Traditions and Cultural Background of the Understanding of the Death in India, Hinduism and Other Eastern Religions - Essay Example

Traditions and Cultural Background of the Understanding of the Death in India, Hinduism and Other Eastern religions Death influences our life in manydifferent and significant ways. Death affects the living just as it affects those who are dying. In all times, at all places and in all cultures the need to provide an honorable and dignified farewell to those who ended their Earth’s path was an urgent need (Antonius & Robben 2009). The relation to death and burial or cremation differs across the cultures the same way as there are different approaches towards living and methods of life in different countries (Rosen 2008). Some say that country is only as honorable as much it takes care about the weakest of its representatives (children, elders). Same can be said about dead because in showing and paying last respect to them we not only Esteem their memory but also build traditions (Garces-Foley 2014). Generally death is an end of human’s life in this world and in this time bur most of all death in all the cultural traditions is considered a passage to the other place or condition. For my research I chose Hindu culture and religion because as for me they seem very deep and intelligent. The whole Eastern concept of death in its nature somehow kind of denies Death itself or at least the way Western civilization sees it (Bhalla 2006). Hindu religious and cultural traditions are connected to the Buddhism very tightly but they are way more ancient. They formed and developed long before the appearance of reformators and prophets like Gautama Buddha or Lao-Tzu. Before proceeding directly to the history and concept of Hindu burial practices I feel necessary to make clear some basics of the Eastern understanding of the man, world, spirit, life and death. A lot in the Hindu religion is similar to the Buddhism and both these huge religious beliefs share some of the major concepts because of the long and productive relationship of two geographically neighbor regions – India and China (Michaels & Harshav 2004). Life as Eastern people see it is the Maya (illusion). Maya that surrounds people is the part of the eternal, forever changing and unstoppable circulation of the Sansara. Sansara is pictured as a wheel or circle and this circle is a circle of reincarnations. When one form is lived out the next comes to succeed it and that continues forever. Karma can be either bad or good due to the actions made during one or numerous incarnations. Karma influences Sansara so honorably lived life will be rewarded with better incarnation. In the Hindu there is a system of Castes which in old times served social function but from the religious perspective can be seen as gradation from the worst (Untouchables) to the best (Brahmins) karma (Young & Laungani 2003). The most significant and ubiquitous concept of Eastern way of thinking known almost to anyone is the concept of Nirvana. Those who are not informed fully connect it to the Christian or Muslim Heaven but in fact it is a totally different concept. Life as Buddhists say is a suffering. The life itself is a painful illusion and that happens because everyone is somehow disconnected from the eternity, space, absolute knowledge – Nirvana. Nirvana is what stays outside the Sansara. Nirvana is an escape. Or to be more definitive Nirvana is a condition of unknowing, vacuum and emptiness, existence without pain, suffering and without an identity and ego. To connect with Nirvana one must understand everything and learn that everything is inside him just as well as he is a part of everything. One drop in the eternal universal ocean of existence is in fact all eternal universal ocean of existence concentrated for a moment in one drop (Wilson 2012). To train such understanding Hindu religion invented yoga. Yoga helps people to feel connected with everything and clear their thoughts, forget about the world full of violence and pain and become united with the eternal space that lies in us not any less than outside of us. In Hindu culture all major events of a human life (birth, education, marriage, having a baby, illness, death) are believed to have a great effect not only on our earth’s life (obviously) but on our soul and spirit which are eternal. That is why all this stages of life are followed with definitive rituals which are generally named Sanskara. All rituals are followed by Yajnas (sacrifices) with the holy flame (Homa) (Bhalla 2006). Flame as well as the Sun and Circle are considered the main symbols in the East. ` Tradition Hindu death ceremony is named Antyesti and depends greatly on who died. If dead person is a child of pre-teen then he will be buried in the ground. But adults traditionally and always are burnt. The whole process of dying is a main theme of one of the greatest Eastern religious and spiritual texts – “Bardo Thodol” also known in the world as “Tibetan Book of the Dead”. The book shows how to treat those who die until they are dead to help them escape from Samsara. Just like in the other main texts of the Hinduism there are songs and poems which are a traditional background for any ceremony in the East (Michaels & Harshav 2004). When person is dead it is very significant to treat his body very careful and in a right way so it could be possible for the soul to find a way either to Nirvana or next incarnation. The main theme of the burning ceremony is the connection of the dead with 5 main elements – space, earth, water, fire and air (Rosen 2008). That is made because it helps a person to connect with its origin and origin of any person consists from what surrounds us. After the life and death of any person his or her material shell connects again with the nature which is represented by the main elements. Usually ceremony starts and ends on the same or the next day of a person’s death and is completed quickly. The public consists from the relatives and close friends. The lead cremator or mourner is the one who organizes and conducts the ceremony (priest, an elder male or an eldest son). People build a platform from wood and put a dead on it. That happens near the water (river, ocean). Some symbols and necessary details are the following: special red mark on the forehead named Tilak, feets that are facing the south, two toes are being tied together by the string and the body wrapped in white cloth. When all this is done lead cremator circumambulates the body and says something (for example numerous hymns which are present in the part of the sacred Vedas named Brahmanas) and after that draws three lines which signify Yama (dead’s deity), Kala (cremation’s deity, time) and the dead. After that the platform is set on fire after which relatives and friends can circle a couple times around the fire. After that Kapala Kriya is made which consists of breaking the well-burnt skull with a stick in order to release spirit from the body. The final action is to collect the ash and disperse it in the river. After that the ceremony is completed (Bhalla 2006). In general the attitude to death in the India and neighbor Asian countries is not so dreadful and agonizing in comparison with the western nations. That is because no matter what death is understood completely different and not as a visit to the final court where you will be judged and the verdict will be final. Death is a passage, crossing, transit from the one condition to the other and there is no hell because life itself is a hell even if living creatures don’t understand it. That is why reaching Nirvana is so difficult but important in order to stop eternal suffering and live in balance as a part universe. People of the great India’s nation traditionally believe that the last passage of an estimated incarnation has a very significant influence upon the further existence of the spirit and can lead him into the Nirvana or back to the Samsara depending on the person, his environment and their interconnection. References Antonius, C., Robben, G., M. (2009) Death, Mourning, and Burial: A Cross-Cultural Reader. New York: John Wiley & Sons Bhalla, P. (2006) Hindu Rites, Rituals, Customs and Traditions. Calcutta: Pustak Mahal Garces-Foley, K. (2014) Death and Religion in a Changing World. London: Routledge Michaels, A., Harshav, B. (2004) Hinduism: Past and Present. Jersey City: Princeton University Press Rosen, S. (2008) Ultimate Journey: Death and Dying in the Worlds Major Religions. Chicago: ABC-CLIO Wilson, L. (2012) The Living and the Dead: Social Dimensions of Death in South Asian Religions. Chicago: SUNY Press Young, W., Laungani, P. (2003) Death and Bereavement Across Cultures. London: Routledge Read More