Death and Bereavement around the World

Major Religious Traditions: Volume 1

John D. Morgan, Pittu Laungani

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780895032720
• eBook ISBN: 9781351844925
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The make-up of the contemporary nation-state is increasingly multiethnic and statistics show that in many cases no one group is numerically the largest. Interethnic relations are given global visibility by the media while much that happens among different groups depends on context. Editors John D. Morgan (King's College, London) and Pittu Laungani (South Bank and Manchester Universities, England) have gathered leading international authorities to produce Death and Bereavement Around the World the first of a five-volume presentation and analysis of the ways different peoples experience dying and grief. Effective bereavement care requires a knowledge of an individual's physical, social, educational, and spiritual existence since the expressions of grief and the needs that emerge vary widely from one to another and are subject to past experiences, cultural expectations, personal beliefs, and relationships. An individual's identity comes from a sense of personal uniqueness; solidarity with group ideals; continuity with the past, present and future; and from the culture by which an individual is raised or adopted. This first volume discusses the major religious traditions of the world and how they help followers deal with the fundamentals of life.

CHAPTER 1

Hindu Spirituality in Life, Death, and Bereavement

Pittu Laungani

Let me start with a confession.

Right from childhood, I had participated in all the prayers and the religious ceremonies (samskaras) related to birth, marriage, and death, both at home and outside. I had performed the daily rites and rituals, imbibed the instructions and the teachings of the gurus and the “swamis,” undertaken pilgrimages to the holy cities and shrines, bathed and “cleansed” myself on the banks of the holy river Ganges in Varanasi and Hardwar. Paradoxically, despite my Jesuit upbringing (like many middle class children in Bombay, I too was sent to a Jesuit school), I had studied Sanskrit at school and then in College, and was familiar with a few Hindu scriptures. What more could a person ask?

But when I began to think about the probable contents of the chapter, the number of pages that would need to be written, and the eventual shape and structure it would take, I began to have second thoughts about the project. Doubt, like corrosive acid, began to burn into my soul. I realized that I had made the oldest mistake of all. I had assumed that because I was born into a particular religious and cultural background, and because I could read the scriptures, it was axiomatic that I should have a deep and profound understanding of my own religion and culture. This of course is total nonsense. A merchant seaman may sail round the world a dozen times and know nothing about the countries and the people visited.

I came to the conclusion that experience alone, without genuine scholarship, is a far worse intellectual crime than scholarship without experience. I must confess, the thought of abandoning the chapter and thus “losing face” seemed a desirable death, and I almost succumbed to the temptation; but a few days of reflection convinced me that the actual business of writing the chapter, regardless of the intellectual and emotional costs involved, would be far less painful than “loss of face.” I am glad I persevered.

INTRODUCTION

In order to acquire a reasonable understanding of the fundamental ideas related to Hindu spirituality and the unique way in which they manifests themselves in practices related to death and bereavement, it would be necessary to consider the major features of Hinduism. That, however, is not as easy as it sounds, for there is lack of agreement even among scholars of Hindu philosophy on this very issue. It is not clear therefore what the fundamental features of Hinduism are and how they all hang together to form a coherent and comprehensible whole. It is clear that disputations, disagreements, and differences in opinions and interpretations form an integral part of Hindu religion and Indian philosophy. It should be noted that Indian philosophy and Hindu religion are inextricably linked. One cannot study one without studying the other. To wrestle through the various texts, many of which were written in Sanskrit, and arrive at a clear and systematic understanding of the fundamental tenets of Hinduism is akin to trailing through a dense forest in a strange land. One could easily lose one’s way.

Even the most fundamental of all questions, viz., the origin of Hinduism does not lend itself to an easy answer. It is riddled with controversy. Let us examine some of the controversies in some depth.

Two opposing views have been offered concerning the origin of Hinduism. At its simplest level, many scholars have argued that Hinduism, like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, is a revealed religion. There are others who dispute such a formulation, and have argued that Hinduism, like many other religions, has evolved over centuries. Let us consider the two views briefly.

1. Hinduism: A Revealed Religion?

The orthodox Hindus who uphold the revealed nature of Hinduism place their trust in the Vedas, which are regarded as the most important sources of Hinduism. The word Veda is derived from the root vid, to know. The Vedas, of which there are four, are seen by many scholars as a form of personal communication from God to his chosen seers and other holy men. But the more orthodox Hindus maintain that the Veda is not the “Word of God”; it is eternal. It is an embodiment of the eternal law. It transcends the powers of any personal lawgiver.

The Vedic teachings were transmitted orally. The Indian term for this form of oral transmission is sruti—that which has been perceived through hearing. Since writing the text was seen by some as a form of desecration, memorization was the only way of acquiring its knowledge. It was only after the Muslim invasion into India that the four Vedas came to be written [1]. They comprise the Rg Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and the Atharva Veda. These, in turn, are sub-divided into three or four categories. The Vedas are considered by the orthodox Hindus to be the holiest of holy books. They consist of hymns, verses, and poems; they are concerned primarily with Vedic ritual, prayers, sacrifices, the chanting of secret mantras, and with patterns of worship offered to the pantheon of Vedic gods [2, 3, 4, 5 and 6].

In addition to the Vedas, there are a large number of books which are considered to be authoritative and sacred to most Hindus. While the Vedas are seen as oral transmissions, or sruti, the post-Vedic texts are referred to smriti (that which has been remembered; tradition). These books had and continue to have a significant impact on the daily lives of Hindus. Most of the books are concerned with rites, rituals, prayers, ablutions, sacrifices related to rites of passage, birth, marriage, death, and other day-to-day activities of Hindus. They are also concerned with describing the creation of the world, the origin of the four castes, the transmigration of the soul, the notions of birth, death, and rebirth, embodied in the law of karma, the nature of dharma, one’s duty toward oneself, one’s family, and society, and other matters of practical and social significance in the daily lives of Hindus. The smritis also have a great deal to say on the very important problem of moksha, immortality, or, as a Hindu would put it, liberation from the bondage of birth and rebirth—a theme which holds a cardinal position in Hindu religion. From among the vast number of books comprising the Hindu scriptures, the most popular and the most revered within Hindu culture are the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Gita, which comprises an important part of the Mahabharata. Stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have become part of Hindu folklore, and during religious festivals are enacted all over the country, in villages, towns, and large cities—such is the impact of religion on minds, actions, and lives of people in India. Virtuous and noble deeds of valor, sacrifice, and duty by the characters in the two epics are normally held up as archetypal examples for the socialization of children. The stories are told and retold in order to inculcate specific moral values and behaviors in one’s sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, friends, relatives, and others.

The influence of religion can also be seen in day-to-day activities which, by all accounts, would be considered mundane, such as washing one’s hands, and, in particular, accepting drinking water from others, or offering it to others. Although seemingly trivial, they have deep-rooted religious connotations. To a Westerner, unversed in the day-to-day ritualistic practices of Hindus, such behaviors would seem strange and inexplicable. To a Hindu, however, they fall within the orbit of necessary religious ablutions, which he/she performs automatically. So much of day-to-day Hindu behavior is influenced by religious beliefs that it is virtually impossible to identify behaviors which, from a Hindu perspective, might be seen as secular [7]. In my own case, I can recall very clearly the acute conflicts I experienced when I first came to England. I could not drink a cup of tea in the morning without first having washed, cleaned my teeth, and performed the necessary morning rituals and ablutions. Such obsessive behavior had little to do with hygiene. In Hindu religion, one is in a state of spiritual pollution on waking up in the morning. It is necessary, therefore, to perform all the required rituals in order to regain a state of purification. What I found even more exasperating was the fact that, at a rational level, I could see the silliness of my action, but felt powerless to change it—so strongly had the rituals learned in childhood become internalized! It took several years before I was able to overcome my obsessive, ritualistic behaviors without a feeling of residual guilt. From time to time, it still rankles.

What is not always fully appreciated, even by the most liberal and well-meaning persons, is the extent to which we are all rooted to our own culture. The roots run deep. They extend over several centuries, and are not easily severed. People migrating to another culture bring with them not just their unique skills, qualifications, and experiences; they bring with them their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations, and of course their fears (known and unknown) and their uncertainties. Their own cultural beliefs and values, their traditions, their religious practices, their customs, their rites, rituals, and ceremonies, their dietary practices, their family structures, and equally importantly, their own language(s) which form an integral part of their upbringing, provide them with a haven of safety, security, and a sense of continuity. No immigrant, in that sense, ever travels light. No immigrant ever sheds his or her cultural legacies and acquisitions easily. One can no more jettison one’s “cultural baggage” when migrating to another country than a tortoise its shell. In that sense, therefore one is handcuffed to one’s culture [8].

Thus, although the rites and rituals might seem trite and ludicrous to others, they provide a source of comfort to those practicing them. Since the theme of rituals has an important bearing on understanding the practices related to death among Hindus, we shall return to it later.

2. Hinduism: An Evolved Religion?

There are several scholars who dispute the claims concerning the revealed nature of Hinduism. They, in turn, have argued that Hinduism, like most other religions, has evolved over the centuries. They have attempted to trace the origins of Hinduism to two sources: the Indus valley civilization which flourished from about 2500 BCE to about 1500 BCE and the Aryan culture which developed soon after. Whether the Aryans were Indo-Europeans who migrated from the Caucasus region into India and South Asia, or whether the Aryan culture was a development from the Indus valley civilization, is still a debated issue.

Several scholars have argued that the fair-skinned Aryans came to India around 1500 BCE as invaders and settlers, and over time established their rule over the dark-skinned Dravidian natives of India. However, the Rg Veda, the oldest book of the Hindus, makes no reference to any migrations of their forefathers from outside India [1]. Secondly, the archeological artifacts discovered in Mohenjo-daro and Harrapa in Sind, led to the discovery of the Indus valley civilization, which developed from about 2500 BCE. As Klostermaier points out, the “Indus valley culture did not develop due to the direct influence of external cultural forces from Sumer or Egypt, but was an indigenous development in the Baluchistan and Indus regions, growing out of earlier, local cultures” [1, p. 25]. On the basis of this evidence, it has been suggested that the Aryan culture was a subsequent development from the Indus valley civilization. This view too has not gone unchallenged. Zaehner has no doubts that the Aryans invaded India, but is uncertain as to when such an invasion might have taken place, though the consensus of opinion, according to him, “would now appear to be settling on the second half of the second millennium B.C.” [9, p. 14].

While the controversies related to the origins of Hinduism might be of interest to scholars of comparative religion, they are unlikely to arouse similar interest in others. The purpose of introducing the above controversies was to demonstrate the difficulties involved in painting a clear and recognizable picture of Hinduism. It is now obvious that any attempt to explain the nature of Hinduism by discussing its major features is fraught with dangers. While such an approach might be relevant to understanding Hinduism per se, it is not useful for our purposes.

In any case, such an approach is flawed. For what it does, is to explain each important part or feature with the assumption that the sum of all parts will equal the whole. This, as we know, seldom or never happens. The Gestalt psychologists of the 1920s, particularly Kohler and Wertheimer, made it abundantly clear that the whole—the gestalt configuration—is always greater than the sum of its parts. The whole seldom bears any resemblance to its parts. A detailed study of all the parts does not allow us to understand how the whole hangs together. One may read each note of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, and yet have little understanding and appreciation of its magnificent beauty and structure. In any case, our concern is not with understanding Hinduism per se. Our main object is to understand the nature of Hinduism and Hindu spirituality in relation to death and bereavement This might best be achieved by describing relevant episodes related to death and bereavement among Hindus, and then teasing out from those episodes the relevant features of Hinduism and Hindu spirituality. I have selected two ev...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• General Introduction
• Introduction to the First Volume
• Chapter 1 Hindu Spirituality in Life, Death, and Bereavement
• Chapter 2 Facing Life and Death: A Buddhist’s Understanding of Palliative Care and Bereavement
• Chapter 3 Death and Mourning; A Time for Weeping, A Time for Healing
• Chapter 4 The Jewish Foundation to the Christian Belief in Resurrection
• Chapter 5 A Roman Catholic view of Death
• Chapter 6 Greek Orthodox Understandings of Death: Implications for Living the Easter Faith
• Chapter 7 Spirituality, Protestantism, and Death
• Chapter 8 Dying and Grieving Ministry in Mennonite Churches
• Chapter 9 Islam
• Chapter 10 North American Native Care of the Dying and the Grieving
• Chapter 11 The Wheel of Life: The Concept of Death and Bereavement in the Pagan Community
• Chapter 12 Some Concluding Observations
• Contributors
• Index