Good morning.

Today, we perform the funeral services, last rites for my dad.  In Hinduism, and although there are many sects of Hinduism, there seems to be a commonality that there are two critical ceremonies that must be performed when honoring departed loved ones.  The first is the cremation ceremony.  The second is a 13-day ceremony, performed 13 days after the date of death. 

Today is the cremation ceremony.  I would invite those more knowledgeable than I about the faith to better explain, since I have only attended a few Hindu cremation ceremonies and what little is out there is vague.  However, my understanding is that because we believe in reincarnation, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, we cremate to break attachment.  The ultimate spiritual goal is to end the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth by recognizing our connection with the Divine and the illusory nature of this material world and breaking our attachments to that illusory aspect of the world in which we inhabit.

Generally, every Hindu ceremony has three main parts.  The first is a prayer/offering to Lord Ganesha.  Although Hinduism is a monotheistic religion, the faith uses anthropomorphized aspects to illustrate the omnipotence and omniscience of that Divine.  In this case, Lord Ganesha is the remover of obstacles, the one to whom we pray when we start something new.  You often see his likeness in Indian businesses as the remover of obstacles and to bless the new venture.  Here, we ask Lord Ganesha to remove obstacles to clear the path such that our prayers will help my dad move onward.

Next comes a prayer to the ‘nine planets,’ the Navagraha.  This doesn’t exactly equate to the astronomical nine planets as we know it, but does include the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the North Node, and the South Node.  The belief is that the Navagraha are responsible for managing the ‘day-to-day’ of the universe.  Showing respect to them ensures that the karmic process of reincarnation proceeds smoothly for my dad.

Since I am not overly familiar with Hindu funeral rites, I believe, the last part is a prayer to the ultimate Divine, Lord Narayana.  There is a ‘triumvirate’ in the Hindu pantheon, a Creator force, represented by Brahma, a Preserving force, Vishnu, and a Destructive force, represented by Shiva.  They represent the cycles of all things.  However, and again, they represent an ultimate Divine, in this case Lord Narayana.  We will ask him to watch over my dad and help him find that next life that advances his soul in the spiritual sense.

The ceremony concludes with the cremation itself, our final ‘good-byes.’

I hope this helped explain some of what will be observed today.

As I think about all of this, I am a bit amused because although my dad was a very religious person, he was not overly particular.  We used to debate the ‘value’ of these rituals.  I find them dogmatic.  He was more tolerant.  He would say, ‘rituals help us focus our intentions.  It’s difficult to connect with something we can’t see.  So, the rituals help us focus and feel that connection.’  Since today is the day we say our final good-byes, today, I am grateful for the rituals and I am grateful that I now have a way to connect with my dad.

Thanks to all those who are able to attend, near and far, and in spirit, but always dear to our hearts.

Love,

Pervize, Raio, & Meghan