Satimata

Satimata worship

Sati is defined as "good women or a good wife," woman don't act sati, she became a sati by jumping into husband's funeral pyre and burned with him. It is been a long religious belief and practice in India. In Hindu mythology, began as an act of defiance; Sati immolated herself because her father, Daksha would not accept a filthy, ragged, serpent - adorned ascetic as her husband, Siva. Sati became really angry at her father and her anger "sat," also defines as pure woman power makes fire on her body and burned her. Sati exercised her free choice in face of patriarchal oppression and preferred to die instead of accepting the decisions thrust upon her by apparently respectable, "we-known-better" adults. Sati is very honorable act and when woman became a sati, they become respectable by people, family and become a goddess who looks out for her family. However, there have been long gone questions about if it is right act to give a freedom to women. For, people from outside of Hindu culture might think it is crazy thing to do and impossible thing to do, and not right to let those women burn to death. Although it is not common as before and became illegal act in India, still now, at some place, it is occurring. Even thought this act is completely up to woman's will, because it seems too terrifying, it is hard to strangers that it happens voluntarily. For this human rights problem, UN tries to against this practice. But are we right to just say you can not do this practice anymore because it is against human right? How do we know that it is against human rights? Then, because we are strangers and have different thoughts and aspects, should we just leave this up to them? In order to understand this practice, we need to know and try to think from their side of view.

For Hindi people, sati serves women as an accessible ideal, for she has become a sati by fulfilling the role that they aspire to fulfill. As I mentioned above, the transformation of a women into a sati does not, as is often assumed, result from the act of self- immolation, sati as that which one becomes. The transformation of a woman into a sati comprises three stages. The first of these is the pativrata stage. A woman becomes a pativrata when she marries. (Because becoming a sati starts from marriage, pyre ceremony has similarity with wedding)The substance of "vow" is devotion, which is understood primarily as protection. If a wife devoted to her husband and so protects him, he will prosper. If not, he will suffer and perhaps even die, which will bring misfortune to his family as well. (Because of this reason, sometimes strangers think those women might be forced and have a lot of pressure which leads decision to burning with her husband.) If despite her devotion her husband dies before she does, she can escape culpability by following his body onto his cremation pyre. She makes a vrat, a vow, to burn her body along with his. By vow she is transformed from a pativrata into sativrata, one who, as a good woman (sati). But she decides to die with her husband not only for her husband's will and after life together but also for purifying her soul and ensuring better rebirth herself. Last stage occurs when the sativrata perishes in her husband's cremation fire, she becomes a satimata. In this last stage, she joins other family satimatas in protecting the welfare of the family she has left behind. One day in the class, one student asked question about what happens to children, she might left behind. I guess, in Hindis perspective, they don't looked at as betraying her children, because sati will look out for them after their death and also for children, they will be honorable to have a mother who became sati.

As I was learning more and more about sati, I was thrilled that if it is really done voluntarily, how brave and strong those women are. But at some point it raises me a question that why only women? And why dying with her husband is only way to pure their soul as it is women are more valuable and holy after their death. Those questions made me think of Jesus on cross, and why he had to die. Jesus on the cross endured a high level of pain in the physical, spiritual, and mental realms like became a sati. The Father (God) allowed Jesus to endure the consequences of our sins. Savior took our place when he felt the agony and the distress of the cross. The cross indicated the mystery of salvation that man had sought since Adam's fall into sin. The Jesus on the cross gave the opportunity for all people to gain eternal life. The mystery of God points to the salvation of man through the cross (Col. 2:2-14). Through Jesus' death, human will be saved and maybe purified; he is looking for every human by hanging on the cross. It is like sati, after her death, she is looking out for her family to have a good life. Not like sati, Jesus didn't scarify his life not because of his sin (for sati, fact that her husband died earlier than her would consider as sin), but by hanging on the cross, he purify mankind and forgive their sins (for sati, by burning with her husband's death body, she purifies herself).

The sacredness of cows

Even though Hindus cow worshiping is very well known religious belief in India, the early Hindus did not avoid the flesh of cows and bulls; they ate it at ceremonial feasts presided over by Brahman priests. Cow worship is a relatively recent development in India; it evolved as the Hindu religion developed and changed. Ahimsa, the Hindu belief in the unity of all life, was the spiritual justification for this restriction of not eating cow. But it is difficult to ascertain exactly when this change occurred. But then, why they become worshiping cows? Hindus said that for them "the cow symbolizes all other creatures. The cow is a symbol of the Earth, the nourisher, the ever-giving,