Cremation

[Jordi Valero]

I would like to know your opinion about the cremation of the body after death.
I would like introduce this topic at the forum, not from the standpoint of tradition and customs of particular cultures or religions, but from the viewpoint of vehicles that leave the body after death.

How does affect to the subtle vehicles the sudden disintegration of the body?

[Barindranath Chaki]

Death and disintegration are there, when the material vehicles, if not destroyed otherwise, can no more renew the cells as per requirement. Hence, when the body is no more helpful in the advancement of the psychic being, of the soul, in the Journey towards a deathless personality, the Nature requires that the body should go back and be dissolved — in whatever means, religious or otherwise. We have seen that keeping mummies is of no help.

May the discussion continue!

Barindranath Chaki
01-08-2009

[Jordi Valero]

Yes, but I wanted to mention the following fact:

How are affected our subtle bodies if the disintegration of our physical body is too fast?

I ask this question because I seem to remember some words of the Mother on this topic.

[Janet Issa]

I experience that my body has a consciousness of it's own,a biological imperitive,that is instinctual,this consciousness is wholy unconscious to me most of the time,but i can access it during meditation.After death i would suppose this to die too,but i have experienced past life regression where i have memories of being fully conscious within my body after death,there are some that say the spirit does not leave immediatly and some shamans i know help the spirit on it's journey and perform death rites to assist the spirit to leave the body.,it is not a subject i have researched and this has raised questions within me around the fear of not being able to detach from the body after death,i think this is the point of this enquiry for me,it is about my releasing fears and negative beliefs around the process of death and its rites of passage..Thank you for raising this issue i shall have fun exploring this further.Love janet

[Jordi Valero]

Yes.
Maybe we could link the issue with the consciousness that possess the cells of the same physical body and how this relates to the degree of homogeneity (not dispersion) of the subtle bodies (at least the closest to the physical dimension) after death.

I seem to remember that the Mother herself spake of "three days at least" after death.

[kalpana]

Mother’s Agenda, Volume VIII, 4 October 1967)- there is reference to the practice of yogis being able to leave their bodies for a while [so there is obviously a danger in the 'body' being thought dead and being cremated!!]. But this is only in the case of highly evolved souls, according to the Mother.
Perhaps this answers the 3 days business?

[kalpana]

Maybe these quotations from Mother might be of help?:

''Now, if you live exclusively in your physical consciousness (it is difficult, for you have, after all, thoughts and feelings, but if you live exclusively in your physical), when the physical being disappears, you disappear at the same time, it is finished... There is a spirit of the form: your form has a spirit which persists for seven days after your death. The doctors have declared that you are dead, but the spirit of your form lives, and not only does it live but it is conscious in most of the cases. But that lasts for seven or eight days and afterwards it is dissolved. I am not speaking of yogis; I am speaking of ordinary people. Yogis have no laws, it is quite different; for them the world is different. I am speaking to you of ordinary men living an ordinary life; for these it is like that."<<b>/b>http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/qstarch/qstnov00.htm.

[kalpana]

After sometime the light receded, but even then The Mother waited for three days. During this time a clear and bright bluish light was seen as an aura around him. Those who have seen the photograph of that time will know. Those photographs have now been taken out of circulation. Only when the aura receded was the body buried.'' this is with ref. to Sri Aurobindo's passing ..found on indiadivine/audatya website.
kalpana said:

Mother’s Agenda, Volume VIII, 4 October 1967)- there is reference to the practice of yogis being able to leave their bodies for a while [so there is obviously a danger in the 'body' being thought dead and being cremated!!]. But this is only in the case of highly evolved souls, according to the Mother.
Perhaps this answers the 3 days business?

[Jordi Valero]

Kalpana:

Indebted to you.

The quote of Mother is perfect to illustrate the topic.

[Jordi Valero]

To enrich the topic, I would like to copy a conversation I had with Sri Devabrata (great seeker and prominent member of Aspiration before to leave his body)



Jordi said...

Thank you very much to show me this great man: I didn't know him.

By the way, I would like to know your opinion about the cremation of the body after death.
After Reading Mother's Agenda, it seemed to me to understand that this custom is not good for the organization of consciousness after death.

Thank you and sorry for my question.

Peace
Jordi.

07 June 2009 19:07


Blogger said...

Dear Jordi,

The Mother’s opposition against the cremation or burning of body after death was due to the way it’s done by the Hindus generally. The body remains consciousness even after it is found by the doctors dead. So a considerable time must elapse before it is cremated. But people generally do not know the way it should be cremated in accordance to religious or spiritual principles. Nowadays doctors certify death only after four hours of clinical death because they say that body is alive in brain cells even after physical death (heart stops beating).
The funeral systems after death of the devotees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram are according to their religion they belonged to-the Christians are buried, the Hindus cremated.
But in many cases the bodies of the great and enlightened yogis were buried or floated in rivers as it was thought that these bodies were receptacles of very high consciousness which turned the bodies very sacred for a considerable time. The bodies of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Nolini Kanta Gupta, Niradbaran, A.B. Purani etc were buried. But there were other cases where the bodies were cremated.
At the same time the bodies of yogis of very high order were cremated in India. Lord Buddha, Lord Krishna Lord Chaitanya, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna were cremated after their death. The Indian spiritual and religious system was in favour of cremation though the burial was also religiously accepted. The Bible never says anywhere that cremation is bad. The ancient Greeks were cremated after death but Romans did not follow the Greeks.
So you have to understand the Mother’s words about cremation in right sprit. Some vital and physical remnants of some just cremated persons rushed to the Mother for their sufferings due to untimely cremation.
Yours in the Mother,

Peace
Devabrata

08 June 2009 12:06



http://anantaprema.blogspot.com/

[kalpana]

Thank you for offering the topic. It made me want to explore more.

Jordi Valero said:

Kalpana:

Indebted to you.

The quote of Mother is perfect to illustrate the topic.

[kalpana]

thanks for the post with the valuable contribution of Devabrata.

Jordi Valero said:

To enrich the topic, I would like to copy a conversation I had with Sri Devabrata (great seeker and prominent member of Aspiration before to leave his body)



Jordi said...

Thank you very much to show me this great man: I didn't know him.

By the way, I would like to know your opinion about the cremation of the body after death.
After Reading Mother's Agenda, it seemed to me to understand that this custom is not good for the organization of consciousness after death.

Thank you and sorry for my question.

Peace
Jordi.

07 June 2009 19:07


Blogger said...

Dear Jordi,

The Mother’s opposition against the cremation or burning of body after death was due to the way it’s done by the Hindus generally. The body remains consciousness even after it is found by the doctors dead. So a considerable time must elapse before it is cremated. But people generally do not know the way it should be cremated in accordance to religious or spiritual principles. Nowadays doctors certify death only after four hours of clinical death because they say that body is alive in brain cells even after physical death (heart stops beating).
The funeral systems after death of the devotees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram are according to their religion they belonged to-the Christians are buried, the Hindus cremated.
But in many cases the bodies of the great and enlightened yogis were buried or floated in rivers as it was thought that these bodies were receptacles of very high consciousness which turned the bodies very sacred for a considerable time. The bodies of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Nolini Kanta Gupta, Niradbaran, A.B. Purani etc were buried. But there were other cases where the bodies were cremated.
At the same time the bodies of yogis of very high order were cremated in India. Lord Buddha, Lord Krishna Lord Chaitanya, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna were cremated after their death. The Indian spiritual and religious system was in favour of cremation though the burial was also religiously accepted. The Bible never says anywhere that cremation is bad. The ancient Greeks were cremated after death but Romans did not follow the Greeks.
So you have to understand the Mother’s words about cremation in right sprit. Some vital and physical remnants of some just cremated persons rushed to the Mother for their sufferings due to untimely cremation.
Yours in the Mother,

Peace
Devabrata

08 June 2009 12:06



http://anantaprema.blogspot.com/

[M Johnson]

As we die, the four great elements eath, water, fire and air go through a process of dissolution. During this period the dying person experiences various visions, and the grosser perceptions fall away gradually. Although the medical profession may declare a person dead, when the breath stops and the brain activity is ceased, still the subtle counsciousness and subtle energy abiding together at the heart chakra may remain for a while. It is best to leave the body undisturbed untill such time that the counsciousness has completely left. Therefore the person should not be cremated immidiately as this may disturb the subtle energy. There are meditators who can abide in the subtle consciousness at the time of death, and they are able to take advantage of the death process and merge with with God consciousness at that time. For as long as the person meditates during the death process, during that time their body will not disintegrate untill the consciousness finally lets go.