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The samskaras cover an individual's entire life-span
- "Nisekadi smasanantakam" - from the moment before he
is conceived in his mother's womb to the time when his body is
offered to Agni. "Niseka" (impregnation) is a rite performed with the
sacrificial fire as the witness; and the funeral rites which come
last are performed in the fire.
Agni,
the sacred fire, must be kept burning throughout a Brahmin's
life. The Brahmacarin or bachelor - student must perform the
samidadhana everyday. After he is married, with Agni as witness,
he becomes a grhastha (householder). He must now perform the
aupasana in the fire. For the vanaprastha (forest recluse), there
is a sacred fire called "kaksagni". The sannyasin has
no sacrament involving the sacred fire: he has the fire of
knowledge (jnanagni)in him. His body is not cremated - that is
there is no Agni-samskara for it- but interred as a matter of
respect. Strictly speaking, it must be cut into four parts and
consigned to the four quarters of a forest. There it will be food
for birds and beasts. In an inhabited place the severed parts of
the body would cause inconvenience to people. That is why they
were thrown into the forest. There it would be food for its
denizens; if buried it would be manure for the plants. Now over
the site of the interment of a sannyasin's body a Brindavana is
grown [or built] : this again is done out of respect. At such
sites all that is to be done is to plant a bilva or asvattha
tree.
All
castes have rites to be performed with the sacred fire. During
marriage people belongings to all varnas must do aupasana and the
fire in which the rite is performed must be preserved throughout.
Today, only Parsis seem to keep up
such a practice of preserving the fire. Their scripture is called
the Zend-Avesta which name must have been derived from the Vedic
"Chando-Vasta". Their teacher was Zoroaster
[Zarathustra] : this name must have been derived from
"Saurastra". Their homeland is Iran (from
"Arya"). If the fire kept by them is extinguished at
any time they spend a good deal of money in expiatory rites. With
us rituals performed in the sacred fire have been on the decline
from the turn of the century. The lifestyle of our people has
changed. If there is faith, this great treasure (rites performed
in the fire) could be preserved. The most important reason for
the loss of faith is the present system of education.
This
body of ours has to be finally offered in the fire as ahuti
(oblation) to the deities. It is treated as a dravya(material for
sacrifice) with ghee applied to it before it is offered in the
fire. The ceremony is called "dahana-samskara".
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"Hindu Dharma" is a book
which contains English translation of certain invaluable and
engrossing speeches of Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi MahaSwamiji (at
various times during the years 1907 to 1994).
For a general background, please see here
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