European Union: Vaishnava Cremation

suchandra · May 30, 2008

Yesterday a senior Vaishnava phoned me up explaining how he's trying to settle his burial now so that nobody else in future has to bother or pay for it.

When he started to get the details from different funeral parlors more and more questions came up, he said. In this particular city they have a graveyard necessity what says that you have to pay additionally to the cremation costs minimum 1400 dollar for a 10 years gravesite within the City graveyard compound. Next, there's an organ donation law - without notarized revocation they can do anything with dead bodies, up to using body parts for medical training. What then is the use paying for a cremation, he asked. But even when you paid for a notarial act who can check what actually happens? The law is that the cremation has to take place within a period of ten days what is in conflict with vedic law where the cremation has to take place in the evening of the same day. Then there has to be an additional insurance in case one dies outside the city limit, covering the transportation costs, since the normal payment only covers the transportation within the city. So far the funeral parlors presented him a cost estimate of 4000-5000 Dollar but he said he is not sure if this can be called a vedic cremation ceremony, any suggestions?

So far ISKCON Europe hasn't made any statements concerning Vaishnava funerals.

Few years ago a Sankirtan devotee died in a car accident, ISKCON did nothing, he was put in an anonymous pauper's grave by the municipality.

RadheyRadhey108 · May 31, 2008

Why can't his friends and family just perform their own cremation ceremony after his death? Is that illegal?

suchandra · June 1, 2008

Is that illegal?

I understand your mindset and way of thinking - no it is of course not illegal.

However, in the West there is a kind of traditional understanding to provision for one's old age and especially the costs of a burial which are not negligible like a 25 Rupee burial in India and not to shift this responsibility to be paid be friends, children or relatives. The costs of a funeral in the West with ceremony and receiving mourners is at least 5000 Dollar. It even happens when there is no provision being made, this can cause to fall in disgrace among one's relatives even after having died.

In case someone can't pay for his burial they have in the West the system that the municipility pays for a burial but often it so happens that the municipility is trying to get this money back and even tries to recover the debt from relatives, children, inheritance, what doesn't shed a good light upon the deceased person.

Notes on burial culture in Holy India from www.gonewalkabout.com

"We met our boatman downstairs, and after stopping for morning chai, Tongi, ___, and I joined him in his small rowboat on the river in the early light. The sun was just on the horizon and everyone was out on the ghats. Now this was more what I expected. As we floated down the river, we saw the grand mix of humanity and religion. People were bathing, bodies were burning. Smoke drifted across the water from the burning ghats. Some people were playing in the river, splashing and yelling, while others prayed or practiced yoga. There was a very intense feeling at this time, as if I was witnessing a holy event occurring for the first time, rather than the daily expression of a peoples' religion. A couple bodies floated by in the water.

Their families had been too poor to afford a cremation, so they had wrapped the body with rocks in cloth and sank it in the holy river. Eventually, the cloth decayed, and the bodies floated to the surface.

Cruising down the river

Interesting fact: All the wood for burning the bodies (all day, every day) comes from Nepal! What's all their talk about deforestation about if they export wood? The boat guy was cool, well informed about the city, but he spoke limited English. The water here rises up into the very high buildings on the bank. Hard to believe, but you could see the water marks from last years monsoon.

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

-Jack Handy "Deep Thoughts"

Back to hotel for a cool shower. Ah! I have a low fever, ~99° F today. My illness may not be allergies? The lychees in the market looked bad today, the same with the varieties of fruit, so none today. Back to sleep a couple more sweaty hours in my coffin. To the thali place for lunch, yum. Then to relax with the girls back at the hotel all day. It rose to 48° C today. "