Why must they, Rest in Peace?
We often just imbibe aspects, of the dominant culture, its values, language and beliefs without even realising it. When we delve deeper, we can be fascinated by what we learn about different cultures, languages, philosophies, religions etc.
A recurring doubt, why when offering condolences on the loss of someone do they say 'May his soul Rest in Peace' ?
Raised as a Sikh (the Guru's disciple in search of truth) the concept of 'Rest in Peace' (RIP) from the Latin 'Requiescat in pace', appeared alien. I wondered about the origins and the meaning of this prayer.
Whether one accepts it or not, the language, thoughts and many practices in the modern world of today are influenced by Christianity the dominant culture.
Much of Christian practice, such as the roots of this prayer lies in the Old Testament from which emerge the Abrahamical religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
They believe that God has created humans in His likeness and thus they are privileged and special amongst all life even other humans in the Universe.
Abrahamical religions are linear cultures, in the sense everything is finite. Life has a certain beginning and a definitive end.
They death is the end of the road, and an individual's body reunites with the soul and goes to heaven or hell on Judgement Day.
No one knows when Jesus will come, so while waiting, must 'Rest in Peace' (R.I.P) until then. That is why, they bury the dead. If they can afford, it their dead bodies will be placed in ornate coffins, and buried in a beautiful place. At least they will be in a nice place until Judgement Day, after all, there is no telling how long the wait might be.
On the other hand we have Eastern philosophy of Hinduism and Sikhism with their roots in Sanatana Dharma, which believe all of Creation is One. Each being, human, animal, plant fish, trees, etc are just different facets of that One. This One, is Creation and is called 'Paramatman', the One universal omnipresent, formless indestructible energy. Energy, as we know, which cannot be created nor destroyed, only it changes its form.
Sanatana Dharma suggests everything is circular.
People and creatures do not die, just their bodies perish, because the body is made up of the 5 elements of earth, air, water, fire, and space. The indestructible life giving energy within the body and source of life which we call as 'consciousness' known as 'Atman' simply migrates to a new body.
That new body we obtain in which will dwell the Atman and the starting life of the new journey depends on our Karma. Meaning, whatever happens are the consequences of our actions and our Karma will determine how and where we will be reincarnated (as we sow, so shall we reap over many lifetimes).
'Atman' in Sanatana Dharma is different from the Abrahamical belief of soul. Sanatana Dharma indicates that each Atman is just a part of Paramatman with which all are interconnected in turn with each and every other Atman in the entire Universe.
We are the Universe so as to speak and that Universe is not a human like God but Universal energy manifesting itself in infinite forms.
As per Sanatana Dharma, death as we know it is the perishing of that body (Deh-anth) but not of the Atman. Upon death, Atman the life source energy leaves the body. This dead body, becomes just an empty shell. This shell, this decaying body, for health and sanitation purposes must be disposed off as efficiently and quickly as possible. Though burial is sometimes practiced in Sanatana Dharma, the preferred way is to cremate the body.
This is why to offer the condolence of 'May the soul rest in peace' to a Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist or Jain is really inappropriate. They are not waiting for judgement day. For them each day, in fact each moment is judgement time.
What should one say in place of R.I.P. when offering condolences to a Hindu or a Sikh?
I do not know. I am trying to find out. I am sure one of my readers will enlighten me.
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Written and Posted: Jun 2020 by ~ Gurvinder Singh.
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Interesting Link: Rest in Peace meaning - Word ZZ
Gurvinder Ji, Its a very nice article from you. I have now understood the meaning of R.I.P . the new generation blindly follows media and the west and, the inquisitiveness has now reduced. Your blog posts are always enriching. In this post at the end, you left us with a question about the words for condolences for the Hindu and Sikh religion. The immediate saying that comes to mind after hearing that someone's dead ( thanks for also touching upon the word 'deh-anth') rather, when a funeral passes by is, Raam Naam Satya Hai. I read more about its meaning here https://bit.ly/3hHkVoL . However, this is said during while taking the body for cremation and I havent heard these words in a prayer meet or elsewhere after the cremation has been done. People genrally say that ' Bhagwaan unki aatma ko shaanti de ' . A gentleman has also given a breif explanation on this post https://qr.ae/pNKF7S . Further, in a Hindu prayer meet, Brahman priests are called who chant mantras from Bhagvad Geeta https://www.learnreligions.com/healing-words-for-tragic-times-1770148 and other mantras for the one who has died. This was my limited search on the question , maybe now should immerse myself into Upanishad to find the answer.
ReplyDeleteDear Sir,
ReplyDeleteSince you are a seeker of the Truth, I wish to humbly point out certain inaccuracies in your above article about my Faith.
You mentioned ' Requiescat en Pace'.
This is a shorter form of the prayer for the departed, which is " Eternal rest Grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual Light shine upon them, May their souls rest in peace.Amen'.
It is not just " Rest in Peace", you see.
Moreover , this is not a condolence, this a prayer.
You are ill-informed.
A condolence would be,"My Condolences, he was a good man"
Or ,
" Deepest sympathies, she was such a good mother to you."
Then , you mentioned about the bodies being buried.
There is no rule about Burial or Cremation.
The bodies just have to be disposed of respectfully.
Rich people will obviously waste money on fancy arrangements which make no sense, because the body is empty now.It is devoid of the Soul and Spirit.
The ornate coffins are not for the benefit of the body.The body is dead, it is just a shell of flesh and bones without a soul.
The soul has gone already to the afterlife , depending which Spirit it chose to follow, the Demonic or Holy Spirit.
There is no waiting for Judgement Day .
It is happening, it happened and It will Happen.
This may be a concept difficult to grasp because the dimensions of Time and Space Don't function linearly for Our Paramatman , (for Our God and His Universe'./ His Spirit is the Essence Universe )
You are also wrong about the Abrahamic Belief of the Soul.
The Soul and Spirit is also part of God'Spirit and it will never find rest ,till we find it's Rest in Him.(It).
The soul is ours , the Spirit is from God.
If we do not have his Spirit, in Our Hearts(Souls), it is vacant while we are in this Human existence and possibly open to a demonic spirit .
Yes , we are made as Humans in His Image and likeness , not as you suggest to be special above all other creations and Humans , but as Stewards of Creation.
That is , we aren't above other Humans and Creation,they all belong to God, we must simply be stewards or servants to them.
And that is why One of God's sons was cast down to Earth because he didn't want to be a servant to God's creation, (that is the Devil, or Lucifer ,The Bringer of Light).
It is our Foremost calling to be servants to One another, Christian or Not, and save Creation.
That is why you see the Western World is generally much Cleaner ( Cleanliness next to Godliness), unlike Our Indian Culture that can't even respect it's Ganga Maya enough to keep it at least clean enough to drink.
On the other hand let me point out a major discrepancy in your belief system.
You mentioned that all life are different facets of the One.
That means a Snail is as worthy as a Tiger in the Universe of the One?
Which , follows that a lowly creature is as worthy as a majestic creature?
If that is true , then why is that if someone due to his bad actions is reborn as a lowly creature and someone else because of his good actions is reborn as a majestic creature.
This must mean that some creatures are lowly and some supreme, then?
But how is that possible, if all are facets of the One?
Some are above others, then,in your belief system. This is what you actually and wrongly attributed to the Abrahamic Belief system, that humans are above other creatures and humans who don't conform to the Old testament view.
Having said all this , I thoroughly enjoyed this discussion with you, but before you cast aspersions of another's Belief System you have to thoroughly research your own.
God bless you abundantly.