Om Shanti: PGurus pays its respects to the musical legend Shri S P Balasubrahmanyam

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• Do not know about his greatness nor his value system. Admit he sang some memorably good songs.

• Can somebody say why SPB wasn't cremated but was buried instead?
  Whereas his own Thamaraipakkam village &/or farmhouse surroundings could've forbidden open air cremation due to his COVID-19, he could very well have been first cremated in a Chennai electric crematorium and then his asthi (= ashes) carried to Thamaraipakkam in Thiruvallur for, say, building his samadhi.
  It is highly unlikely that his brahmin family customs would've dictated it. Saints/sanyasis/swami(ji)s are indeed buried in a seated posture, without any wrapping or 'box', after leaving their earthly bodies, but SPB wasn't a known/declared saint/sanyasi/swami(ji), either.
  And anybody witness to his burial, directly or through the TV, wouldn't have failed to notice his straight-laid body dressed in angavastram+panchagacham (towel+dhoti) with his bespectacled face left open, looking up; nowhere was any (Christian) coffin or a (Muslim) kafan (his prior 2-day Covid-19 negativity being one reason?) to be seen.
  But could it have been his personal/individual decision, given his teaming up with non-Sanatani & non-Hindu individuals during his career in the highly Dravidian atmosphere of Tamilnadu film industry?
  Highly perplexing, indeed.

  • Only a while ago, I stumbled upon this news item dated 26/09/2020, which I quote:

    "Though it is customary for Hindus to cremate their dead, SPB was buried in a small portion of land inside his farmhouse compound. “A few of his close relatives like mother-in-law and father-in-law were all buried and not cremated. So in the same tradition, the family took a call to bury SPB’s mortal remains,” a source close to the family told TNM (= The NEWS ).

    Referred URL:
    https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/goodbye-spb-bharathiraja-vijay-mano-among-thousands-who-bid-farewell-singer-133973

    • I quote below one interesting aspect of SPB's marriage, which might also serve as a background for his family making a call to bury him:

      'In an interview, Dr. S. P. Balasubrahmanyam revealed that he had eloped with Savithri on a Lambretta scooter to get married to each other.
      '"My first bike was a chocolate-and-beige Lambretta scooter I bought from a friend who worked as a poster designer. It costed ₹3,200, which was quite expensive for me, considering that I was given ₹300 for a song back then. My love bloomed on the Lambretta. Savitri and I went dating on the scooter and we loved the ride. It was on the Lambretta that we eloped and got married.”'

      Source URL:
      https://starsunfolded.com/savithri-s-p-balasubrahmanyams-wife/

• A devotional singer, who elevates an atma to a blissful state through Shabdha Brahman, which is through Bhakti yoga. His body carried atma of Devi Saraswati. He completed task assigned to him by Devi.