In the Karma Room
To day i was to visit the room where Karma (ritual) for the departed soul was being done. Today was the 9 th day. As per the belief, the soul will starts its jouney to the heavens and reach there on the 13 th day. All these days the soul (pretatma) was being fed with rice and jaggery water. Today it was given large quantity of rice with fruit and special food. Today after the ritual, a homa was done and the Atma gained the respectability. When I watched all this , I pondered on the origin of all these rituals. Hindu rituals is supposed to take its origin from the Vedas, But as I watched these rituals, I suspected that these rituals were more tribal origin than the sophisticated sanskrit source. Is it assimilating the existing rituals that the hindu culture grew out of tribal culture to more sophisticated culture of philosophy and Karma theories.
The origin and the evolution is shrouded in the mystery of time. There could be so many interpretation for the worsip of the dead. But what I found was that there was more of atmosphere of fear than love for the departed. May be it is the fear of the un-known. I have known many souls who precluded their kith and kin from performing thse rituals, because they did not believe in them. Since I donot know as to what happens to me after my death, the sense of mystery continues.
5 comments:
can we have a small debate on this
- if there is sufficient cost involved in the ritual, can we get better mileage by spending the same amount for feeding the poor or donating a ambulance van for needy?
- the departed soul is supposed to reach heaven or wherever it is comfortable and expected to guide the descendents.
It is a great mystery that we are interested in the comfort of someone who is not there where as you can spend the same amount and time for the comfort of needy in front of you
- another great question is , why do we all get pleasure in mystifying things? demystify the hole procedure and make it simple and understandable
hello! Vijay
90% of the cases, it is done out of respect for elders and the breed in which we are born.
In my case, once I understand the meaning of what is being said, I tend to think that the whole thing may be a farce( note the word may be).
I was also shocked to find the unhygenic condition under which the whole things were done as well as the habits of the preachers.
It is a very strange feeling and experience and definitely not out of fear
To be very frank, I feel that we do all these rituals out of respect for the elder who had expired. Many perform the rituals out of fear of the society. Left to them, how many follow the rituals?? I doubt how many understand the significance of the rituals.
When I visited Varanasi to immerse the ashes of my parents in the Ganges, I was shocked with the kind of commercialisation of every aspect.
Nevertheless, I found Varanasi to be very serene and I got a wonderful satisfaction.
I feel that if a new custom or traditon comes to practice whereby the survivors of a parent donate as much as possible for a good cause like Hospitals etc. Our Peetathipathis can take care of such Donations without creating a scam out of it. I think it is a better way of remembering our elders with good work for the poor and needy people. But its a tall order and IF atleast we the people who think that we are elite and educated take the lead, a small beginning can be made.
SIVARAMAPRASAD KAPPAGANTU
Thank you prasad
I do appreciate your thought. How our body should be creamated and how we should be remebered after our death is a choice we make on our beliefs and feelings. I say belief because i do not know what happens to this conscious mind after our death. I presume it also ceases to exist as a voice from a tape recorder goes of when the power goes. But how can I be sure. It is an assumption I make and again it is a belief. Buddhists believe, rather they deny the existance of I. They believe consciousness exists after death and assumes another body depending on the Karma (slightly different from the hindu concept of Karma).
Hence the choice I make and the support I get from my people I leave behind to carry out my choice is again not in my hands.Feeding the poor (why?)to celebrate death is again a choice.
Let us not take stands, but accept the beliefs of others whether we like it or not as part of thought stream will lead to more ideas.
I do agree with you Shri Vijay Kumar regarding personal choice as to how one should be remembered. But after death I fell there is nothing left no body or no mind or no soul any such thing. If that is the case, the universe must be full of all departed souls roaming around. What I expressed is that instead of spending considerable sums in the name of rituals, the same amount can be used for better causes like good Hospitals etc. for the needy.
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