Why deny prayers?

"They said no to the prayers for my husband...” choked the staid, frail lady in her mid-80s when she was denied prayers for her pucca Parsi Zoroastrian husband who opted for cremation. What was being asked? Just prayers. Is it something to be bargained for? Will the Almighty not accept the prayers offered for a cremated soul? Will only a soul consigned to the dakhma find the gates of paradise wide open to him?

More and more people are opting for other forms of disposal instead of the age-old system of dakhmenashini. Certain choices are best left to the wishes of the people concerned because what was good at one time is not necessarily acceptable today in this age and time. All over the world and in many parts of India dakhmas are not there, so burials and cremations are done by the mobeds with full prayers and funeral rites. Then why this problem by the orthodox lobby?

Moreover the priests themselves have no common consensus as there are many mobeds who say the prayers for those cremated or buried and still continue to do their duties in the fire-temples. If this be the case then why should the punchayets and anjumans debar the priests from praying? Prayers are not a matter to quarrel over, so why harass an already harassed mobed with orthodox diktats? Let prayers be free for all, because denying the recitation of our four-day prayers is one of the worst options, specially when prayers should be a source of strength and solace to the bereaved family. It is also believed that the vibrations of our beautiful prayers guide the departed soul to its heavenly abode.

"Paramparaa thi chaaltu aavélu chhè (this has been the tradition for ages)” needs to be upgraded and logical solutions are the need of the day.

RODA D. HAKIM

Baroda