Mircea Eliade YOGA IMMORTALITY AND ... - Brihaspati.net

V. Raman Sastri, The Doctrinal Culture and Tradition of the Siddhas (Cultural Heritage
of India, Sri Ramakrishna Century Volume, vol. II, p. 303-319); S. K. De, Buddhist
Tantric Literature m Ben-go /, p. 15 ff. (Kukkuripada, Lui-pa, Matsyendranatha,
Gorakhnath, Kanhu-pa, etcetera). On the relationship with alchemy, see this book.
Note VIII, 4: The funeral of ascetics The custom of burying the ascetics and yogis,
instead of burning their bodies, is quite old in India: A. R. Keith Religion and Philosophy
the Veda, p. 417, n. 3. Vaikhanasasmarta-sutra (V, 8) mentions the rites fune-oped of
yogis> of yati-whose bodies are buried near a river, and the sannyasi (X, 8). It was
logical not to deliver the fire the bodies of those who had obtained the liberation, whose
soul was already identified to God. The ascetics were buried in the position of meditation,
and their graves were raised about Jingo. Many of these later became rumba in tem-ples.
W. Simpson thought he saw in this custom the origin of Indian religious architecture
(Some suggestions of Origin in Indian Architecture, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society,
1888, p. 49-71). "The bodies of the monks, unlike other Hindus are buried, and the
cemetery (the monastery) contains about two hundred graves .- The body is buried in
sitting position, and in the case of mere novice, a construction of bricks from three to four
feet high enough to cover the grave. For most important monks, a temple is necessary:
inside and immediately above the corpse is placed necessarily a lingam. It seems that
even up to novices has been considered necessary to the Lingam ... Buddha Gaya and
Gaya Among several monasteries of Hindu sannyasi, and elsewhere the graves are semejantes
"(op. cit, p. 56).
The ascetics are buried sitting posture or yogi, the same that led to the liberation. His
identification with Siva is attested by the lingam erected on their graves. In the
Archaeological Survey of India, Southern Circle, 1911-1912, we read (p. 5): "The
sannyasi are not burned, but buried and built an altar with a lingam to mark the place",
idem, 1915-1916 , p. 34: "In the case of the sannyasi (...) is sometimes a raised brick
platform on the site of the tomb is placed there (...) and a lingam stone, as if to proclaim
to the world that the body reached buried under the sacred form of Shiva-linga "(A.
Coomaraswamy, Journal Amer. Orient. Soc, 1918, p. 264).
In some places, the skull of the yogi is broken out to allow the "soul and respiration.
Oman describes the ceremony to be attended in the province of Madras, as follows: "The
body was placed in position saddhu sitting in the tomb, were stacked on the specific
amount of salt and covered it with earth. Then, on the crown of his head shaved, even
visible, they proceeded to break large number of coconuts in order to break the skull and
thus allow the soul imprisoned escape. coconuts fragments used for the liberation of the
soul of the dead, were in great demand by the participants "(Oman, Mystics and Ascetics,
p. 157, and also £ Abb Dubois, Morals, Part II, chapter 36). The breaking of the skull the
funeral custom is also proa-tice in other regions. In Malaysia, we say that the soul leaves
the body through the top of his head. " Recall that the pull, the man the Semang
physician, is buried with his head out of the grave: Paul Sche-besta, Lo * Pygmies (trad,
the trances, Paris, 1940), p. 154.
Note VIII, 4: The funeral of ascetics The custom of burying the ascetics and yogis,
instead of burning their bodies, is quite old in India: A. R. Keith Religion and Philosophy
the Veda, p. 417, n. 3. Vaikhanasasmarta-sutra (V, 8) mentions the rites fune-oped of
yogis> of yati-whose bodies are buried near a river, and the sannyasi (X, 8). It was