The importance of death rituals
Last year, I was visiting my native place — Gaya (also called Gaya Ji, a city in Bihar). We were there to perform ‘shraadh’ for a departed relative. It was the first time in my adult life that I was witnessing this ritual and was curious to know more. The pandit who was performing the ritual was kind enough to spare some time to explain the significance of the rituals performed for the departed in our culture.
Several religions and cultures follow elaborate processes to handle the departed, however in this post we will look into the way the Indian cultures, especially Hindu culture handles the dead. Let us try to delve into why Hindu culture has placed so much emphasis on rituals to be performed after the death of a person.
What is Death?
Most of us know Death as the stopping of the heart and the pulse, in other words, ‘clinical death’. However, that is not how death is seen or accepted in Indian culture. The first acknowledgement that the culture makes is that what we call life, is not the accumulations of body and mind, and that there is a subtler realm that exists beyond the body and the mind. In order to understand the process of death through these subtle realms, we need to first understand the five vital energies that govern life. In Yoga, these are known as the Pancha Pranas. They are responsible for various activities or processes in the physical body:
1. Samat Prana/Samana Vayu — situated in the abdomen with its energy centered in the navel, Samana vayu is in-charge of maintaining the temperature of our bodies, our digestive process and is also healing in nature. The flow of Samana-Vayu moves from the periphery of the body to the center. It governs the digestion and assimilation of all substances: food, air, experiences, emotions and thoughts. By activating the Samana vayu through yogic practices, we can activate our energies in such a way that we become less available to the external elements in nature.
2. Prana Vayu — situated in the head, centered in the third-eye, and its energy pervades the chest region. The flow of Prana-Vayu is inward and upward. It nourishes the brain and the eyes and governs reception of all things: food, air, senses, and thoughts. This Vayu is the fundamental energy in the body and directs and feeds into the four other vayus.
3. Udana Vayu — situated in the throat, Udana vayu has a circular flow around the neck and head. It creates buoyancy and makes us less available to gravity. It “holds us up” and governs speech, self-expression and growth.
4. Apana Vayu — situated in the pelvic floor, Apana vayu’s energy pervades the lower abdomen. The flow of Apana vayu is downwards and out and its energy nourishes the organs of digestion, reproduction and elimination. It governs the elimination of all substances from the body (even on the cellular level): carbon monoxide, urine, stool, etc.
5. Vyana Vayu — situated in the heart and lungs, Vyana vayu flows throughout the entire body. It moves from the center of the body to the periphery. It knits all our billions of cells into one organism. It governs circulation of all substances throughout the body, and assists the other Vayus with their functions. It is also in-charge of our ability to move and is an important aspect of our spiritual growth. It also enhances our intuitive nature.
The different pranas leave the body at various intervals after the clinical death and affect the dead differently. Hence, the process of death extends well beyond clinical death. Now, let’s see the sequence in which these Pranas exit the body:
- Samana Vayu — Exits the body within twenty-one to twenty-four minutes from the breath stopping
- Prana Vayu — Exits the body completely within forty-eight to ninety minutes after the breath stops, depending on the nature of death. If death is due to old age, it happens within sixty-four minutes. For a young a young and vibrant body, it can take up to ninety minutes.
- Udana Vayu — Exits the body between six and twelve hours after the breath stops
- Apana Vayu — Exits the body somewhere between eight to eighteen hours after the breath stops
- Vyana Vayu — This is the slowest to exit. It will continue to exit for up to eleven to fourteen days if death if life becomes feeble and hence exits due to old age. If death was due to accident when life was still vibrant, the complete exit can take forty-eight to ninety days.
During this time period, when the Pranas are still exiting, there are certain processes to help the disembodied life. The Indian culture has been making use of this opportunity since time immemorial to help the disembodied life move towards its ultimate liberation. It is imperative to understand that once life exits the physical body, it loses the discretionary ability that it possessed while it had the body. By creating a certain quality of pleasantness for the life, it multiplies multi-fold. Due to the absence of the discriminatory mind, any tendencies whether pleasant or unpleasant will grow multi-fold. Hence, the significance of these rituals become vital as a tool to push this life towards a state of pleasantness. When these rituals are not performed responsibly or missed completely, this life may suffer; which is neither conducive for the being, nor for the people who she/he left behind. Only in cases where the person has lived their life with a certain awareness and taken care of their death, these rituals can be dispensed with . Also, exception to this are people who shed their body consciously (Samadhi).
Hindu Rituals that are performed within 14 days of death:
Placing the Body: The body is placed with the head towards the North, this facilitates the easy pulling away of the being from the body.
Tying the big toes together: The life energies leave the body gradually, hence the cells are still making an attempt to survive. For the same reason, they try to draw energy from outside. When they try to draw energy, there is a possibility of certain forces entering the body. To prevent this, the big toes are tied together. The Muladhara Chakra, located at the perineum can serve as a lower entry point for the disembodied being/other energies to re-enter the body, which can cause extremely negative situations. When the big toes are tied together, this passage is closed.
Washing the body: Running water over the body provides the effect of drowning. Any activity left in the body ceases on exposure to water. This is done with the aim to ensure the complete withdrawal of life from the body. Running water has the ability to clear many aspects off the body.
Not cooking or eating until at least fourteen days from death: Indians, traditionally do not cook or eat at the place where death has occurred for over fourteen days. The reason is, food has a natural tendency to draw energies towards its direction. The life energies of the body are still leaving, it can get absorbed by the food and enter our system.
Belongings of the Departed: Belongings like the clothes and underclothes that were worn at the time of death are burned immediately. The rest of the belongings, which have the imprints of the departed, like clothes, jewelry and other articles are discarded as quickly as possible. The idea is to remove anything that encourages the being to linger on. It is to show the life that has exited, that the physical body is no more, and that the being has been detached from the body. The reason so much effort is taken in this direction, is because upon the death of the physical body, the life within retains no discretion, and acts out of it’s tendencies. The elaborate rituals are to ensure the life can move on with a certain amount of pleasantness.
Shaving of the Head: Hair has the ability to gather energies or aura from space around it. As the departed being’s energies are still around the place of death, heads are shaved so that they don’t gather the aura of death through their hair.
Processes carried out much after death and their relevance:
Pitru-Paksha
As per the Hindu panchang, Pitru-Paksha is observed from the first tithi of the Ashwin month and continues till the New moon day (Amavasya), which is also called Sarvapitri Amavasya or Mahalaya Amavasya. This marks the beginning of Devi Paksha or Durga Puja. Pitrus are our exalted ancestors who have attained a high degree of evolution. Rituals done during these 16 days are very effective in assisting the departed life and expressing our gratitude to them.
Shraadh
Originally a Sanskrit word, is the combination of two words — ‘sat’, meaning truth and ‘adhar’, meaning basis. Hence it means any act that is performed with all sincerity and faith. Shraadh is a ritual done to express one’s deep reverence towards the ancestors. It is performed on the lunar tithi on which the ancestor passed away. Most shraadhs are held near sacred rivers like the Ganga, as it requires the process of purification, and the holy waters have the power to dissolve any energy that requires dissolution. It is also very helpful for the life of the people associated with the deceased person, facilitating an internal cleansing. There certain are activities performed during Shraadh: Tarpan is offering water to the departed to seek their blessings. Arpan is the preparation of that food which the ancestors used to like when they had a body. This is done in order to remember them and pay our respects.
Pind Daan
Pind Daan is carried out for the deceased in order to help the disembodied know that they cannot retain the body they used to live in, but they can be helped to get a new body (pind) through the ritual that is being performed. During Pind Daan, balls of rice flour (also called pind) mixed with cow milk, ghee, sugar and honey are prepared and offered to the departed beings. If the subtle body has any tendencies to stick around, Pind Daan helps them move towards a new body, a new cycle of life, or leads them to the path of salvation. The food is made as an offering after this elaborate preparation.
Meeting the Ancestors and life review
The Garuda Purana, goes into the details of the path of the life once the death rituals are performed. The departed life, goes on to meet its ancestors, after which there is a process of a thorough review of the life just completed in the physical body. There is no judge or God, the life takes upon itself to assess, and then make choices for its next lifetime. This is a pretty significant insight into life, because it emphasizes that all of us make choices about our own lives, and in the end we take the sole responsibility for our choices. We make choices in our lives due to our tendencies, and we are afforded the luxury of reviewing our choices.
In a sense we are born based on the choices we have made, we choose our parents depending on the tendencies we had when we made the choices. These death rituals are a stark final reminder to the departed life of the fact that our lives are our own making. They are a generous offering to help this life make conscious choices moving forward, and provide the suitable atmosphere. It is also a reminder to those that are alive, that death is only of the physical body.
Significant places for performing after death rituals
There were many places created specifically to address death, and provide the necessary atmosphere to enable death rituals. There are many significant places in India where performing shraadh or pind daan are considered good for the departed life. Prominent ones being Kashi, Haridwar and Gaya. These cities were created with a sophisticated, but geometrically perfect design such that the energies present in these places are conducive to push the life towards mukti or liberation.
Written by Shruti Sinha for Vijnan Archives.
Shruti Sinha is a project manager in the IT industry by profession. She is interested in discovering and applying the science of our ancient yogic technologies in modern life. You can reach out to her at :
References and further reads:
- Death ; An Inside Story — Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
- Shri Garuda Purana — Gita press Gorakhpur.
