventh.Whether at the threshold of the house or at the cremation round or in a holy place or in a temple, wherever the first days's rites are performed, the concluding rites too should be performed there.The Sraddha on the eleventh day is common to all castes. There is a ceremonial ablution for purification.After performing the eleventh day sraddha they become free from impurity accruing from death. After the ceremonial bath, they should gift a bed to the Brahmana. This releases the dead from pretahood. If there is no member of the same clan for the performance of the rite, another man can perform the same.Garuda Purana, Dharma Khanda, Chapter XXXIVThe reasons for the 11-day sraddha as given by Garuda Purana are:(1) to prevent the deceased from wandering about in space without food;(2) to free the descendents of the deceased from the impurity accruing from death; and(3) to release the dead from pretahood.