=============The 16th Vedic Samskara=============
Antyeshthi Samskar As a Yajna :
The last rites of the dead body are called the Antyeshti Samskara. There is no other Samskara thereafter for this body. This Samskara is also called by the names of Naramedha, Purushmedha , Narayaga and Purusheayaga.
In Hinduism, the important events in a persons life are regarded as religious ceremeonies. Cremation of the dead body is treated as the last holy sacrifice (yajna), the dead man conducts. Since the body is dead, the son conducts this yajna on the behalf of the deceased.
Cremation should be looked upon as an austerity for the dying man :
" This indeed is excellent austerity that a man after death is carried to the forest. He who knows as above wins an excellent world. This indeed is excellent austerity that a man after death is placed in the fire. He who knows as above wins an excellent world. "
..............Brihadaranyak Upanishad 5.11.1
Why Hindus Burn Dead Bodies ?
Cremation is the best way of destroying a dead body. This is highly beneficial for the departed soul. If the body is not burnt; the Jiva is linked to the earth. The soul hovers round or hangs about the dead body on account of Moha or attachment to the physical body. Its journey to the celestial regions is interfered with. The vibrations set up by the recitation of Mantras and the offerings and oblations of water, bring solace and comfort to the departed soul.
The earliest idea is that a man, when he dies, is not annihilated. Something lives and goes on living even after the man is dead. With the Egyptians and the Babylonians, we find a sort of soul idea—that of a double. Inside this body, according to them, there is another body which is moving and working here; and when the outer body dies, the double gets out and lives on for a certain length of time; but the life of the double is limited by the preservation of the outer body. If the body which the double has left is injured in any part, the double is sure to be injured in that part. That is why we find among the ancient Egyptians such solicitude to preserve the dead body of a person by embalming, building pyramids, etc. We find both with the Babylonians and the ancient Egyptians that this double cannot live on through eternity; it can, at best, live on for a certain time only, that is, just so long as the body it has left can be preserved. The next peculiarity is that there is an element of fear connected with this double. It is always unhappy and miserable; its state of existence is one of extreme pain. It is again and again coming back to those that are living, asking for food and drink and enjoyments that it can no more have. It is wanting to drink of the waters of the Nile, the fresh waters which it can no more drink. It wants to get back those foods it used to enjoy while in this life; and when it finds it cannot get them, the double becomes fierce, sometimes threatening the living with death and disaster if it is not supplied with such food.
Coming to Aryan thought, we at once find a very wide departure. There is still the double idea there, but it has become a sort of spiritual body; and one great difference is that the life of this spiritual body, the soul, or whatever you may call it, is not limited by the body it has left. On the contrary, it has obtained freedom from this body, and hence the peculiar Aryan custom of burning the dead. They want to get rid of the body which the person has left, while the Egyptian wants to preserve it by burying, embalming, and building pyramids. Among the Aryans there was no element of fear with these doubles. They are not coming down to ask for food or help; and when denied that help, they do not become ferocious or try to destroy those that are living. They rather are joyful, are glad at getting free. The fire of the funeral pyre is the symbol of disintegration. The symbol is asked to take the departed soul gently up and to carry it to the place where the fathers live, where there is no sorrow, where there is joy for ever, and so on.
From the Yajurveda 40.15 (also Isa Upanishad).
"Vayurnilammamritamathedam Bhasmantam Shariram
Om Krto Smara. Klibe Smara. Kritghvam Smara."
" O active soul, at the time of death, remember OM, remember God for thy vitality and thy eternity, remember thy deeds. Know that soul is immaterial and immortal but the body is finally reduced to ashes. "
The procedure :
Source : Ashwalayana Grihyasutras
The dead, if male, should be given bath by men and if female, should be given bath by women. Sandal-wood paste should be applied to the body. The dead body should be dressed with new clothes.
Ghee (clarified butter) should be in equal proportion to the weight of the dead. Well-to-do people can use more ghee but in the case of poor people, the ghee should not be less than ½ mound in weight . The poor should be assisted by a moneyed man or by the head of the Panchayat (5 man village council), or contributions from the people. Well-to-do people can add or mix with the ghee the following items.
Kesar, Saffron – One masha in each one Seer of Ghee
Kasturi, Musk – One Ratti in each one Seer of Ghee
Agar Acquilaria Malaccensis- One Seer in each one mound
Tagar Veleriana Walichli - One Seer in each one Maund
Sandal-wood powder -One Seer in each one mound
Camphor - As the circumstances permit
Well-to-do people should arrange for one maund Sandal-wood, twelve maunds of fuel wood and Samagri two times the weight of the dead body.
All these items should be brought to the cremation ground (crematorium).
If there is a permanent Kunda made in the cremation ground for the purpose of cremation, then it should be used. If not, then a new one should be made (dug out). The dimensions of the Kunda should be as follows:
I Length of the Kunda should be equal to the length of a man standing with his hands stretched upwards.
II The breadth (width) should be equal to the a person sleeping with his two hands stretched outwards (more than 1 ½ yards).
III Depth should be chest high (taking into account average heights of men).
IV The bottom should be one yard in breadth.
The Kunda should be made clean and if cow-dung is available, it should be purified by applying that.
Wood fuel should be arranged in the Kunda in the manner of how bricks are arranged when building a wall.
Ghee should be liquid (not solidified or frozen).
Four big size spoons should be firmly attached to the end of long sticks so that oblations can be offered into the blazing fire burning inside the Kunda. Four men at a time should offer ahutis (oblations). The size of each spoon should be big enough to hold ghee that is not less than half chhatak and should not be so big that it holds more than one chhatak of ghee.
Cremation ground should be situated in the south (of village, town etc).
The dead body should be laid on the fuel pyre arranged in the Kunda. The dead body should be totally covered with fuel-wood. The head of the dead should be in the north direction and the feet in the south.
The hair of the dead should be removed before giving bath to it.
First a diya (small lamp) should to be lit. Camphor (placed in the spoon) should be lit from the diya (lamp) and this should be used to set alight the pyre. Begin lighting the pyre from that end of the pyre where the head is and ending by the feet. Thus the whole pyre should be set ablaze.
Oblations should be offered in the blazing fire with the following Mantras.
"Om Agnaye Svaha/ This oblation is for Agni. Whatever is uttered herein is true.
Om Somaaya Svaha/ " " " Soma. " " " "
Om Lokaaya Svaha/ " " " This world Loka) " "
Om Anumataye Svaha/ " " Earth " "
Om swargaaya Lokaaya Svaha/ " the other world (heaven) "
Funeral Prayer
"Om Suryam Chakshurgacchatu Vatimaatmaa Dyaam Cha Gachchha Prithivim Cha Dharmana/
Apo Va Gachchha Yadi Tatra Te Hitamoshadhishu Pratimtishtha Sharirai svaha."
O Jiva (Soul)! After thy death, (may all the components of thy body be merged into the five elements). May the power of thy sight be absorbed in the sun and thy breath be absorbed in the air (atmosphere). May thy other parts be absorbed in appropriate elements. And in accordance with the meritorious deeds thou hast performed here, may thy spirit dwell in the appropriate body.
The Rigveda
From the Yajurveda 40.15 (also Isa Upanishad).
"Vayurnilammamritamathedam Bhasmantam Shariram
Om Krto Smara. Klibe Smara. Kritghvam Smara."
The spirit which is immortal is not made of the five elements and does not perish. This body will be reduced to ashes. Therefore, O mortal! (At the time of death) remember the almighty Om, remember God, and remember thy past deeds, as by so doing can one attain salvation.
From the Atharvaveda
O effulgent God! Thou art the dispenser of justice. Thou recompense every one according to his or her deeds. Peace be to the spirit of this dead body in the westward direction. May there be peace to this spirit in the east, the north and the south and all the other directions. O Omniscient and all-illuminating God! Thou art the Creator, the Sustainer and the destroyer of this universe. May thou bestow a worthy abode to this soul.
From the Rigveda
O Jiva! By thy austerity and enlightenment, and by they good deeds, attain the bliss in heaven and join the company of thy forbears. Be free from all sins and once again may thy spirit acquire (reside in) noble body full of lustre. And once again may thou come to this world to perform noble deeds.
From Manusmriti
"Everything perishes with the death of the body. It is only Dharma (righteousness) that is our real friend, which even after death remains with the spirit. Therefore do not allow the Dharma to perish, for Dhrama (when) perished brings about our (own) destruction."
From The Bhagavad Gita 11/38
Thou are the primal God, the ancient Being. Thou art the final resting place of this universe. Thou art the Knower and That which is to be known and the Ultimate Goal. By Thee is the universe pervaded, O Thou of infinite form.
From The Bhagavad Gita 2/22
Even as a person casts off worn-out clothes and puts on others that are new, so the embodied Self casts of worn-out bodies and enters into others that are new.
From The Bhagavad Gita 2/20
It (the Self ) is never born, nor does It ever die, nor, having once been, does it again cease to be. Unborn, eternal, permanent and primeval, It is not slain when the body is slain.
[Note: The Self is destitute of the six kinds of modification inherent in every living thing: birth, subsistence, growth, change, decay and death. The Self is altogether changeless.]
From The Bhagavad Gita 2/23
Weapons cannot cut It (Self or the individual Soul), fire cannot burn It, water cannot wet It, wind cannot dry (wither) It.
[Note: Weapons can destroy an object by cutting it into parts; but the Self is without parts and is therefore indestructible. The same applies to the other methods of destruction. Only a material object consists of parts and is therefore destructible.]
From The Bhagavad Gita 2/27
For to that which is born, death is certain, and to that which is dead, birth is certain. Therefore you should not grieve over the unavoidable (inevitable).
From The Bhagavad Gita 2/28
All beings are unmanifest in their beginning, O Arjuna, manifest in their middle state, and unmanifest again in their end. Why, then, lament (grieve) for them?
[Note: The physical body is a combination of the five elements. It is perceived by the physical eye only after the five elements have entered into such combination. After death the body disintegrates and the five elements return to their source. The body cannot be perceived now. Therefore, the body can be perceived only in the middle state.]
From Yajurveda 2/54
May we get in future births again and again the mind, for doing virtuous deeds, for acquiring strength, for longevity, and contemplation of God for long.
The shaving of the head of the male whose near relation has died is customary and practised in many Hindu homes. It may be a voluntary custom because we have not come across reference to this practice in scriptural texts. The period of impurity (Asaucha) or pollution or defilement is generally for ten days (from the day of last rites or cremation) for near relations. The rules to be observed during the period of impurity are of two kinds- negative (passive) and positive. The negative rules require the mourners to forego the many pleasures and comforts and even the routine business of daily life, thus exhibiting the feelings of grief and sorrow. They forbid certain things such as cutting of the hair and beard; forbid the study of the Vedas (during this period), Grhya offerings etc. The positive rules have also their origin in the aggrieved feelings of the survivors. They enjoin for a period of three days, to observe continence, to sleep on the ground, to live on begged or purchased food, to eat only in the day time etc.
The collection of the bones (a day after cremation of the body) is the ceremony known as 'Asthi-Sanchayana'. These are either dispersed in waters of sacred rivers or buried in the ground.
"Om Shanti Shanti Shanti"
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