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Sikh Religion Does Not Say That A Dead Body Has To Be Cremated!


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Sikh Religion Does Not Say That A Dead Body Has To Be Cremated!

Re: Maharaja Dalip Singh Should Have A Proper Cremation According to the Sikh Rites!

DR. KALA

SINGH MBBS

I have been reading articles of Dr. SawrajSingh and found them to be very informative.Therefore Im writing to commenton his latest article that Maharaja DalipSingh should have a proper cremationaccording to the Sikh Rites.Dr. Swaraj Singh wrote that MaharajaDalip Singh did not receive a proper cremationaccording to the Sikh rites. Hewas buried according to the Christianrites in a Church even though he was anAmritdhari (Baptized Sikh). This is notjust a matter of violation of the individualrights of Maharaja Dalip Singh butalso a matter of great concern for all theSikhs because this is an attack on theirreligious customs and beliefs.Let us see if burying an Amritdhari oreven a non Amritdhari Sikh is againstSikh religious beliefs. Sikhs take directionsfrom Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS).On page 648 SGGS Guru says:

ਮਃ ੧ ॥ Ma 1 ||ਇਕ ਦਝਹਿ ਇਕ ਦਬੀਅਹਿ ਇਕਨਾ ਕੁਤੇ ਖਾਹਿ ॥Eik Dhajhehi Eik Dhabeeahi EikanaaKuthae Khaahi ||Some are cremated, and some are buried;some are eaten by dogs.

ਇਕਿ ਪਾਣੀ ਵਿਚਿ ਉਸਟੀਅਹਿ ਇਕਿ ਭੀ ਫਿਰਿਹਸਣਿ ਪਾਹਿ ॥Eik Paanee Vich Ousatteeahi Eik BheeFir Hasan Paahi ||Some are thrown into water, while othersare thrown into wells.

ਨਾਨਕ ਏਵ ਨ ਜਾਪਈ ਕਿਥੈਜਾਇ ਸਮਾਹਿ ॥੨॥Naanak Eaev N Jaapee Kithhai JaaeSamaahi ||2||O Nanak, it is not known, where they goand into what they merge. ||2||Some dead bodies are cremated, someburied, eaten by dogs, thrown into wateror thrown into a well. It does not matterto the dead body how it is disposedthough different people use differentways of disposing them.

Guru says on page 1160 (SGGS)ਭੈਰਉ (ਮ: ੫) ਗੁਰੂਗ੍ਰੰਥਸਾਹਿਬ : ਅੰਗ ੧੧੬੦ ਪੰ.੯Raag Bhaira-o Guru Arjan Dev

ਜੇ ਮਿਰਤਕ ਕਉ ਚੰਦਨੁ ਚੜਾਵੈ ॥Jae Mirathak Ko Chandhan Charraavai||If a corpse is anointed with sandalwoodoil,

ਉਸ ਤੇਕਹਹੁਕਵਨ ਫਲ ਪਾਵੈ ॥Ous Thae Kehahu Kavan Fal Paavai ||What good does it do?

ਜੇ ਮਿਰਤਕ ਕਉ ਬਿਸਟਾ ਮਾਹਿ ਰੁਲਾਈ ॥Jae Mirathak Ko Bisattaa Maahi Rulaaee||If a corpse is rolled in manure,

ਤਾਂ ਮਿਰਤਕ ਕਾ ਕਿਆ ਘਟਿ ਜਾਈ ॥੩॥Thaan Mirathak Kaa Kiaa Ghatt Jaaee||3||What does it lose from this? ||3||

ਕਹਤ ਕਬੀਰ ਹਉ ਕਹਉ ਪੁਕਾਰਿ ॥Kehath Kabeer Ho Keho Pukaar ||Says Kabeer, I proclaim this out loud

ਸਮਝਿ ਦੇਖੁ ਸਾਕਤ ਗਾਵਾਰ ॥Samajh Dhaekh Saakath Gaavaar ||Behold, and understand, you ignorant,faithless cynic.

It does not make any difference to adead body if it is anointed with sandalwoodoil or rolled in manure. Dont beignorant, faithless cynic.

Nowhere in SGGS is written that Sikhdead bodies be cremated. It says that itdoes not make any difference what is done to dead bodies.Now let us see what Akal Takhat approved Sikh Reht Maryada says.

THE CODE OF SIKH CONDUCTAND CONVENTIONS CHAPTERXI Article XIXc. However young the deceased maybe, the body should be cremated.However, where arrangements for cremation cannot be made, there should beno qualm about the body being immersed in flowing water or disposedof in any other manner.Now, it is clear from SGGS and SikhReht Maryada that there is no problemwith Maharaja Dalip Singh buried in aChurch. It is not an attack on Sikh religiousbeliefs but could be a matter ofviolation of the individual rights if Maharaja wanted to be cremated. If his remains are cremated now for the sake of Sikh religious beliefs it will be a mockery of what Gurbani teaches us.

Dr. Sawraj Singhs Response: Dr. Kala Singh has raised many important issues which need a very detailed response. I am preparing a detailed and proper response. However, I want togive you a preview of the points which I will be elaborating in my detailed and proper response. Why were all our Gurus bodies cremated? Why did GuruNanak bury bhai Mardanas body according to the Muslim rites? Why we Sikhs hold those devoted Sikhs in highesteem who burnt their property andhouses so that Gurus body was cremated?Why did Guru Gobind Singh embrace Bhai Jaita and called "Rangrete Guru ka beta" because he brought Gurushead to Anand Pur Sahib from Delhi?Because of their subservient and slavishmentality, the Sikh Sardars completely betrayed and rejected Maharaja DalipSingh. The truth is that SGPC and the other Sikh Institutions developed after the annexation of Punjab were developed by the British according to their concepts rather than the Sikh principles.Generally, these institutions have playeda subservient role to the government oftheir time. How else a butcher like General Dyer would have been given siropa by them. Maharaja Dalip Singhand his family had completely lost everythingto the British at that time. Theywere completely helpless and destitute and were far removed from the main Sikh community. Therefore, the argument that the burial was done according to their wishes does not hold.

Source - http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=34883

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The Guru's teachings have always told us that, once the soul has moved on, the body has no use, hence Guru Arjan Dev Ji's shabad above.

So really, from a religious point of view, does cremation or burial matter? I think it's more of a cultural/traditional thing rather than a religious one, since the person has no use for the body after the soul has left.

Not sure whether Maharaja Dalip Singh's burial was according to their wishes or not, but what would it achieve by cremating his body now, all these years later?

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VAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, VAHEGURU JI KI FATEH

Panthic Rehat Maryada states that cremation is preferable, but if it cannot be done, other means are fine.

"However young and deceased may be, the body should be cremated. However, where arrangements for cremation cannot be made, there should be no qualm about the body being immersed in flowing water or disposed of in any other manner"

Article XIX - Funeral Ceremonies

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It doesn't but guru nanak said in janamsakhis those who are buried are burnt many times over and over, as their body turns into oil, gas, pots, their body burns over and over. But in cremation your body burns once. Plus cremation doesn't use up land making perfectly good land for homes used by dead. Also people who bury sometimes resort to ancestral worship, paying respect to the body, having cremation allows family to distance themselves from the person after death and not to resort to worship of the dead as sufi muslims do.

There is a false idea propagated by some muslims that you can dig up the dead later which is actually incorrect. I remember hearing some odd story about how some muslims in punjab thought eating mushroms is haram since they believe mushroms come near from grave sites and contain the bones of their prophets, the idea is nearly right. Building ontop of craves is creepy, it gives buildings with poor foundations, the buildings can smell- become unhygienic with bad fungi and pathogens, the market value drops when people learn dead bodies live under the property. Some people have died entering egyptian pyaramids which were burial tombs as the bodies decayed dangerous fungi came out, it took a while for people to realise it wasn't cursed- so you can avoid that.

Plus scavenger animals can sometimes dig up bones some insane people have committed necrophilia violating a dead body and you can't hurt the sanctity of someone's sentiments by accidently damaging a grave stone or grave. The only benefit I see in burial is your body might be preserved well enough for future humans to study but there are loads of bodies to study. Sikhs are supposed to live in the skies not in the ground where urine and faeces goes.

This shabad was held in offence by the mughal government who were fine with everything else in gurbani, so ram rai changed the meaning of mithai musalman ki to mithai beiman ki the grave of the unjust instead of grave of muslims. For that act the gurus banished him, but the shabad holds absolute truth when you understand it in the perspective of the janamsakhis.
http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Mian_Mitha

First Mehla:
The clay of the Muslim's grave becomes clay for the potter's wheel.
Pots and bricks are fashioned from it, and it cries out as it burns.
The poor clay burns, burns and weeps, as the fiery coals fall upon it.
O Nanak, the Creator created the creation; the Creator Lord alone knows. ||2|| Ang466

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I heard in katha by Maskeen that some people when they die they become ghost and it is better to burn the body because the ghost has an attachment to the body. Black magic people try to steal one of the bones and then the ghost has to work for the person who stole the bone from his body. The indian custom beleif is that by burning the body the spirit become free from the body and moves on to the next stage, until you don't burn it the spirit is still in bondage with body

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I heard in katha by Maskeen that some people when they die they become ghost and it is better to burn the body because the ghost has an attachment to the body. Black magic people try to steal one of the bones and then the ghost has to work for the person who stole the bone from his body. The indian custom beleif is that by burning the body the spirit become free from the body and moves on to the next stage, until you don't burn it the spirit is still in bondage with body

Interesting. It's interesting to note Geronimo's remains were stolen by the Skull and Bones Society at Yale, probably has to do with this kaala jadoo nonsense.

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I heard in katha by Maskeen that some people when they die they become ghost and it is better to burn the body because the ghost has an attachment to the body. Black magic people try to steal one of the bones and then the ghost has to work for the person who stole the bone from his body. The indian custom beleif is that by burning the body the spirit become free from the body and moves on to the next stage, until you don't burn it the spirit is still in bondage with body

Imagine if someone digged your wife's body up took her bones cloned her and then started a relationship with someone else, it would be devastating. Cloning has been done in the past it took place with dolly the sheep.

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