Where to spread ashes?
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Anonymous
| My grandparents were cremated and requested that their ashes be spread in water. It looks like it’s legal to do so, but that ashes have to be spread 3 miles away from land and you need a permit. Anyone gone through this process? My mom is in Silver Spring, MD and is trying to figure out how to get this done. |
Anonymous
| Rent a kayak/canoe and ignore the dumb law. |
Anonymous
|
Immersion of ashes is a simple process. You will realize that the amount of human ash is very little once a body is cremated. There may be some fragments of bones and teeth too.
Any flowing river or sea will work. Do not leave in any manmade lake, pond, reservoir or dam. It needs to end up in the sea. You need to add some puffed rice in the ashes too. You bid farewell to the person and pray that the lord of death (justice) - yamraj or dharamraj will take them to the next dimension. You ask the body of water to accept the remains. You pray to your ancestors to guide the deceased. Then you spread the ashes little by little along with some ganga-jal. Then you immerse the container that contained the ashes and give a good final rinse. spread some marigold petals or rose petals too. One reason to do the immersion is to get rid of the remains in a hygienic manner. No pathogens survives the cremation. And since there is no ashes saved in an urn or a burial place, the person's remains ceased to be. The puffed rice attracts fish and insects that feed on it and the ashes get further dispersed. The water dissolves the ashes and disperses it far and wide. The soul that is believed to remain attached to the body even after death, is then forced to transition from this world since the remains are no longer intact. Also, no evil can use the remains for their own nefarious reasons and trap the soul - because it is completely dispersed in many small pieces after being completely turned to ashes or small fragments. Don't include any other stuff (cloth, plastic etc) except the ashes. The container is usually a terracotta pot (matka) and you break it and let it sink in the water. It provides shelter to small marine organisms. Potomac or Chesapeake? No, we did not take permission. We just took a boat out to sea and did the needful. |
Anonymous
|
Continuing -
Also, did not take a pandit with us. We did all the rituals on our own. We did a shuddhi ceremony at home though, with havan and all. Then we smudged the house. You do not need sanskrit shlokas. You can say all the prayers in English. The divine is not hampered with language barrier. |
Anonymous
|
I don’t see how anyone can stop you from spreading ashes in a low key manner within 3 miles of shore.
The ceremony with flower petals, holy water, and puffed rice sounds nice. The other stuff about the soul seems superstitious to me—but to each their own. I’d probably make the ceremony centered around what I remember about the deceased—the light they added to the world. |
Anonymous
| No one abides by the 3 mile rule. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't do that. I'd have given the ashes to the crematorium to dispose of in a green way as possible. Polluting water is polluting water, even if it's three miles off shore. |
Anonymous
| This is why my stepdad’s ashes are still sitting in my mom’s apartment; it’s not easy to figure out what to do. She wants to spread them at the beach but it’s not so simple. |
Anonymous
It's an absolutely miniscule amount of "pollution". |
Anonymous
Sure it is. Do it at sunrise. Or at night. |
Anonymous
| pay attention to the wind |
Anonymous
Seriously this. We had a traumatic incident happen on a boat with ashes. |
Anonymous
+1. The stories I’ve heard. |
Anonymous
| When I visited a funeral home, they had a variety of urns that disintegrate. One was in the shape of a sea turtle. It stays afloat for like 30 minutes, a useful time interval for a ceremony, and then falls beneath the water. |
Anonymous
| A permit? You can’t be serious. Just do it. |