The peoples of ancient Persia believed
that earth-burial was not even permissible; that such burial, to a certain
degree, would block the coursings and journeyings required by nature. For this
reason they built Towers of Silence open to the sky, on the mountain tops, and
lay the dead therein on the surface of the ground. But they failed to observe
that burial in the earth doth not prevent the natural travellings and coursings
which are an exigency of creation — that rather, earth-burial, besides
permitting the natural march of phenomena, offereth other benefits as well.
And briefly stated, beyond this,
although the human soul hath severed its connection with the body, friends and
lovers are still vehemently attached to what remaineth, and they cannot bear to
have it instantly destroyed. They cannot, for example, see the pictured face of
the departed blotted out and scattered, although a photograph is only his
shadow and in the end it too must fade away. So far as they are able, they
protect whatever remainder they have of him, be it only a fragment of clay, a
tree, or a stone. Then how much more do they treasure his earthly form! Never
can the heart agree to look on the cherished body of a friend, a father, a
mother, a brother, a child, and see it instantly fall to nothing — and this is
an exigency of love.
Thus the ancient Egyptians mummified
the body that it might remain intact to the end of time, their belief being
that the longer the dead endured, the nearer they would draw to the mercy of
their gods. Yet the Hindus of India cremate the body without any concern, and
indeed the burning is a solace to their hearts. This lack of concern, however,
is fortuitous: it deriveth from religious beliefs and is not a natural thing.
For they suppose that the more rapidly the body is destroyed, the nearer it
will come to divine compassion. This is the opposite of what the ancient Egyptians
believed. The Hindus are even persuaded that, as soon as the body is with great
rapidity disintegrated, forgiveness will be assured, and the dead will be
blessed forever more. It is this belief which reconcileth them to the
cremation. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, from a Tablet to Laura Clifford Barney, translated by
Marzieh Gail and included in ‘Summon up Remembrance (George Ronald, Oxford, 1987), translated
on behalf of the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, March
1987)
