Human Need
Jananivas is a dedicated priest in Mayapur. When a samskar, or a ritual, needs to be
executed he’ll be only too happy to deploy himself. Now when I say dedicated it is no joke. He and his identical twin joined Iskcon many
years ago and have lived in Mayapur for forty years.
An extraordinary monk!
I had an obligation to fulfill and I needed Jananivas’
help. A friend from Canada Ganges
River
Jananivas made use of kusha as an ingredient, along with
honey, panchagavya (five substances from the cow), and some grains. The ashes were placed in a clump of Ganges silt along with the ingredients. The clump was shaped to accommodate those
ingredients and then more mud was placed over top to cover everything.
This procedure was also repeated by two other
participants. A father of 55, Arjuna,
placed his 21 year old son’s ashes in the same way. This was the son who tried to stop thieves
from entering their home when he was shot to death. Tragic! Giri-Gopal from Guyana
The mantras used were a final send-off and a communication
with Vishnu while all three sets of ashes were made to float until
merging. Jananivas directed us to take a
full bath in the sacred river. I moved
on more to the current of the water to meet another monk and friend, Jayadwaita
Swami. The three of us participants then
returned to our schedules.
A closure was put to a human need.
May the Source be with you!
8 km
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