The Vedic religion believes that human life is highly indebted.

Salvation cannot be
attained as long as man remains indebted. The Fundamental Debts are one of the
fundamentals governing day to day life of an average Hindu. Every human being is
inherently indebted. One of the chief goals of life is to get free from the existential debts.
Because an indebted individual can not attain spiritual happiness. As per Hindu
Philosophy, it is said that having taken birth on this sacred Earth one should get
discharged mainly from five types of Rinas (Debts) viz. Deva Rina, Rishi Rina and Pitra
Rina (that also includes Mathru Rina).

1. Pitra-Rin

Since we enjoy the wealth, name and fame earned by our ancestors we are equally liable
to suffer their misdeeds too. The dosh created as a result of the bad deeds of our ancestors
is paitrik-dosh or pitra-rin or pitra-shrap. Even in the legal system we are held responsible
for the debts of our forefathers similarly in astrology too we have to pay their debts.
Brahat parashar gives 14 kinds of pitra-shrap, Mantreshwar in phal deepika says that rahu
in he 5th creates pishach-badha, Gopal Ratnakar calls it sarp-shrap. In the traditional
vedic astrology Rahu is considered the main cause of these dosh

. Lal Kitab in its 1952 edition discusses this problem in great detail along with its
remedies . I quote from Lal Kitab :
{ ghar nauve ho koi grah baitha,
budh baitha jad sathi ho ;
rin pitri us ghar se hoga ,
asar grah sab nisphal ho ;
saathi grah jab jad koi kate ,
drishti magar wo chhupta ho
paanch ,barah, do, nau koi mande,
rin pitri ban jaata ho }
The lines above describe these three conditions of pitra-rin:

[ 1 ] ' ghar nauve ho koi grah baitha , budh baitha jad saathi
ho ' ---- If there is a grah in the 9th house and Mercury occupies
the rashi of that grah then it will be a pitr-rin kundali. For
example jupiter is in the 9th house and if Mercury is in either
sagittarius or pisces , or venus is in the 9th and mercury is in
taurus or libra .

[ 2 ] ' saathi grah jab jad koi kate , drishti magar wo chhuptaa
ho ' --- when the enemy planets occupy a rashi and is not aspected by
the rashi lord , the kundali will be of pitr-rin. For example if the
enemy planets of saturn like sun , moon or mars occupy either makar
or kumbha and if not aspected by saturn .

[ 3 ] 'paanch barah nau do koi mande , rin pitra ban jaata ho' --- if
there is an enemy planet of Jupiter like venus or mercury in the
5th , 12th , 9th and 2nd then also it will be a pitr-rin kundali .

Third Debt to one’s ancestors Can be repaid

-by raising one’s family in accordance with the moral and ethical principals of
dharma

2. Rishi Rina
The Second debt is Rishi-Rina i.e. gratitude towards one’s teachers or Gurus who give
meaning and a second life to the students by giving them true knowledge
[Manu2.148.149.150.]. The Guru is man’s true guide who leads him on to the right path.
The Guru develops good Sanskars in his pupils’ life by education and religious rituals.
Hence to pay off their [Gurus] debts one should obey his commandments and give
educational help to other needy students.

Rishi rina is our indebtedness towards .our teachers, great Seers, sages, discoverers and
inventors who have brought our civilization and culture to this stage and have imparted
knowledge and wisdom to the whole humanity.

The second debt is the Arsh Rina or Rishi Rina(The Debt of the Scholors).Our lives today
have been made comfortable by the discoveries of the men in the past. We use the works
of scholars of the past without ever thinking how much time and energy somebody had to
devote to invent them. But each piece of information must have consumed a good portion
of somebody's life in the past. Even the language and the script we use were developed
by great efforts of the people in the past. We are highly indebted to the scholars of the
past and the present for the huge bulk of knowledge which is essential for the civilization,
nay the very existence of man .It is a duty of every human being to try to make himself
free from this debt. One should make every effort to contribute towards growth of
knowledge. Making original contribution is the best way to do that. But not everybody
can be a discoverer. Having respect for knowledge and the scholars of the past and the
present is another way of reducing the debt. Of course, donating generously to the
academic institutions and scholars is another ways available to reducing the debt.

Second Debt to sages and saints that can be repaid by

-Reverence and and service to saints, sages and gurus
-Transmission of the scriptural teaching and cultural heritage serving the society and
poor, without expectation of returns

3. Deva-Rina

The third debt is Deva-Rina i.e. debts of living and insensate deities. The living deities
are mother, father, teacher [Spiritual master or Guru], altruistic teacher of humanity
[Athithi] and the husband for the wife and vice-versa. It is the worship of the above that
leads one to god. The insensate deities are earth, water, fire, air. and ether. Man should
try not to pollute these deities as because of them we receive food, shelter and clothing.

Dev rina is our debt towards powers which control nature and its various phenomena and
which have endowed us with invaluable gifts of air, water, fire, food, vegetation etc.
The first debt is the Deva Rina(or The Debt of the Nature). God ( the Nature) has
provided us with so many things that we cannot even enumerate them. Air, water, the
food plants, the rocks ,the soil and so forth. As we live, we constantly use and degrade or
pollute the Nature.With every breath, one consumes pranavayu in the atmosphere. we log
the forests. The longer one lives,the greater is the Nature's debt. One should try to cause
minimum damage to the ecosystem as one lives in. To pay the nature's debt one should
try to plant trees.Not polluting rivers, wells,or anything is considered a religious duty of
every Hindu. Wildlife has got an important role in maintaining the ecosystem .By
committing oneself to nonviolent way of life one contributes towards maintenance of our
ecosystem. As long as one is constantly aware of the nature's debt and controls ones
actions accordingly, we can hope that the mother earth will also sustain us and supply us
with whatever we need. Utmost regard for the environment and ecosystem is the religious
duty of every Hindu. Keeping the rivers clean is a religious duty of every Hindu. In fact
all the big rivers of India are considered holy and deified into goddesses.

First Debt to God that can be repaid

-by dedicating one’s life to the service of God:
-Service to all mankind
-Reverence for elders, teacher
-Practice of non-violence, truthfulness, respectfulness
-Obeying scriptural injunction
-Protection of the Earth
-Vegetarianism or Purity in Diet
-Moderation/Simplicity
-Non-interference
-Universality Peace