Krishna Mutt, Mahendra Hills, Secunderabad
11am
It is my mother's thithi today. But the arrangements have
gone awry: the purohit who was to have conducted the ceremony has gone
to Saroor Nagar instead and there is no one here to do the shraadha. The
alternative was to come back on amavasya and do it, and we were almost
resigned to it but an alternative had been arranged quite fortuitously.
I'm glad.
The pains we take to set the dead to rest, across cultures... Energy, resources and propulsion for
the journey forward, good vibes and a plea to let go of us as we let go
of them.
My mother's funeral was the first time I looked at death rites with any
attention. Since then I have become better informed about what happens
to the body and spirit as they part, why these rituals are done, what
they mean. The ceremony today is bound to be a cursory one, truncated
perhaps, a 'sankshipta' affair in keeping with our modern tendency to
have done. I don't know enough to judge, but let's see if we can
compensate the haste of the ritual with intention.
1.30pm
It turned out ok in the end. The replacement acharya was conscientious and my father did what was needed with as much devotion as he could manage - he doesn't really have much patience with this sort of thing, although his sense of responsibility is bolstered a bit by the earnestness with which my sister and I approach it. The mutt's kitchen managed, at short notice, to feed us as well.
2 comments:
I resist dogma with all my strength. But when it comes to such matters for dad, I cannot deny him what he believed in deeply. And when I perform the necessary rituals, there is a feeling of fulfilment. I like to believe that is so because he is happy, and that is all that matters to me.
That is so like you, Aasheesh! Whatever our views may be, one can't argue with happiness. Not when it comes to loved ones - and especially, parents.
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