Professor Veena Howard’s special discussion Wednesday, “Life and Death from a Hindu Perspective,” emphasized that traditional ideas about death aren’t explored and discussed enough in Western culture.
Howard and about 20 other individuals spoke about Hindu traditions and perceptions of life and death in the second part of a five-week series titled “Living, Dying and Bereavement,” introduced by the Lane Institute of Faith and Education (LIFE).
LIFE launched the series last week so that it would fall as a follow-up to Bill Moyers’ September PBS series about death. During the five-week period, LIFE aims to present the same issues from Interfaith viewpoints and to expose people to lesser-known traditions of Western culture.
Howard, who teaches religion and philosophy at Lane Community College and has taught summer courses at the University, emphasized her belief that although there are countless different traditions in the world, they all have an underlying unity .
“Whether we live in India, Africa or China, we’re all trying to answer the same questions about life and death,” she said. “We’re all trying to understand the nature of the self and soul, something that is eternal and lives on even after we die.”
Howard mentioned that just as some believe in heaven and hell, every tradition has a theory about life after death. She spoke specifically about the Hindu belief that the soul continues its life through reincarnation. She did a chant in Sanskrit, which described the soul’s transition from one life to another.
Howard said that Hindus rarely use the term “died” but rather “he left his body” or “she has gone to another world.” She spoke of the Hindu belief in a perpetual life cycle that seeks to achieve nirvana, unity with the divine, and said the body serves as the “chariot” of the soul. She said it could take some people thousands of years to attain this goal.
“In Hinduism, this life is a small piece in the continuous immortal life of the soul,” she said.
Howard also described Hindu rituals performed after someone dies. She said that the body is always cremated unless the person was a child or holy person, and the family of the deceased mourns and celebrates for 13 days after the death. This is the transition period when the soul leaves the body and isn’t ready to leave his or her family. The family also has numerous discussions about its lost loved one.
Howard also spoke about the various ways different traditions approach the topic of death. She believes Western culture tends to avoid the issue, which forms a barrier to meeting death with peace.
“Death is a reality we cannot run away from,” she said. “It’s a transition to another place.”
LIFE co-founder Barry Nobel said that because death is a sensitive topic, it is not discussed enough in American culture and a general lack of knowledge exists about what it means and what traditions it incorporates.
“Death is an important part of life but somewhat taboo in this culture,” he said. “People don’t like to talk about it.”
Beth Eldridge, a senior language student at LCC, said the discussion was enlightening.
“In India, death seems to be a part of life,” she said. “People get to discuss it beyond what we know in the Western world.”
The series will run at 7 p.m. Wednesdays at the First Christian Church, located at 1166 Oak St. The next three sessions will cover issues on death from Buddhist, Islamic and Baha’i faith perspectives on Nov. 15, Dec. 6 and Dec.13, respectively.
Vida Ellins, a member of the LIFE steering committee, said the purpose of the Interfaith series isn’t to persuade anyone to believe the traditions presented, but to encourage people to be open-minded about different ideas pertaining to death.
“In the education system we have little opportunity to touch on spiritual aspects of what we learn,” she said. “[LIFE] hopes to offer a broader perspective and a forum of ideas that we can explore.”