Donate in Memory of a Loved One: Sponsor Seva in Their Name

Grief has a way of sitting quietly beside us, especially on the days that once belonged to someone we loved — a birthday, an anniversary, the date they left us. In those moments many people search for something to do with their love, a way to honour a mother, a father, a husband, a wife or a child who is no longer here. This page is for you. If you have been looking for how to donate in memory of a loved one, or how to sponsor food in someone's name, there is an old and beautiful answer in our tradition: give in their name, feed the hungry for them, and let their memory become seva that keeps giving. At our free Kanwar Sewa Shivir on the NH-8 at Mahipalpur, New Delhi, you can dedicate a meal — or a whole day of langar — to the one you have lost.

This is not a transaction and it is not a fundraiser dressed up in soft words. It is a quiet, ancient practice: turning sorrow into anna daan, so that the love you still carry does something warm in the world. A tired pilgrim eats, folds his hands, and says 'Har Har Mahadev' — and in the unseen ledger of punya, that blessing is offered for the soul of the person whose name you gave.

Why we give in the name of the departed

In the Hindu understanding, death is not the end of a relationship — it is a change in its form. The bond of love and duty between us and those who have gone before us does not dissolve; it simply asks to be expressed differently. This is the heart of shraddha: the acts of remembrance, prayer and charity we perform so that the soul of the departed finds peace, and so that the merit of our good deeds reaches them. Among all such acts, daan — and above all anna daan, the giving of food — is held to be one of the most powerful. To feed the hungry in someone's name is to send them punya that eases their onward journey.

Our elders have always taught that food given with a pure heart is never lost. When it is given in memory of a loved one, it becomes a bridge — a way for your love to keep travelling to them long after words and rituals have fallen silent. This is why families across India feed the poor, offer bhandara, and sponsor langar on death anniversaries and during shraddh. It is grief turned into grace.

Anna daan is the greatest daan. To feed one hungry soul in the name of the departed is to light a lamp that burns for them in this world and the next.

Shraddha, punya daan and the peace of the soul

The word shraddha comes from shraddhā — faith. It is the faith that our love does not stop at the threshold of death, and that what we offer with sincerity truly reaches those we have lost. Traditionally, families mark this through pind daan, tarpan, and feeding brahmins and the needy. But the essence beneath every ritual is the same: an act of selfless giving, dedicated to the departed, so that punya flows to their soul. This is what people mean by punya daan for the departed — a gift made not for ourselves, but on behalf of another who can no longer give.

You do not need to wait for the formal days of shraddh in the Pitru Paksha to do this. A death anniversary, a birthday, the first festival without them, or simply a day when the missing feels heavy — any of these is a fitting time to sponsor seva in their name. During the holy month of Sawan, when millions walk for Mahadev, feeding a kanwariya in memory of a loved one carries a special sweetness: the person you honour becomes part of a river of devotion flowing toward Lord Shiva himself, the one who conquers even death, Mrityunjaya.

How your gift becomes a meal in their name

For over thirty years, our volunteer-run samiti has kept a free sewa shivir burning on the NH-8 highway at Mahipalpur, near IGI Airport, through every Sawan. Tired kanwariyas — many of whom have walked barefoot from Haridwar carrying sealed pots of Ganga jal — stop here to eat, drink, rest their blistered feet, and receive first aid before continuing their yatra. No one is asked their name, their caste or their means. The plate is free, offered with folded hands and a 'Bol Bam.'

When you donate in someone's name, your gift joins this stream directly. About ₹35 feeds one bhakt a full, hot meal — dal, rice or roti, sabzi, and often something sweet. So a few hundred rupees feeds a dozen pilgrims in your loved one's memory; a few thousand can keep the langar running for hours in their name. There is no minimum on seva, and no gift is too small. What you give in the morning may well be in a tired pilgrim's plate by nightfall, offered as a living shraddha for the one you have lost.

How to dedicate a meal or a day of langar

Dedicating your gift is simple, and we handle it with care and quiet dignity. There are just two steps.

• 🔱First, give your daan. Visit our Donate page at /donate and give in under a minute by card, UPI, netbanking or wallet through our secure Razorpay checkout. For a larger gift, you can send a bank transfer (NEFT/IMPS) to our Punjab National Bank account: A/C 0149000104323988, IFSC PUNB0014900, Khan Market branch, New Delhi, in the name of Shiv Kavar Samiti.
• 🔱Second, tell us the name. After you donate, send us a short message on WhatsApp at +91 98189 08237 with the name of your loved one and, if you wish, the occasion — a death anniversary, a birthday, or simply 'in loving memory.' We will dedicate a meal or a day of langar in their name.

That is all it takes. You do not need to explain your grief or justify your gift. A name is enough. If you would like, we are always glad to tell you how your daan was used, and you are welcome to visit the shivir in person and watch a plate you funded reach the hands of someone walking for Mahadev.

For a mother, a father, a partner, a child

Some gifts carry more weight than any amount printed on them. To donate in memory of parents — the mother who fed you before she ever fed herself, the father whose hands worked so yours would not have to — is to complete a circle of nourishment that began with them. Feeding a stranger in their name is a way of saying: the love you poured into me is still flowing outward. It has not ended. It cannot end.

And for those grieving a husband or wife, a brother or sister, or the almost unbearable loss of a child, seva offers something that words often cannot: a place to put your love where it can still do good. Many donors tell us that sponsoring a meal in their loved one's name brought them a peace they had not felt since the loss — not because the grief left, but because the love finally had somewhere to go.

We do not grieve less by loving less. We grieve gently by loving on — and letting that love feed someone who needed it today.

A tribute donation that keeps on giving

A wreath fades. A message in a book is read once. But a tribute donation made in India for the departed becomes something living — a meal in a hungry hand, water in the monsoon heat, medicine for a blistered foot. This is why so many families now choose to remember their loved ones through seva rather than only through flowers and photographs. It honours the person not with a symbol, but with an act of the very kindness they would have wanted you to carry forward.

You can make this a one-time gift on a death anniversary, or a quiet annual practice — a day of langar dedicated to them each Sawan, year after year, so that their name is spoken in blessing at our shivir long into the future. Some donors dedicate a meal each year on the date they lost someone; others give whenever the missing rises. There is no right amount and no wrong time. There is only your love, and a tired pilgrim who will be fed because of it.

Give in their name this Sawan

During Sawan 2026 our shivir runs from 31 July to 10 August, in the days leading up to Shivratri on 11 August — the busiest stretch of the whole year, when the need is greatest and every day needs sponsors. If someone you love is on your heart today, this is a beautiful moment to honour them. Give at /donate in seconds by card, UPI, netbanking or wallet through our secure gateway, or by bank transfer to our Punjab National Bank account — then message their name to us on WhatsApp at +91 98189 08237. Let a plate of warm food carry their memory, and let a pilgrim's 'Har Har Mahadev' rise in their name. Bol Bam.