Ashes From Cremation

[Aakriti]

Specifically: Where do American Hindus/Hindus in the United States, place ashes from cremation?

What places in the United States are considered suitable?

The reason why I was raised Vedanta was my aunt, who began taking me to our local Vedanta temple (Ramakrishna Mission) when I was about three years old. Because of her, I am here on HDF.

She died...she was cremated...I have her ashes in my possession right now, and she made it my responsibility to place them suitably (here in the U.S., and specifically in Southern California). She was not Hindu, but she desired placement in accordance with Hindu practice.

What is suitable for American Hindus/Hindus resident in the U.S., to do with cremated ashes? I have not the slightest idea.

Thank you very much for your guidance and response. It is greatly appreciated.

Aakriti

[Eastern Mind]

Specifically: Where do American Hindus/Hindus in the United States, place ashes from cremation?

What places in the United States are considered suitable?

The reason why I was raised Vedanta was my aunt, who began taking me to our local Vedanta temple (Ramakrishna Mission) when I was about three years old. Because of her, I am here on HDF.

She died...she was cremated...I have her ashes in my possession right now, and she made it my responsibility to place them suitably (here in the U.S., and specifically in Southern California). She was not Hindu, but she desired placement in accordance with Hindu practice.

What is suitable for American Hindus/Hindus resident in the U.S., to do with cremated ashes? I have not the slightest idea.

Thank you very much for your guidance and response. It is greatly appreciated.

Aakriti

Vannakkam Aakriti: Excellent question. I know some people take them back to India to put in the Ganga. There may be US laws forbidding just putting them in a river there. Then again, maybe not. I'm sure if you asked elders at a temple society, they'd know. Certainly a river is considered one of the best places. HAF (Hindu American Foundation) probably knows as well. The legal information, if there is any, may also be on line, but I wouldn't know how to search.

We plan to have ours put in a river here. (Canada) At least that's whats in the will.

Aum Namasivaya

[Aakriti]

Vannakkam Aakriti: Excellent question. I know some people take them back to India to put in the Ganga. There may be US laws forbidding just putting them in a river there. Then again, maybe not. I'm sure if you asked elders at a temple society, they'd know. Certainly a river is considered one of the best places. HAF (Hindu American Foundation) probably knows as well. The legal information, if there is any, may also be on line, but I wouldn't know how to search.

We plan to have ours put in a river here. (Canada) At least that's whats in the will.

Aum Namasivaya

Thank you Eastern Mind. I did not know that the Hindu American Foundation existed, and this is knowledge of great value to me.

I've done some research since I posted, and it seems to me that either rivers or oceans are acceptable. Our "rivers" here in Southern California are usually that in name only --except during our very limited rainy season, when they can flood and, sometimes, become very dangerous.

However, we do conveniently have an entire ocean close by (the Pacific), and I'm already planning a camping trip to one of our Channel Islands, where I will scatter my aunt's ashes.

Which leads to my next question:

My aunt was not Hindu, but requested Hindu disposition. What is the basic "ceremony" or "prayer(s)" used in Hindu cremations and subsequent scatterings? If my aunt had been Hindu, she would very likely have been a devotee of Shiva. (I inherited some very nice Shiva murtis from her, which I cherish.)

What would a minimal Shaivite scattering ceremony consist of?

Thank you so much for your help and direction, which I greatly appreciate.

Aakriti

[wundermonk]

What is the basic "ceremony" or "prayer(s)" used in Hindu cremations and subsequent scatterings?

Just my 2 cents...I dont know a lot of detail here.

But basically, the funeral pyre gets lit by the first son. If a person does NOT have a son, then there are some rules that decide as to who should light the funeral pyre. I dont know what happens to the remains...I guess they merge into the elements - from dust to dust - blown away by the wind, etc.

These days, there are electric crematoriums. I guess even death is a business and folks are looking for economies here also.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: With a couple of notable 'legal battle' exceptions, all cremations in the west are done in the electric crematorium. So what you are asking is about the ceremony, if any, involved in the scattering of ashes. I don't know the answer but can ask around. My guess it is just a solemn quiet occasion done by a loved one, with pure 'releasing' thoughts. In an eastern outdoor crematorium, I don't think there is a need for the scattering at all. It's just left in the cremation grounds, or at the river.

But I will ask our priests, and some of my closer friends who have done it. It doesn't strike me as particularly metaphysically important, unlike the cremation itself.

Aum Namasivaya

[Jainarayan]

Specifically: Where do American Hindus/Hindus in the United States, place ashes from cremation?

What places in the United States are considered suitable?

Where it is legal to do so, or where you can do it without being caught if it's not legal. I'm not being funny, I'm not being serious.

[Jainarayan]

Namaste EM.

My guess it is just a solemn quiet occasion done by a loved one, with pure 'releasing' thoughts.

I read somewhere that for Hindu cremation at a crematorium, a family member can (must, by custom?) be present.

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste EM.



I read somewhere that for Hindu cremation at a crematorium, a family member can (must, by custom?) be present.

Vannakkam: Yes, that's true. At least if possible. With all my Sri Lankan friends and the war, almost everybody here lost someone, but couldn't go home for obvious reasons, the closest male relative who was there stood in.

But the question here is about the how to dispose of ashes. I agree with you that here in the west you could just go do it. I don't think there are laws. Some people put the urns with the ashes in permanent resting spots. But outside of Hinduism some people scatter them in the wind on the family farm, or some such thing. I've even of heard of burying the ashes as some kind of compromise in the family between burial and cremation.

Then there are those who split the ashes up, with each relative doing what they wish.

I know one elder (now deceased as well) who took his wife's ashes to Varanasi when he himself was 88, and he traveled alone.

I've yet to get the chance to ask around.

Aum Namasivaya

[kallol]

As far as I know ashes are generally put in lakes, ponds, rivers or sea.

This does not require, as mandatory, that family member must do. Even friends, relatives, who ever is in a position to do can perform this.

Generally before cremation, antyesti kriya is done by priest. Then after 11 or 13 days sradhdha is performed. Generally it is the eldest son who performs the rituals both at cremetion time or during sradhdha but in absence, daughters, other sons or even relatives or close ones can do.

The ritualstic part of the life is just being carried through as tradition and is getting adapted to the society evolvement.

As I understand, the basic purpose of these rituals are lost and the goals almost never achieved because of the various inaccuracies which have crept in the process.

[zenvicky]

You can dispose of ashes in a clean flowing water body, preferably in a river or in ocean.