Where do we go? Pitralok Congames?

What is the meaning behind Hindu last rites?  Mental rifling and Google Baba on death show   our ancient Vedas have lyrical hymns to Man’s relationship with Nature, plus ways and means of dealing with it,  that were unfortunately overpowered  by  Brahminical platitudes and money-making practices, but the essence has  survived.

The soul/Atman is immortal. It is released at the Antyeshti rituals that return the body to the five elements, air, water, fire, earth and space…denoted in the Rigveda, section 10.16:

“Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered, O all possessing Fire, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers.When thou hast made him ready, all possessing Fire, then do thou give him over to the Fathers,  When he attains unto the life that waits him, he shall become subject to the will of gods. The Sun receive thine eye, the Wind thy Prana (life-principle); go, as thy merit is, to earth or heaven. Go, if it be thy lot, unto the waters; go, make thine home in plants with all thy members.”                

The Vedic rites are amazingly scientific yet ecofriendly. It’s amazing how eco scientific they are (let us reclaim the word ‘scientific’ for ecology, not just the destructive socalled Sciences)  the consumable arthi, the kapal kriya to release the soul from the brain, followed by the disposal of the phool/ ashes … Dust to dust returns.

Hindu symbols to create appropriate energies, seemingly irrelevant rituals that generate those energies:

Lighting a lamp shows light to the soul as it exits the body; tying the big toes with a red Molli heads the soul in the direction of Pitrlok. A turmeric line around the body wards off negative energies that may harm the soul, possibly insects n termites too. Cremation breaks the body-soul bond to enable the soul to move to its new incarnation.

Reams have been written on post cremation family rituals that in modern times, boil down to what Kinnary in my book SILVER DREAMS  calls “Closure”.

“Closure is important for a fresh start after death; if the family is not together for those days, ruminating, remembering, speaking, to close the chapter, it hangs fire; for that is what brings a sense of finish and closes that chapter.”

The undated Vedas composed centuries before being written, predate later scriptures promising entry to Vishnu’s Vaikunth, Krishna’s Golka or Shiv’s Kailash for the deserving.

But death rituals prescribe none of those. The deceased head for Pretlok, awaiting transition to Pitrlok, where three earlier generations of relatives await. The arrival of the newcomer will enable the eldest to wing out to a new destiny. 

So does the soul count its karma, waiting its turn? Or head for rebirth right away?  Different schools, different answers, quite confusing;  but closure  in humanland, Yes.

 

Pitralok congame

The guys who wrote the Ved Purans must have been a real misogynist lot.

Hey, wait a minute; didn't the Brahmins do all that transcription,

Centuries after the orals?

Hmmm Brahmins?        It figures.

Some say, after the release of the soul in cremation,

It goes to Pitralok. 

This enables a forefather to move to his next birth.

Hey!  No instant rebirth?

Anyways, so grandson releases grandfather, and so on. 

Now what about the women?

Does grandma also need a grandson?

Does it have to be her son’s son or Beti‘s son will do?

Or a grand beti will do?  Is there any mention?

After all in our times when one son is common,

What happens to Daadima,  Naanima and  Mausima? 

Everyone doesn’t have a son.  Some have none.  

If no grandkids, toh?

Agar bete ki Beti hai, toh?

Agar Beti ka beta hai toh? Uske Dada ka kya hoga?

If only one child releases grandpa, what about grandma?

Or are women to remain souls floating in ether forever?

 Hold on guys. If that happens,

What happens to your vows of "janam janam ka Saath"

For the prescribed saat janams? 

 

How long should we wait for a relook at these Puranic tales 

To spot a clause that  can be interpreted:

It’s ok for a boy to kick off the next birth of one forefather

But each girl will have to kick off at 4-5 of her foremothers 

To make up for the backlog of centuries.

 

This piece was written in the aftermath of a mental churning and research on Hindu last rites after my elder sister died a spinster. at 75, with  one ambition unfulfilled: to be Pune’s oldest lady paraglider.