musings 151

My thoughts when I read a remark somewhere that praying for a departed soul to rest in peace had no significant meaning..

I beg to disagree ..
Prayer for the peace of the departed soul has great significance.
Maybe the person suffered at the hands of all around him during his lifetime.. It can be just a wish that he might find peace at least after joining the majority..
Death is definitely a very significant event in the life of the dead, as well as others who have, touch wood, survived him...
It is usually a practice to make a wish, a prayer, whenever something good or not so good happens.
It is just a habit, a social practice.
In all probability, the person would have been restless and even a nuisance all the time he was alive..
Then the fond wish that he is at peace at least after death is very much in order.
And there is a belief, (whether rational or not), that a dead persons becomes a more powerful spirit or mane .. and perhaps we pray for his soul to attain eternal peace because, a soul which is not quiet can be a potential nuisance for all kindred spirits as also the living people.
Of course, the prayer for peace of the departed soul is not an Indian or Hindu practice..
For Hindus the departed person, though absent in body, is a presence as Pithru, and the scriptures prescribe offering of water, til, cooked grain etc for such spirits too on daily basis ( as in rituals like brahmayajnam) or at least on new moon days, solar transit days, eclipses, memorial days and so on.
Whether, we intend it or not, we habitually utter "God bless" or" touch wood,", often when one even sneezes..
That is just to show concern and empathy..
There is nothing irrational in any action which would convey commiseration..
It has great social relevance irrespective of religious undercurrents..