Vaishnava Redux

Two years ago today my father, Colonel James Asafu-Adjaye passed way.

Not having spent much time with him as an adult, I can't say I really knew him well from an adult's perspective, nor did he get to know me that well either, which I regret.

He had previously expressed a desire to be cremated, but no one seemed to remember until his lawyer contacted the family with the information that he had expressed in his will his desire to be cremated. As there was a time limit on the cremation date things had to move quickly than is normally the case with a burial, which in many cases is usually four weeks.

Though a Christian, he believed in Rosicrucianism and that was his spiritual life in his latter years. So when he asked for a cremation we all assumed that it was related to the Rosicrucian way until we later learned that it was his personal choice.

When I was told it was a cremation I assumed that was to be done in crematorium as is usual in the West, but in Ghana there is no such facility, and cremations are open air, in a structure built in an area reserved for the Hindu community at Osu Cemetery in Accra.

There I was, a person with a growing interest in Dharmic philosophy and life science, leading the cremation ritual as required by Hindu traditon, with respect for Hindu procedure. It couldn't have been of greater significance for my developing knowledge and faith. It is only in hindsight that I realized it.

The defining aspect me was his love for knowledge, spiritual knowledge. He always tried to get us take a greater interest in Rosicrucian philosophy but to be honest none of us really did.

This is what makes Chapter 4 of the Gita, The Discipline of Knowledge, so apt here.