Talk:Gṛhasthāśrama:Other Saṁskāra-s

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

There are certain rites common to all Hindus though they are not included in the forty saṁskāra-s. The ears of a child must be pierced ceremonially (karṇa-vedhanam). Initiating a child into the alphabet (akṣarābhyāsa) is another saṁskāra.

Cremation is not included in the forty saṁskāra-s but, as already pointed out, it is also a sacrifice—the last one—antyeṣṭi, and performed to the chanting of mantra-s by the son or a close relative of the deceased.

An ahitāgni’s cremation must be performed with the sacred fires he had tended, that is, by bringing together his gṛhyāgni and tretāgni. The four fires will consume his body and transport his soul to a sacred world. If a person has not worshipped the tretāgni and kept only the aupāsanāgni, his cremation must be performed with that fire.

There is no cremation, of course, for a sannyāsin.

Since cremation is regarded as the last sacrifice, it follows that it is a rite that belongs to all except the inwardly mature and enlightened who take to sannyāsa. If sannyāsa were compulsory for all, there would be no dahana-kriyā or cremation mentioned in the śāstra-s.