RG ST 12 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Upanishads, Pitrs, Sky Burial

• School: UCSB
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RG ST 12
• Professor: David White

Document Summary

Come back again and again; world is su ering (samsara in sanskrit; the ow) Failure condemns soul/ghost to eternal wandering; not good if soul is in corpse when corpse is burned. Haunt family that does not do rite correctly. Make sure that there is a son in the family > high birth rates in india. What happens to the dead if a rite is performed correctly or not. Pitrs ( fathers, ancestors ) intercede with gods for family that performs death rites properly. Pretas ( the departed, ghosts ) turn against that fails to do well in death rites. Living relatives up to six degrees of separation . 6 generations in the world of the fathers; when father leaves the last generation they are reborn. Ancient vedas (sacri cial religion) vs. hinduism (not sacri cial) Many doctrines of death/afterlife (what happens after you die)