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Dear Maharaja, PAMHO AGTSP

 

I assume that you are in a hurry and that someone has passed away.

 

So here is some info in a hurry.

 

Antyesti

(The Last Rites)

 

This is the last samskara, the last rite for sanctifying the body in

this material world. The rites are not described in Sat Kriya Sara

Dipika, and are mentioned only briefly in Samskara Dipika in relation

to the burial of a sannyasi. The standard rituals are performed to

insure that the departed soul does not remain in the form of a ghost or

preta, and to insure the best possible destination. Since the sincere

vaisnava who worships the Lord out of love and chants his name is

assured the best possible position to pursue his spiritual activities,

his relatives and friends are less particular in executing all the

rituals which ensue after death.

 

....Hold a condolence meeting and pray for his soul to Krsna to give him

a good chance for advancement in Krsna consciousness. Certainly Krsna

will give him a good place to take birth where he can again begin in

Krsan conscious activities. That is sure. But we offer our condolences

to a departed soul separated from a Vaisnava. ...After three days a

function should be held for offering the departed soul and all others

prasadam. That is the system.

 

letter of Srila Prabhupada to

Rebatinandana, Nov.14, 1973

 

The passing of an elevated Vaisnava is illustrated by the burial of

Hari das Thakura:

 

After a hole was dug in the sand, the body of Haridas Thakura was

placed in it. Remnants from Lord Jagannatha, such as his silken ropes,

sandalwood pulp, food and cloth were placed on the body. All around the

body, the devotees performed congregational chanting, and Vakresvara

pandita danced in jubilation.

CC Antya v.4.p.31

 

In the context of society however it may be necessary to observe the

rules, as was the case with the passing away of King Dasaratha, Pandu

and Bhisma. Thus some orthodox Vaisnavas carry out the full vedic

anthyesthi rites and sraddha kriyas.

 

Different puranas and smrti scriptures give different details of rites

to be observed, and thus, according locality and family the customs

differ to some degree.

 

Procedures:

 

When a person is nearing death it is recommended that the person give a

gift of a decorated cow (vaitarani) to a brahmana to ensure his safe

passage over the river of death. If a cow is unavailable he should give

an equivalent sum of money. Gifts of iron pots, salt, land, grain, ghee

and laddu are also recommended. Mahabharat recommends that Visnu

Sahasra Nama be recited at this time. It is customary that the dying

person should hear the names of the Lord. The legitimate claimant to

the last rites may whisper the karna mantra starting with "ayusah"in

his ear (a vedic mantra). Lamps may also be lit. Some people place

tulasi prasadam and caranamrta or Ganga water in the person's mouth.

 

When it is confirmed that the soul has passed from the body, the body

may be shaved (optional), bathed and clothed in clean, preferably new

cloth or silk, and placed on a mat on the floor. According to some

traditions, new cloth should be obtained, washed, and while still wet

placed on the body. If the deceased is an old man, he should be clothed

in white; middle aged men wear red, and young men and women wear

colored cloth. Widows wear white, black or blue. The face may remain

uncovered at this time while family members pay their last respects.

Tilak should be applied.

 

Then a frame made of udumbara wood, a cot or carriage should be

supplied to carry the body. The body should be placed upon it, with the

face covered. The eyes should be closed, limbs straightened, and the

big toes and thumbs should be tied together with string. The body

should pass out of the house feet first.

 

Since cremation should not take place after dark, if the person dies

during the daylight hours, preparations should be hastily made so that

the burning will take place before sunset. Otherwise the body should be

taken after sunrise the next day. The body should be burned before

decomposition sets in.

 

One man sprinkling water, followed by a man with a pot of fire should

lead the procession. The body should be follow next, and neither the

fire nor the body should be dropped along the way. No one should walk

between the fire and the body, or walk along side the body. Behind the

body the family should follow, the elders first, women and children

last. The bearers of the body should be bathed, shoeless and without

upper cloth on their bodies. The members of the procession should also

be without upper cloth, and hair should be unbound.

 

The place for cremation should be a clean place, on a river bank, a

mountain or a forest.

 

When the procession arrives at the site, they should take bath, they

should bathe the body and place it upon kusa with the head facing

south. Ghee should be smeared over the body,and again it should be

bathed, while saying:

 

om gayadini ca tirthani ye ca punyah silocayah

kuruksetram ca gangam ca yamunam ca saridvaram

kausikim candrabhagam ca sarva papa pranasinim

bhadravakasam gandakim sarayum panasam tatha

vainavam ca varaham ca tirtham pindarakam tatha

prthivyam yani tirthani saritah sagarams tatha

dhyava tu manasa sarve krta snanam gatayusam

 

(Having meditated upon all the holy tirthas, rivers, and oceans, the

deceased has bathed in all these rivers.)

 

The body should be dressed in two pieces of fresh cloth and new

yajnopavita. Garland and candana should be applied. Pieces of gold or

bell metal should be placed on the two ears, the two eyes, the two

nostrils and the mouth. The face should be covered with another cloth.

A body should never be burned without clothing.

 

The kunda for the cremation should be the length of the person from toe

to outstretched hand, as wide as his outstreched arms and as deep as

the measurement from the person's toe to his chest. The hole should be

cleansed and smeared with cow dung and water, and then filled with

wood.

 

The body should be placed on the pyre with the head pointing south

(according the followers of Samaveda) or north (according to followers

of the other vedas). Men should be laid with face downwards, and women

should be laid on their backs, with face upwards. Wood may be piled

over the body also.

 

Saying

 

om devas cagni mukhah sarve enam dahantu

 

(May all the devas with agni as their mouth consume the body in flames)

 

The claimant to the last rites should take fire in his hand. He and his

assistants, should circumabulate the pyre three or seven times, and

then, approaching the head, and facing south, he should apply fire near

the head, over the mouth, or on the chest, while the others apply fire

to the wood under the body, going towards the feet.

 

When the fire has burned until only a few remnants remain, they should

each take seven sticks of wood one pradesa in length, and

circumabulating the pyre seven times should offer one into the fire

each time around, saying:.

 

om kravyadaya namas tubhyam

 

(I pay my respects to the personality of funeral fire.)

 

He should take an axe and hit the wood of the pyre seven times.

Bones may be collected at this time and kept in an earthen pot.

 

Each assistant should then take three or seven pots of water and pour

them over the fire to extinghuish it. The slected member should the

place a earthen pot filled with water on the pyre and cover it with an

earthen dish, in which he should place five or eight coins. While the

others turn away from the pyre without looking back he should break the

pot with a stone or brick, and coming around the pyre in

counterclockwise direction he should leave the place without looking

back. They should then proceed to take bath in a river or the ocean,

the elders going first.

 

The burner of the body should shave, and all persons attending should

bathe with loosened hair. All cloth should be washed. After bathing,

facing south with yajnopavita over the right shoulder, wearing lower

cloth only they should say:

 

om apah nah sosucad agham

 

(May this action purify us of sin.)

 

Stirring the water with the ring finger of the left hand , they should

submerge themselves under water once and then performing acamana, they

should offer tarpana three times.

 

------------dasam sitalodakena tarpayami

 

(I offer cool water for the satisfaction of------)

 

Then taking bath again, they should rise from the water, the children

going first. They should remain away from the house until night. Only

with the permission of a brahmana may they return before this time.

 

On approaching the house of the departed person they should place neem

leaves between their teeth , and touching leaves of the sami tree they

should say:

 

om sami papam samayatu

 

(May the sami leaves eradicate the sin.)

 

Touching a stone wih their feet they should say:

 

om asmeva sthiro bhuyasam

 

(May I be steady like a rock.)

 

Touching fire they should say:

 

om agnir nah sarma yacchatu

 

(May fire give us shelter and happiness.)

 

They may then enter the house, the children going first. The house may

be cleansed by fumigating it with cow dung smoke three times and then

sprinkling it with flowers, sesame and rice paddy.

 

On the day of the ceremony no cooking or eating should be done. If ones

mother, father or husband dies one should fast for three days, or if

that is not possible, then one should take only fruits. From the fourth

to the tenth day one should eat havisyanna once a day during the

daylight hours.

 

According to ancient authorities the bones should be collected on the

fourth day (or later ) after the cremation has taken place. They should

be placed in a jar which is covered with deer skin and silk cloth and

tied with a kusas grass cord. This should be submerged in a sacred

river, to the accompaniment of chanting of the aghamarsana sukta .

 

According to the Jayakhya Samhita boys of five years or less and girls

of seven years or less, and sannyasis, should not be burned, but

buried. Other sources say that children of two years or under should be

buried. In that case tarpana need not be done. After burying the child

one should submerge oneself once in water.

 

Throwing bones in the Ganga:

 

One should bathe in the Ganga, and performing acamana, facing north,

holding sesame and water one should perform sankalpa;

 

visnur om tat sat

adya -------masi

------pakse

----tithau

----dasasya etany asthini gangayam viniksipami

(On this tithi, of this frotnight, of this month I throw the bones of

_______in the Ganga.)

 

The person should chant the purification mantras over pancagavya, and

placing his yajnopavita over his right shoulder he should wash the

bones with the panca gavya. Mixing the bones with gold, honey, ghee and

sesame, he should seal them in earth, and holding the earth in his

right hand he should say:

 

om namo'stu dharmaya

 

(I pay my respects to dharma.)

 

Entering into the water he should throw the earth into the water saying:

 

om sa me prito bhavatu

 

(May he be pleased with me.)

 

He should submerge himself in water, then come out, look at the sun,

and give gifts in charity.

 

visnur om tat sat

adya ----masi

----pakse

----tithau

----gotrasya

-----dasasya krtaitad gangadhikaranakasthi niksepa karmanah

samgatartham daksinam idam kancana mulyam sri visnu devatam yatha

sambhava gotra namne brahmanaya aham dadami

 

Dahana Adhikari (Claimant to the last rites):

 

There is a specific order of precedence of the person who should

perform the last rites including burning of the body.

The order for a deceased male is as follows:

 

The son, from eldest to youngest, ,their sons, sons of their sons.

The wife, either childess or with children.

Unmarried daughter, betrothed daughter, married daughter.

Daughter's son.

Youngest to eldest brother.

Youngest to eldest half-brother.

Youngest brother's son, oldest brother's son.

Youngest half-brothers son to oldest half-broher's son.

Father, mother.

Daughter-in-law

Step mother

Grand daughter, married grand daughter (through the son)

Wife of great grand son

Great grand daughter

Father's father, Father's mother

etc.

other relatives including uncles, cousins,

Disciple, guru, priest, friend, friend of the father

Resident of the same village of same caste

King.

 

Order for a deceased female is as follows:

 

Eldest son, to youngest son

Sons's son

Great grand son through male lineage

Unmarried daughter, bethrothed daughter, married daughter

Daughter's son

Husband

Daugher-in-law

etc.

Disciple or student of husband or self

 

A brahmacari should avoid performing funeral rites, but if others are

unavailable he may perform rites for parents, grand parents and guru.

The parents of a brahmacari should perform his funeral rites.

 

Asauca:

 

Following a birth or death there is a period of contamination for the

relatives of the person born or deceased, the length of which depends

upon the closeness of the relation, caste and age of the decesased.

Wtih the decease or birth of a close relative a brahmana has ten days

of asauca, a ksatriya twelve days, a vaisya fifteen days and a sudra

thirty days. If the relation is distant the brahmana will have three

days asauca.

 

If a child of brahmana dies within ten days of birth, impurity is

observed for ten days after the birth by the father and mother only. If

the child dies within two years, asauca is one day.

If the child dies before six years and three months, the asauca is

three days for close relatives.

 

During the period of contamination one should not study scripture, or

perform homa, deity worship, tarpana, entertain guests etc. If one is

performing deity worship one may perform , worship by manasa puja.

However if one has made a vow to perform worship of the Lord for his

whole life, he should not break this vow, but should continue the puja.

 

Those performing sacrifice, students and realized souls, or one who has

performed funeral rites for a sannyasi does not obeserve asauca.

 

Sraddha Kriya

 

To ensure that the soul does not remain in a subtle body hovering on

this earth planet, but will attain a comfortable body for enjoyment on

pitr loka, offerings are made to the departed person and the pitrs.

During the asauca period daily offerings of sesame and water, and pinda

(rice mixed with sesame, ghee and honey) are given to the departed

person. On the eleventh day (for a close relative of a brahmana) the

house is purified, eleven brahmanas are fed and offerings are made to

the deceased. Beginning on that day, for the first year, monthly

sraddha ceremonies should be held. As well, in the sixth and twelfth

month additional sraddhas should be conducted. Then every year, on the

tithi of the decease, annual sraddhas should be conducted.

 

According to Vaisnava scripture, the sraddha rites may be performed,

but the priest performing the rites should be vaisnavas and the

offerings to the pitrs should be visnu prasada.

 

The inhabitants of Pitrloka are generally men of the karma kandiya or

fruiive activities category, who have been transferred there because of

their pious activities. They can stay there as long as their

descendants offer them Visnu prasada.

SB 5.2.2

 

The sraddha ceremony of oblations to the forefathers should not be

performed on ekadasi tithi. When the tithi of the death anniversary

falls on the ekadasi day, the sraddha ceremony should be held not on

ekadasi but on the next day.

SB7.14.23

 

Antyesthi or Burial Rites for the Sannyasi:

 

At the time of passing from the mortal body, whiel the Holy Name is

being recited or sung, caranamrta, tirtha water or krsna prasadam

should be placed in his mouth.

 

According to the injuction that a sannyasi should not touch fire, some

maintain that the body of a sannyasi should not be burned. Others state

different rules for the different types of sannyasis (kuticaka,

bahudaka, hamsa and parama hamsa). Some additional rites from scripture

(eg. Vaikhanasa Dharma Sutra, Jayakhya Samhita,) and by popular usage

are as follows:

 

One should dig a sufficiently deep hole on a river bank which flows to

the ocean, or on the sea shore. Vaisnavas select the Holy Dhama, if

possible.

 

The hole should be one step larger the the height of the person. If the

body has already been burnt, the ashes or bones should be taken to a

holy tirtha and there placed in earth.

 

One should sprinkle the hole with pancagavya and tirtha water.

One should shave the person.

One should sprinkle the body with pancagavya chanting gayatri and

purusa sukta or other mantras.

One may bathe the body with conch water 108 times chanting om, and

offer fresh cloth and tilaka.

 

One may worship the body by offering 16 upacaras (asana, footwash,

arghya, mouthwash, madhuparka, mouthwash, bath, cloth, gayatri thread,

ornaments, sandalwood pulp, flowers, incense, lamps, krsna prasadam,

obeisances).

 

The following samadhi mantra, according to Gopala Bhatta Goswami in

Samskara Dipika, should be written on his body (udsing sandalwood pulp

and tulasi leaf):

 

om klim srim hrim srim lavana mrd yuji bhuvi svabhre svaha

 

One should offer puspanjali to the body.

One should place the body in the pit chanting gayatri.

The body should be in a sitting or lying posture.

 

The danda should be placed in his right hand, his upavita (gayatri

thread) should be placed in his left hand.

 

As a practical measure the body is first covered completely with salt.

Then everything is covered with sand. Stones or some memorial may be

placed over this.

 

The attending vaisnavas should then be fed with krsna prasadam.

 

The rites may be performed by his son or any other person.

There is no period of impurity (asauca) for performing rites for a

sannyasi.

 

No sraddha rites are performed, but an offering to Narayana, may be

performed on the eleventh day from the decease. In that case, one

should establish a fire and worship a murti of Visnu with 16 upacaras,

and offer boiled rice mixed with guda, ghee and fruits to the deity and

the fire. One should present twelve brahmanas with cloth and ornaments

and worship them withupacaras. One should feed the brahmanas and give

them gold. One should chant Purusa Sukta and utter the twelve names of

Visnu.

 

 

ys

 

Gaura Keshava dasa

 

PS If you need more let me know.