The clay warns the potter,
"Do not knead me dear,
beware that a day will come
when I shall knead you here"
Kabir
Ancestor shrine, Tribal Gujrat
In
all cultures of the world, death is regarded as a temporary, though not
final, breach of the social fabric of society, which threatens the
well-being of the living. The funeral ceremonies and mourning rituals
serve to minimize the loss and help the bereaved to reintegrate in
society. Change is nothing but the rhythmic transition back and forth
between life and death, growth and decay. Dying has been perceived as
negative and undesirable by many societies, but is in fact necessary in
order that the rhythm of life be sustained. Traditional cultures regard
that death is not an end but only a passage for afterlife. This view
infuses this life with sacred meaning and unites all the phases of human
growth into a single continuum. In some societies, the arbitrary and
unpredictable nature of death is not shared, but death is looked upon as a
symbol of birth and a source of new life. The Dinka of Southern Sudan and
a majority of Tibetan Mahayana traditions, reflect over death much before
it comes. They preside over their symbolic extinction in life, through a
variety of rituals. On one hand, this robs death of its sting and, on the
other
Another
view holds the mystery of death to go against the current of nature. There
is a universal belief over survival and triumph of death by totem,
memorial stones, death-
Madhu Khannna
A females cult figure, Bambara tribe, Mali
Memorial stone, Maharashtra
Frithjof Schuon
