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About Hindu Funeral Operators in Varanasi – Yes, they are like Tour Operators

If you don’t have the energy or time to make for the funeral arrangements of a dead relative, just call one of the Hindu Funeral Operators in Varanasi. Every rites and rituals associated with Hindu funerals including transporting the corpse to a Ghat on the banks of Ganga and performing the Shraddh ceremony a few days later. It’s not free. Operators don’t work for free. The price currently ranges from Rupees 5,000 to 100,000.

Yes, the funeral operators have budget class, economic class and premium class. As the price goes up the quality of the materials used in cremation also goes up.

Once the price is paid, the relatives only need to arrive at the appointed time. (Even if this is not possible may be the tour operators will capture the funeral ceremony in video and courier it to the relative in DVD format)

Hindustan Times reports about this new funeral business which is thriving

“The idea is to provide a single-window solution,” says Pandit Jagdish Tripathi, a panda (priest who conducts last rites) at the Rasoolabad Ghat in Allahabad.

“Our charges vary according to the requirements of the client.”

“For Rs 5,000, we provide mango wood, gangajal (Ganga water), karamkand(recital of the appropriate Vedic chants), lota (steel vessel), chaku(knife used to sprinkle the gangajal), janeo (sacred thread) and five kilos of ordinary ghee,” says Tripathi.

“For Rs 60,000 the client gets five kilos of sandalwood, a better quality of ghee,and longer recital of Vedic chants.Afeast for Brahmins ( brahm bhoj) and a cow to make offerings to (godan) are also includ ed in the package.”

“If the client wants even a small amount of sandal wood, and a cow for godan, the minimum charge is Rs 30,000 plus,” says Santosh Sharma, a panda at the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi, where devout Hindus from across India come to cremate their dead.

If you are shocked and feel sad about this… read the Srimad Bhagavad Purana

It is written in the Srimad Bhagavad Purana

…religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali. (The Present Age)

In Kali-yuga, wealth alone will be considered the sign of a man's good birth, proper behavior and fine qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one's power.

Men and women will live together merely because of superficial attraction, and success in business will depend on deceit. Womanliness and manliness will be judged according to one's expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a brahmana just by his wearing a thread.

A person's spiritual position will be ascertained merely according to external symbols, and on that same basis people will change from one spiritual order to the next. A person's propriety will be seriously questioned if he does not earn a good living. And one who is very clever at juggling words will be considered a learned scholar.

A person will be judged unholy if he does not have money, and hypocrisy will be accepted as virtue.

A sacred place will be taken to consist of no more than a reservoir of water located at a distance, and beauty will be thought to depend on one's hairstyle. Filling the belly will become the goal of life, and one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful.

So all this was predicted by the saints of ancient India.

The only escape from this situation is belief in that Supreme Power...It is said that in Kali Yuga a devotee can attain Moksha by pure Bhakti or devotion.