Last updated 24 March 2004

A SUGGESTED THEOSOPHICAL FUNERAL SERVICE

Notes: This is the latest version of the service which in earlier forms has been used at a number of funerals and seemingly has been appreciated. One or two words concerning its use may be helpful. First, study the service carefully and then have a rehearsal. This gives an idea of how long each element takes. About the music, this is more than likely to be on tape; make sure that whoever is using the machine is familiar with the cueing so that the right piece of music comes on at the right time and at the desired volume. This also needs rehearsal.

CONDUCTOR is the person conducting the ceremony.

[Note for CONDUCTOR: Please speak strongly and distinctly, not too fast, so as to be heard at the back of the room.]

  1. Friends assemble at meeting place and are given a brief order of ceremony.

    2. MUSIC (1) during assembly. (See note at end.)
  2. CONDUCTOR: "Friends, we are met here to pay our last respects to our friend (brother or sister) . . . . . . .

    3. who died on . . . . . at . . . . aged . . . . ."

    Historical personal data of interest to the group, e.g. his/her work for the Theosophical Society, etc.
    [Note for CONDUCTOR: Collect these details and write them down well before the service.]

  3. CONDUCTOR invites others who may wish to pay tribute - shortly - to the departed to do so.

    4. [Note for CONDUCTOR: Warn beforehand anyone you think might like to speak but allow opportunity for impromptu remarks from anyone present.]
  4. CONDUCTOR (or other invited person) could give a brief and beautiful talk on death and its place in the scheme of things, to include for example:

    5.  

     

    Explain the difference between Personality and Ego: the Personality is the mortal self, the Ego is the Immortal spiritual SELF.

    The rhythm of the Great Law - the innumerable cycles of being (physical life) and non-being - subjective existence in Devachan, as a "personal" spirit in a heaven of fulfilment and recompense (read up about Devachan beforehand).

    The Ego in Devachan cannot communicate with any on Earth but the bonds of love are inseparable and tie Ego to Ego for all time - on their plane of being.

    We, as Egos, communicate with our dear departed when our physical body is quiet and passive as in sleep. Memory of this may sometimes be brought through to the waking state.

    The immortality of the reincarnating Ego which is gathering experience through a vast series of earth lives - until its final fruition and unconditioned liberation into the realms of Universal Life - in full consciousness (Nirvana).

    [Note: Whoever does this talk must give prior consideration to what he or she will say and look up and note any suitable quotations.]

  5. Short reading from an accepted 'theosophical' source, e.g. The Bhagavad Gita, The Voice of the Silence, Out of the Silence (Rhoades), or other suitable poetry.

    6.  

     

    MUSIC (2) (See Note at end.)

  6. If not already there friends depart for burial or cremation place.
  7. Prior to removal of coffin for cremation or at graveside:

    8.  

     

    CONDUCTOR (or other): Brief explanation according to the Ageless Wisdom (Theosophy). Reiterate man is twofold, i) the personal man we know in life with all his normal human attributes, and ii) an inner divine man, his essential real Self. The personal man is mortal, the essential inner Self immortal.

"The Self is our means and our opportunity to participate in the larger life of the Spirit. Those who leave all things for the Self will find all things there in the Self. What we have travelled far and long to seek is that which is nearest to us. It has been with us all the time, nearer than hands and feet, waiting to be claimed and acclaimed.

"The best, the noblest of our kind, are those who have attained some degree of Self-realisation and Self-trust. Kindling the sacred purifying flame of radiant Selfhood burning in the Heart of the realised Self, consumes the dross and debris of the Not-Self. Immortal Self found is mortal self lost.

"He who would save his life must lose it.

"The symbol of the Self is LIGHT, the light that illumines the Path and reveals to all who walk thereon."

- PAUSE -

"He who finds the true Self is very close to God, and well on the way to becoming a God himself - God-like, God-conscious, a true Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu [but NOT BUDDHIST - omit this paragraph for a Buddhist] - the man made perfect. This is our promise of the future, a glimpse of ourselves as some time we shall become, must become. Man can never be more than the Self; he should not be less. What remains when all else is finished, gone and done with, is the Self. At the end of the road is SELF, waiting; the SELF we cannot lose, safe, sure, settled, serene. Nothing is at long last sacred except the integrity of our own essential Divine Being - our final home.

[From Pamphlet by H. H. Burnell, 'Self-Realisation, the Testament of the Self']

CONDUCTOR: "Let us now commit our friend's (brother's, sister's) body to (1) the kindly Earth, or (2) the swift, clean consumption of fire. So be it.

_______________________

Note: Suggested music is Berlioz requiem (Grande Messe des Morts), or Albinoni, at the beginning of the ceremony during assembly, or any previously requested by deceased.

Whoever plays the music should prepare it well beforehand, knowing starting and stopping cues (with counter readings). Choose telling or moving passages.

During the assembly period, music (1) can be fairly long, five minutes or so. Music (2) is the more important. It is the 'heart' of the service and everyone is attentive - play for about seven minutes.

Geoffrey A Farthing.