Hi,
We were told that my husband had Pitru Dosha in his horoscope.

I understand this happens if we do not satisfy our ancestors.For this we have to shraadh/tharpanam.But here is my question.My husband's parents and grandparents are alive.So its his grandparents who to do the shraadh/tharpanam.But they do not do it. What is the solution for this? Is there anything else we can do, like chanting some mantras or donating something? Or is it something only the elders should do? Please clarify. Thanks Priya

Tarpana
                                        Ancient procedure for Genetic Engineering.
There is no permanent physial or mental cure for constitutional weaknesses. Once you have identified yourself as a vata, pitta or khapha type, or as acombination of these two, you are stuck with that constitution, and all its benefits and defects, until you die. There are only two ways to escape. One way of escape is open to you if you a spiritual aspirant, and follow strict spiritual disciplnes (sadhanas). Under such controlled conditions there will be little occasion for your constitution to display itself. It will not change, but it will not disturb you. The other way involves the anceint ritual of  Tarpana. Related to the sanskrit word Tripti, which means satiation or satisfaction, Tarpana is a process of gratifiyng your ancestors.
There is a law of nature known as the Bija Vrksha Nyaya: your seeds are your genes and chromosomes, the essence of your parents germ plasm. You are the tree, the product of those seeds. Half your genes come from one parent, and half from another. No matter how far you try to distance yourself from your parents , in space, time or interaction, your genes  and their genes are identical and resonate with each other. Your parents emotions are bound to resonate with your emotions, no  matter how far distant you may be from them, because of this fundamental unity.
Because your parents genes originated in your grand parents, your emotions will be influenced by their emotions, and by the emotions of your great-grandparents, and so-on, back atleast till the seventh generation. Even though most of your ancesstors are dead the subtle effects of their personalities remain in your genetic environment and continue to effect you.
Homeopathic medicine disscusses miasms, inherited waeknesses which are passed down from generation to generation in a family. These inherited weaknesses are reffered to in sanskrit as Kutumba Dosha. Ayurvedic rejuvination works on the physical manifestation of these faults. Tarpana works more deeply, reducing the emotional charges that have accumalated in you as a result of the activities of your forebearers.
We will take an example . suppose one of your ancestors was overly fond of eating, so fond that he or she fantasized about foods all day long. All craving are forms of energy, which are broadcast into ether (the most subtlest of matter, we may call it space) with every thought. Some of these thoughts will be rational and sensible, but many will be obsessive. You, who are permanently tuned to your ancestor’s wave lengths, will automatically receive these subtle broadcasts, which will induce you to become obsessive about food if you are suseptible to them.
Anyone who is really obsessive about food is likely to be thinking of food at the moment of death. This final broadcast message is more powerful than all those which went before, because it is transmitted with all the anguish of an unfulfillable desire. Because of the power behind the desire, and the fact that the individual whose rational mind could partly negate it no longer exists, this last wish affects you much more powerfully than any living wish can.
Tarpan enables you to negate these desires. Once they are gone, the pressure on your genes to make you obsessive about food eases, and your diet habits can induce other of your genes to begin functioning, which changes your emotional climate. As long as these unseen influences cotinue to affect you no amount of diet or routine can ever eliminate them because they do not strike at the source. 99% of human and chimpanzee geness are identical; the differences between the two species occur because some genes are expressed more than others. You are your own creator, ceaselessly creating yourself from your own genes with the help of your physical and mental foods and habits.
You need not even believe in reincarnation, or even life after death, to perform Tarpana. Your parents and grandparents are still alive inside you, in your genes. You are simply projecting a part of your personality, contacting it, and requesting it to be pleased with you and to relinquish any inappropriate influence of the previous beings who also shared your genes, and the images you have of those beings.
The traditional ritual of Tarpana is complex, but its essense is simple. It is very much like All Soul’s Day  tradition, when people visit their relatives in the cemetary.
You can also perform this in an other way (specially if you are not comfortable with Sanskrit).
In preparation, consider what food item your ancestor may have been very fond of. That food will act as your vehicle for your emotions.
Sit comfortably facing south and visualize your dead ancestors, one by one, as far back as you can remember. Make each one sit in front of you. Telling them you want to help release them from any residual earthly desires they might have, offer them a spoonful of water, a spoonful of milk, and a spoonful of sessame seeds (preferably of the black vareity) known as Kala Til in Hindi.these offerings are same for everyone.
Then offer a little of the special item,with the heart felt wish that this will satisfy any residual  cravings and allow that individual,wherever he or she is,to  continue with  their own progression towards greater integration and clarity. You then request them to return whence they came, and feed the food you have offered to an animal, or put it into a river or a occean. It is good to repeat this annually, preferably on the same new moon day each year. The best days for tarpana are new Moon days, especially those which fall on september.
Tarpana is especially important for ancestors you knew personally. If you loved them, you show them your love in the only way remaining to you by remembering them and offering part of yourself to them as a token of love. If your relationship with them was marred by negative emotions,Tarpana allows you to forgive them, to heal the relationship by sacrificing your negativity and offering them  the healing power of your love. Thankfullness for your genes which have given you life, and forgiveness for those genes which have limited your existence,transport the sacrifice to its intended target.
Tarpana is important to all of us who have forgotten our roots. It recreates the bond which should exist between us and our ancestors. Indian tradition regards Tarpana as a duty which every child must perform for its parents and its forefathers. When we accept this responsibility we relinquish forgetfullness.Tarpana is an act of rememberence which solidifies the link beetween generations. By opening ourselves to our ancestral influences and forgiving our forebears their inperfections, we open ourselves to their accumalated wisdom,which can cement our culture together.
If you are convinced that this procedure can actually help eliminate any negativity remaining between you and the image you hold of your ancestors, it will. Faith is essential for it to work; you must make your offering with complete sincerity. Faith can truly make you whole.

                                                   ` tt! st
Most of the matter in this article is from the book 'Prakriti' your Ayurvedic constitution.
By Dr. Robert Svaboda.
There is more to this, but that is for some other time.
Vivek.
P.S.
another pdf on tarpana can be downloaded here:
http://www.shreemaa.org/drupal/files/docs/Tarpan_Viddhi.pdf

that is all wonderful vivek ji..
great and meaningful information..

regards to all
sahil