Comments on: The Short Kiss Goodnight

By: Arun

Arun — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 20:49:09 +0000

Re: cremation, a Harvard Professor's remarks come to mind (including more stuff than is necessary so I'm not guilty of misrepresenting the context).

"The Hindus in North America ( HINAs) are not just hiina, "lost, abandoned", but they (understandably) cling to their homeland in all manners they can come up with. "Reforming" our schoolbooks according to an imagined Golden Age (Ram Raj), hoary India is just one of the expressions we can observe.

They also tell their daughters to study Classical Indian dance (not exactly a highly regarded occupation back home), they build many temples and have Sunday schools (as many other ethnicities do). But, they hardly invest in Higher Education as other successful Asians have done. Nor allow their children to study items outside Law or Medicine, such as Indian Studies, --- the only way that members of their group could speak with real authority (for example, in school books).

However, as they are NRIs ("non returning Indians", as I just learned from a Hindi movie), they have begun ---as an old, very conservative US Brahmin friend pointed out to me already in 1994-- building crematoria as well."

By: Vikatakavi

Vikatakavi — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:58:04 +0000

The custom is that sannyasins are buried, while householders are generally cremated. Which is why some protested when a “samadhi” was proposed for Mahatma Gandhi, who was cremated.

By: ST

ST — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:19:20 +0000

I recently read a book called Stiff by Mary Roach. It deals with the myraid uses of cadavers, e.g. automotive research for airbag impacts and crumpling bumpers and CSI research for decomposition of bodies (so investigators can more appropriately ascertain the time of death). It also asks a good question: how much respect does a body deserve after death? That is, is the body still your mother, father, brother, friend, etc? It’s an interesting, and oddly funny, read. I’d recommend it for another perspective.

By: Kool

Kool — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:06:59 +0000

As said by the person above Lingayats in Karnataka are buried while they are in a seated position. As far as I know in Hindus Lingayats are the only ones to bury. Dont know about the reasons tho.

By: Su

Su — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 06:09:23 +0000

Hey, I am hindu and from Karnataka- Everybody in my family is buried in our own farm and we have a nice tomb. I think it’s a caste thing… Also I <3 Organ donors , mad props to Scotto

By: Billy Graham

Billy Graham — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 05:45:12 +0000

I want my body fed to the lions at London Zoo like Daniel.

By: Abhi

Abhi — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 05:43:55 +0000

This is how I want my remains disposed of:

After the beheading, [Abhi's] body was torn to pieces. His head was placed on top on London Bridge, his arms and legs sent to the four corners of Britain as a warning. It did not have the effect that Longshanks planned. And I, Robert the Bruce, rode out to pay homage to the armies of the English king and accept his endorsement of my crown.

By: Saheli

Saheli — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 05:34:43 +0000

Sometimes gurus and similarly revered monks will be interred instead of cremated by their disciples, at least in the Gaudiya Vaishnav tradition.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 04:31:15 +0000

Lol, I wish I had more time to write on this. There is a minor controversy going on here in the UK over nurials.

Some north england based Hindu and Sikh groups wanted permission to have open air burials / burnings because they say that burning inside a crematorium is not good enough. Or spiritually the soul does not get released or something. So the local authority initially said no, citing pollution and other concerns.

Then some people asked the Hindu Forum, which is like the biggest umbrella group of Hindus in the UK, who quite sensibly (which is rare) said that open air burials were not a requirement in Hinduism and therefore this group who wanted them had no real need for it. They got pissed off. Decided to hold some anyway. Given the over PC environment here, the local authority is turning a blind eye to the whole thing. Don't know what to do. Heh.

Anyway, some people did send me some links but I couldn't be asked to blog about it.

By: Msichana

Msichana — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 04:11:06 +0000

This post makes me think about the recent interest created by Bodyworlds. I believe that there are about 6000 people on a waiting list for body donation after death. How's that for a disposal system? I'd be cool with being a biological specimen for learning...or would I?