Hindu perspective on death discussed
■A Hinduism discussion marked the second part of a five
week series on cultural traditions and perspectives
surrounding life, death and interpretations of the afterlife
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
Professor Veena Howard’s spe
cial discussion Wednesday, “Life
and Death from a Hindu Perspec
tive,” emphasized that traditional
ideas about death aren’t explored
and discussed enough in Western
culture.
Howard and about 20 other indi
viduals spoke about Hindu tradi
tions and perceptions of life and
death in the second part of a five
week series titled “Living, Dying
and Bereavement,” introduced by
the Lane Institute of Faith and Edu
cation (LIFE).
LIFE launched the series last
week so that it would fall as a fol
low-up to Bill Moyers’ September
PBS series about death. During the
five-week period, LIFE aims to
present the same issues from Inter
faith viewpoints and to expose
people to lesser-known traditions
of Western culture.
Howard, who teaches religion
and philosophy at Lane Communi
ty College and has taught summer
courses at the University, empha
sized her belief that although there
are countless different traditions in
the world, they all have an under
lying unity.
“Whether we live in India,
Africa or China, we’re all trying to
answer the same questions about
life and death,” she said. “We’re all
trying to understand the nature of
the self and soul, something that is
eternal and lives on even after we
die.”
Howard mentioned that just as
some believe in heaven and hell,
every tradition has a theory about
life after death. She spoke specifi
cally about the Hindu belief that
the soul continues its life through
reincarnation. She did a chant in
Sanskrit, which described the
soul’s transition from one life to an
other.
Howard said that Hindus rarely
use the term “died” but rather “he
left his body” or “she has gone to
another world.” She spoke of the
Hindu belief in a perpetual life cy
cle that seeks to achieve nirvana,
unity with the divine, and said the
body serves as the “chariot” of the
soul. She said it could take some
people thousands of years to attain
this goal.
Whetherwelivein
India, Africa or China,
we're all trying to answer
the same questions about
life and death.
Veena Howard
professor
religion and philosophy
Lane Community College^
“In Hinduism, this life is a small
piece in the continuous immortal
life of the soul,” she said.
Howard also described Hindu
rituals performed after someone
dies. She said that the body is al
ways cremated unless the person
was a child or holy person, and the
family of the deceased mourns and
celebrates for 13 days after the
death. This is the transition period
when the soul Jeaves the^P..dy,and
isn’t ready to leave his or her fami
Dan Brunell Emerald
Veena Howard speaks about issues of life and death in the Hindu tradition Wednesday.
ly. The family also has numerous
discussions about its lost loved
one.
Howard also spoke about the
various ways different traditions
approach the topic of death. She
believes Western culture tends to
avoid the issue, which forms a bar
rier to meeting death with peace.
“Death is a reality we cannot run
away from,” she said. “It’s a transi
tion to another place.”
LIFE co-founder Barry Nobel
said that because death is a sensi
tive topic, it is not discussed
enough in American culture and a
general lack of knowledge exists
about what it means and what tra
ditions it incorporates.
“Death is an important part of
life but somewhat taboo in this cul
ture,” he said. “People don’t like to
talk about it.”
Beth Eldridge, a senior language
student at LCC, said the discussion
was enlightening.
“In India, death seems to be a
part of life,” she said. “People get to
discuss it beyond what we know in
the Western world.”
The series will run at 7 p.m.
Wednesdays at the First Christian
Church, located at 1166 Oak St.
The next three sessions will cover
issues on death from Buddhist, Is
lamic and Baha’i faith perspectives
on Nov. 15, Dec. 6 and Dec.13, re
spectively.
Vida Ellins, a member of the
LIFE steering committee, said the
purpose of the Interfaith series isn’t
to persuade anyone to believe the
traditions presented, but to encour
age people to be open-minded
about different ideas pertaining to
death.
“In the education system we
have little opportunity to touch on
spiritual aspects of what we learn,”
she said. “[LIFE] hopes to offer a
broader perspective and a forum of
ideas that we can explore.”
Calendar
Thursday, Nov. 9
—Veterans Day Display: Honors all
UO students, faculty and staff who
are veterans of military service. 8
a.m.-5 p.m. Business Affairs Lobby,
First Floor, Oregon Hall. Free.
— Sociology Colloquium: Bert Bur
raston, Sociology graduate student,
discusses "Modeling the Effects of
Older Siblings’ Academic Growth on
Younger Siblings’ Academic Perfor
mance.” 4-5:30 p.m. Room 127
Chiles Business Center. Free.
—Center for the Study of Women
in Society Teaching and Tea:
Stephanie Wood, History, presents
"Using the Gender and History
Database to Teach Aztec Culture. ”
4-5:30 p.m. Room 330 Hendricks
Hall. Free.
— Fall Social: The Committee on
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans
gender Concerns hosts a mid-term
break to mix and mingle for LGBT
students, faculty, staff, family and
guests. Food and beverages served.
4:30-6 p.m. Alumni Lounge, Ger
linger Hall. Free.
—Solar Lecture: Steven Strong, So
lar Design Associates, Inc., presi
dent, gives a slide-illustrated pres
entation on “Photovoltaics in
Buildings.” Named by Time maga
zine as an environmental "Hero of
the Planet,” Strong is an interna
tional pioneer in the integration of
solar electric systems with environ
mentally responsive building de
sign. 7-9 p.m. Room 177 Lawrence
Hall. Free.
—Author Event: Doug Lorain, au
thor of “Backpacking Oregon,”
presents a slide-illustrated discus
sion of the 27 hikes outlined in his
book. 7:30 p.m. 100 Willamette
Hall. Free.
to Sy a <3peciaf[7Utematiue:
Acupuncture ^x
Treatment
for
Smokers who want to quit
010635
Celebrate the Great American Smoke-out!
Thursday, November l6d’ from 4:30-6:00pm
University Health Center Library (Basement)
RSVP by calling 346-4456
or by visiting http://liealthed.uoregon.edu
EPD
continued from page 1A
summer, but said he could not
speak about the details of the earli
er investigation.
Former employees and those
close to DPS allege that as the orga
nization’s management moves for
ward with its plans to create a
more professional security force
with many of the same rights as
the police, conflicts are arising be
tween DPS and EPD about who
has authority on campus.
( { The relationship is a
good business relationship,
but are there frictions?
Yes.
Tom Fitzpatrick
director
Department
of Public Safety
Oregon Public Employee Union
steward Anthony Hensley, who
deals with OPEU employees, in
cluding DPS officers, said DPS of
ficers are using more police equip
ment. He said the equipment and
new uniforms are resulting in con
fusion and conflicts.
“There are reasons police carry
weapons and there are reasons se
curity guards don’t,” he said.
“When they look like each other,
there are going to be problems.”
Fitzpatrick, however, said there
were no serious problems between
the two departments, which he
said enjoyed a “professional rela
tionship.”
He said at times small conflicts
may arise at the officer level be
tween police and DPS about the
seriousness of situations on cam
pus, but he said this did not signi
fy a serious rift between police and
public safety personnel.
“The relationship is a good busi
ness relationship,” he said, “but
are there frictions? Yes.”
Fitzpatrick said some of the fric
tion arises from the fact that police
officers come to campus expecting
the demands of the detail to be less
strenuous than the city patrol.
This leads to disagreements be
tween officers from the two de
partments on how best to respond
to incidents on campus.
EPD Chief Jim Hill also said re
lations between DPS and EPD
have remained good.
He said that some of the con
flicts or “rubs” between the de
partments came from the fact that
police officers are often spread too
thin and can’t get to every DPS call
for assistance. Hill added there has
been some conflict about incidents
that the two departments perceive
differently. Because of public safe
ty’s security role on campus. Hill
said DPS officers often believe that
police should take more action
than is warranted.
“There can be some misunder
standing about roles,” he said.
Despite the occasional disputes
between the two departments, Hill
said that overall relations are sta
ble between the police department
and DPS. An example of this was
the fact that Hill has not had to
step into any of these conflicts.
“It hasn’t been at such a magni
tude that it has required my inter
vention as a chief,” he said.