prasad1
Active member
Most Hindus choose to dispose of a person’s body through cremation — usually within a day of the death. In Hinduism, death applies only to the physical body; there is no death of the soul.
Hindus don’t believe in the resurrection of the material body. They believe that upon death, the soul, which truly represented the person, has departed or detached. The body has no significance and, therefore, no attempt is made to preserve it.
While some Hindus do bury their dead, the most common practice is to cremate the body, collect the ashes, and on the fourth day, disperse the ashes in a sacred body of water or other place of importance to the deceased person.
Only men go to the cremation site, led by the chief mourner. Two pots are carried: the clay kumbha and another containing burning embers from the homa. The body is carried three times counterclockwise around the pyre, then placed upon it. All circumambulating, and some arati, in the rites is counterclockwise. If a coffin is used, the cover is now removed. The men offer puffed rice as the women did earlier, cover the body with wood and offer incense and ghee. With the clay pot on his left shoulder, the chief mourner circles the pyre while holding a fire brand behind his back. At each turn around the pyre, a relative knocks a hole in the pot with a knife, letting water out, signifying life's leaving its vessel. At the end of three turns, the chief mourner drops the pot. Then, without turning to face the body, he lights the pyre and leaves the cremation grounds. The others follow. At a gas-fueled crematorium, sacred wood and ghee are placed inside the coffin with the body. Where permitted, the body is carried around the chamber, and a small fire is lit in the coffin before it is consigned to the flames. The cremation switch then is engaged by the chief mourner.
This has been my experience in India.
In funeral services, a viewing (sometimes referred to as calling hours, reviewal, funeral visitation in the United States and Canada) is the time that the family and friends come to see the deceased after they have been prepared by a funeral home. It is generally recommended (however not necessary) that any body to be viewed be embalmed in order to create the best possible presentation of the deceased. A viewing may take place at the funeral parlor, in a family home prior to the actual funeral service.
This is a very difficult and expensive service. I do not know why we accept this western practice.
Of late I have been attending too many funeral services.
Hindus don’t believe in the resurrection of the material body. They believe that upon death, the soul, which truly represented the person, has departed or detached. The body has no significance and, therefore, no attempt is made to preserve it.
While some Hindus do bury their dead, the most common practice is to cremate the body, collect the ashes, and on the fourth day, disperse the ashes in a sacred body of water or other place of importance to the deceased person.
Only men go to the cremation site, led by the chief mourner. Two pots are carried: the clay kumbha and another containing burning embers from the homa. The body is carried three times counterclockwise around the pyre, then placed upon it. All circumambulating, and some arati, in the rites is counterclockwise. If a coffin is used, the cover is now removed. The men offer puffed rice as the women did earlier, cover the body with wood and offer incense and ghee. With the clay pot on his left shoulder, the chief mourner circles the pyre while holding a fire brand behind his back. At each turn around the pyre, a relative knocks a hole in the pot with a knife, letting water out, signifying life's leaving its vessel. At the end of three turns, the chief mourner drops the pot. Then, without turning to face the body, he lights the pyre and leaves the cremation grounds. The others follow. At a gas-fueled crematorium, sacred wood and ghee are placed inside the coffin with the body. Where permitted, the body is carried around the chamber, and a small fire is lit in the coffin before it is consigned to the flames. The cremation switch then is engaged by the chief mourner.
This has been my experience in India.
In funeral services, a viewing (sometimes referred to as calling hours, reviewal, funeral visitation in the United States and Canada) is the time that the family and friends come to see the deceased after they have been prepared by a funeral home. It is generally recommended (however not necessary) that any body to be viewed be embalmed in order to create the best possible presentation of the deceased. A viewing may take place at the funeral parlor, in a family home prior to the actual funeral service.
This is a very difficult and expensive service. I do not know why we accept this western practice.
Of late I have been attending too many funeral services.
