Cremation or Burial?

[xexon]

How do you wish for your worldly remains to be disposed of?

 

Personal decision or cultural/religious tradition?

 

Kindly explain your answers.

 

 

x

[AncientMariner]

Don't care.

[theist]

No burial. Waste of land. The best idea is to cremate the body or somehow have it broken down to a state where it can be used as fertizler, bury it along with a seed for a flower or fruit bearing tree.

 

Imagine someone who has had 10 or 15 births in the west. That mean 10 or 15 graves have been dedicated to his rotting corpses. What a land waste.

 

Now consider the Indian system. They chop down precious trees to cremate the corpse. The living trees are sacrificed for the dead human corpse and now deforestation is taking place for the remaining humans. More senseless waste.

 

The dead should give rise to life as I see it. In that there is an honoring of the universal way of conserving energy. In that there is symbolism, an expression of humility and of sacrifice if seen correctly. The now useless form is laid down in favor of the sprouting seed of tree.

 

Humans are meant to have a close relationship with trees. We are meant to care for them as they care for us.

 

In Hawaiian culture a coconut tree was planted to celebrate the birth of a child signifying that he would always have food. That is a wonderful practice and to complete the cycle the human form should nourish the tree at death as a thank you for the tree nourishing the human throughout his life.

 

Personally I don't care if my corpse is used for dog food but in a world of 6 1/2 billion people we have to confront burial in a practical way.

 

No more land for corpses.

[bija]

I would like the body to be cremated. But I have no money, so those in authority will do with it as they see fit I guess, when the time comes. Ofcourse if I leave the body before my family, they will give me a full catholic ceremony, with grand casket and priests blessings. But what to do when religious dont understand? When I dont write out a will, and am not so concerned with death?

 

'Here lies the Hare Krsna - saved by grace'

 

I have a friend who skinned his pet dog when it left its body. He still has the skin hanging in his shed. Now that is attachment isnt it:rolleyes:. I dont want others hanging around my dead skin, and especially I dont want to be hanging around it.

 

So why cremation? I am simply a romantic and would like my ashes to be thrown into a river.

 

"gently floating upstream, bound for my forgiver"

[Shivaduta]

once one dies the body is a shell why have affection for that which is not yours anymore...

 

strip me of everything which can be of use to someone... the eyes the heart the organs... then feed the flesh to vultures and jackals that they might live... crush the bones and throw them in the fields that plants may use them as nutrition and bear fruits and grains ...

[Shivaduta]

 

Now consider the Indian system. They chop down precious trees to cremate the corpse.

 

Someone hasnt heard of electric crematoriums...

[kimfelix]

Cremation is recommended for Hindus as it is important for any attachment to the body to be broken so that soul can transmigrate within the subtle body. Muslims and Christians prefer burial because of their belief in the resurrection of the body on the last day. Christian theology has changed a little in recent years towards a belief in a soul separate from the body and so some Christians cremate. Catholics and Orthodox are still reluctant to cremate and Muslims will always try for burial.

[yogesh]

 

Someone hasnt heard of electric crematoriums...

 

How is electricity generated?? Yes my friends Coal fired Generators which are still regarded as the best generator for electricity. Alternative greener source for electricity is still a long way away from being a reality.

 

Sorry for de-railing the topic.

 

Hare Krishna/Krsna

 

Jay Sirla Prabhupada

[Shivaduta]

 

How is electricity generated??

 

Someone hasnt heard of nuclear power plants ...

this is modern INDIA .. nuclear @ cremation

[cbrahma]

Cremation does away with the ghoulish obsession with the body = the person which is more like Egyptian mythology than anything else.

 

The Christian theological reason for 'the ressurection of the body' is misconstrued, because by the end time, so many bodies would be just so much fertilizer, totally indistinguishable as this or that body.

 

A lot of the confusion arises from the fact that the early Christians believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime.

[theist]

 

Someone hasnt heard of electric crematoriums...

 

Someone has but are you suggesting that is happening all over India?

[Kulapavana]

Earth is for the living. Cremation is a preferred solution to body disposal and severing the link between body and soul. There are too many ghosts already, lingering near their buried bodies.

[theist]

 

Earth is for the living. Cremation is a preferred solution to body disposal and severing the link between body and soul. There are too many ghosts already, lingering near their buried bodies.

 

Cremation doesn't deter people from lingering. People linger mostly because of family attachments or attachments to home or even more ghastly scenes like where they were murdered etc.

[indulekhadasi]

Samadhi (respectful burial) is given to great personalities.

For ordinary people like me, we get cremated.

[yogesh]

Only personalities who are very spiritually advanced gets buried because even when these personalities leave their material bodies their spiritual energy is so strong that it leaves a lasting impression on every thing they come into contact with i.e. their material bodies.

 

As CBrahma said he could sense the aura manifesting from Sirla Prabhupada and the aura was so strong that it even influenced those close to Sirla Prabhupada to take on some of that Spiritual vibration.

 

Hare Krsna/Krishna

 

Jay Sirla Prabhupada

[theist]

Sweden's new funeral rite - bodies freeze-dried, powdered and made into tree mulch

 

 

By Kate Connolly in Berlin

Last Updated: 12:50am BST 29/09/2005

 

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A town in Sweden plans to become the first place in the world where corpses will be disposed of by freeze-drying, as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial. Jonkoping, in southern Sweden, is to turn its crematorium into a so-called promatorium next year.

Swedes will then have the chance to bury their dead according to the pioneering method, which involves freezing the body, dipping it in liquid nitrogen and gently vibrating it to shatter it into powder. This is put into a small box made of potato or corn starch and placed in a shallow grave, where it will disintegrate within six to 12 months.

People are to be encouraged to plant a tree on the grave. It would feed off the compost formed from the body, to emphasise the organic cycle of life.

 

 

The national burial law is currently being updated to accommodate a practice that is expected to spread across the country over the next few years.

The technique was conceived by a Swedish biologist, Susanne Wiigh-Masak, 49, who said: "Mulching was nature's original plan for us, and that's what used to happen to us at the start of humanity - we went back into the soil.

"But we need to tell people in this day and age that this can once again be a dignified and comfortable option." According to Mrs Wiigh-Masak's method, which she has called "promession" - the promise to return to the earth what emerged from the earth - the dead body is frozen and dried, using liquid nitrogen.

A mechanical vibration then causes the body to fall apart within 60 seconds before a vacuum removes the water.

Then a metal separator picks out metals such as artificial hips and dental fillings.

Jonkoping's motivation for converting its crematorium into a promatorium is mainly practical. According to European environmental laws, it faced a multi-million pound bill for the installation at its 50-year-old crematorium of a new gas-cleaning system and furnace.

The alternative was the much cheaper conversion and a more environmentally friendly procedure.

[bija]

gee those swedes are smart cookies....must be an intelligent gene pool

[Amlesh]

My Karma will decide for that.

[Dark Warrior]

 

Cremation doesn't deter people from lingering. People linger mostly because of family attachments or attachments to home or even more ghastly scenes like where they were murdered etc.

 

Let me put it this way, Vaidikas should do what Bhagavan does.

 

Sri Rama personally cremated Jatayu and oversaw the cremation of Ravana. So, Vaishnavas should cremate.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

Not to mention that the body of none other than Krishna Himself was disposed of in the traditional Indian manner, with Rukmini Devi ascending the funeral pyre as the Lord's sati.

[Dark Warrior]

 

Not to mention that the body of none other than Krishna Himself was disposed of in the traditional Indian manner, with Rukmini Devi ascending the funeral pyre as the Lord's sati.

 

I'd prefer people to refrain from using the words 'disposed' and 'sati' in the casual manner as this person has done. Only those who are completely unaware of Vishnu's potencies would give such an explanation.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

We are discussing methods in which to destroy corpses here, and I was only making reference to a well-known story from scripture. Where was I wrong, can you tell me?

[tackleberry]

 

Not to mention that the body of none other than Krishna Himself was disposed of in the traditional Indian manner, with Rukmini Devi ascending the funeral pyre as the Lord's sati.

 

Both Krishna and Rukmini have apraakrta deha-s, so your point makes little sense.

[theist]

 

Let me put it this way, Vaidikas should do what Bhagavan does.

 

Sri Rama personally cremated Jatayu and oversaw the cremation of Ravana. So, Vaishnavas should cremate.

 

[theist]

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Cremations Harm India’s Environment

 

Posted on Thu Sep 27 2007

By: Katie Rawls in Environment, Religion

 

 

 

 

<!--/postHeader1--> Cremations in India have started taking its toll on the country’s natural resources. With a population of over 1 billion, trees are cut down at an alarming rate to support the demand for wood in cremation ceremonies. Traditions of taking the ashes of loved ones to the various holy rivers are creating pollution for water sources as well. And this Hindu custom that have been passed down for hundreds of years is resistant to change in this area.

Hindu Cremation Customs

Hindu cremation customs involve preparing the body and then taking the body to a large outdoor area where mourners can gather to observe the cremating ceremony. Wood plays a big part in the traditional ceremonies, symbolizing the Earth, as the body is burned and the spirit is set free.

When the cremation is over, the families gather the remains in a pot and take them to one of the rivers identified as “holy” in Hinduism. They then release the ashes into the water. If a holy stream cannot be accessed, then a river leading to the ocean will work also.

Traditions Have Become a Strain

There are approximately 890 million Hindus living in India today. This can make an enormous amount of ashes and wood from such a large population.

In a typical ceremony of one body, it takes 600 to 880 pounds of wood burning for 6 hours to complete a cremation. This not only uses a massive amount of wood, but it also emits carbon dioxide into the air.

Some have estimated that 50 million trees are cut down to provide wood pyres for burning in the funerals. Whether this is a correct figure or not, that much wood per cremation for a population of that size is certainly going to take down a massive amount of trees.

As for the rivers and streams, the tradition of releasing the ashes into the various waterways in India are also causing a strain. Pollution in the form of burned human remains is making the waters toxic and adding to the pollution that is already in many of the rivers.

Alternatives

Alternatives that are offered in India have been very slow to catch on. The government, starting in the 1960s, has offered the public the use of large indoor cremation facilities that run on fuel or electricity, at a very low price. This helps cut down on wood use, by only requiring a little bit of wood to complete the cremation process. But this has in some ways back fired. Because of its low cost, only the poor and unclaimed bodies found by the police are known to use these crematoriums.

Another alternative that has been introduced is called the Green Cremation System. This idea was created by Mokshda, which is a nonprofit group in New Delhi. This group works to offer more environmentally-friendly cremation processes.

In this newer idea, more oxygen flow is given in the design, making it possible to cremate a body in one third of the time, using 220 pounds of wood. Hindrances of tradition and money strain on local governments prevent this idea from truly taking off. But it is still being offered, as slowly more and more become aware of the pollution problems.

Another Result May Get Results

Still, the need for wood in this cremation process remains in high demand. Wood prices have actually grown to be 50 percent higher than they were five years ago.

Perhaps as India’s supply of wood goes down, and its prices go up, a more economical way of cremating will be sought out by those who do not wish to pay more money.