Tuesday 5 April 2016

Friday, Feb 26th 2016

Friday, Feb 26th 2016
Mayapur, India

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, Danapati, had lost his wife.  She had perished before the year ended in 2015 and I was asked to carry those ashes to merge with the 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 also partook with his Mum’s ashes.  She had been struggling with illness for years.

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

No comments: