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Re: why cremation?
> gopal@ecf.toronto.edu (GOPAL Ganapathiraju Sree Ramana) writes:
> In article <4gd7j4$qjm@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
> <uftfarooq@msuvx2.memphis.edu> wrote:
> >I was wondering about the significance of cremation after death.. is this a
> >religious or cultural practice? if religious, what is the
> >motivation behind the
> >practice? and, does this somehow relate to the notion of reincarnation.
> >
> >F. Farooq
Dear Farooq,
To the question as to whether cremation in Hinduism is cultural or religious, only a dravidian originating
from the Indus Valley civilisation can answer in accuracy. But currently, I assure you that the Laws of
Manu are only guidelines and not real laws. These were called laws as English, being a fully matured
language, has not got the appropriate words for those that we have. The Laws of Manu give many
rules for health and well being by attaching alot of religious significants to them. This was the way the
lower educated would follow. By the Vedic Philosophy built into Hinduism, every hindu knows that God
is not interested in the shell (our body) but rather the soul that he put in. God created a mechanism
called decay which will take of the body and therefore cremation is not an absolute must. Therefore this
is done for Hygenic reasons.
Religious important does exist in the sense that the atman that has left the shell should be released from
all bondage to its next destiny. Therefore, by burying the body this will not be achievable as the soul
of the departed person is held in bondage by the memory of his/her kins via the presence of the grave.
Cremation is like erasing all evidence of a person after the soul has departed.
I would like cremation as it also frees my kins to go forward in life instead of burdening them of my
memory.
Regards,
Muru
