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Summary of Question:	Donorcards & Cremation
Category:	Sikh Practices
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 7/23/2003 4:27 PM MDT

Waheguru ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru ji Ki Fateh

I would like to ask if anyone carries a donor card. I have been discussing it with my fiance and she tells me that we as Sikh should be cremated in our complete form. Therefore, to donate any part of our human body, even if it could save someone elses life, would go against this.

I hope someone can help me and clarify this.

Thank you for your efforts in this forum.

In response to our brother who strayed from the path in Amsterdam, I don't think it was the canals or the tulips he went there to see!
A man should be commited to his wife and his children. Alcohol is no excuse for any behaviour, nor should we be slandering him. It is not our place to judge one another, we are not representatives for God on this earth.

May the Gurus Bani bring compassion and tolerance to us all.

Waheguru ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru ji Ki Fateh

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REPLY
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Waheguru ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru ji Ki Fateh
This question is really very personal. If a person loses his/her spleen due to a medical necessity, such that it is removed, then s/he is not in 'complete' form. What difference does it make to donate organs so others might live, and have the rest of you cremated? The purpose of cremation in Sikhi is to ensure disattachment from the body, because our Gurus emphasized that our body is a gift, but not the sum total of Who we are. Some people are SO attached to physical form that their spirits don't know they have died, and they 'hang out' with the body after death. Cremation takes care of that. Cremation is also a great way to ensure that communicable diseases don't remain in the environment. Burning a body that died of illness ensures this as well.

Consider that one of the most important values in Sikhi is SEVA. Service to others without thought of reward. A donated organ (hopefully) allows someone to continue life and fulfil their purpose here. That, to me, is service, even if the one providing the service is dead.
There is no hard & fast rule on this, since organ donation was not a consideration in our Gurus' times. Take these thoughts to your fiance. Guru ang sang,
-DKK