As the Sanctuary becomes ever more diverse, many of the people of foreign lands will seek solace in our respect and our provisions for their dead.
Many of these visitors have historically cremated their dead in crematory Ghats (named for places leading to the water) and then released the bodily remains into the Ganges, the Holy River of India.
Now, living more than 8,000 miles from that Holy River and with no simple release of the dead possible, the H-1B visa workers from India are fearful of their future in their new land.
Their Ganges River is named for the goddess Gangā. The goddess is worshipped by India’s Hindus who believe that bathing in the river will cause full remission of their sins and that bathing in it will facilitate Moksha which is their liberation from the constant cycle of life and death. The water of the Ganges is pure.
But now there is hope.
Created in the Klamath Mountains of northern California, the Sacramento River flows almost due south and enters the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and finally flows into San Francisco Bay and then to the sea.
The Sacramento River is the largest and longest river in all of California and in many ways is similar to the Ganges. It is borne in high snow-capped mountains and flows across a great plateau and then finally empties into the sea.
The Sacramento can be their Ganges.
The Sacramento River was named after the Santisimo Sacramento (Most Holy Sacrament) as found in the Catholic Eucharist.
While not of the same faith, all faiths are love and this river, named for the Most Holy Sacrament, can soon be their river as well; their Ganges.
Along the Sacramento River and near California’s Capital City of Sacramento we will build along its shore one hundred crematory Ghats so that the people of the Sanctuary can follow the tenets of their religion and cremate their dead and allow the remains to flow into the river named for The Most Holy Sacrament, and then finally flow into the sea.
Our crematory Ghats will be solar powered to maintain Governor Newsom’s Green Energy Plan for California. With only the sun providing this Gateway to Eternity it may take two days of sunlight to finally consume the remains. With an array of 1,000 small mirrors concentrating the warmth of the sun, temperatures of 10,000 degrees will consume all within their focus.
Unlike electric or gas fired crematoria, this open air Solar Solution can accept those of any girth. Present closed crematoria often experience challenges with those of a more generous size. The Solar Solution only requires that the remains be placed on a simple platform and then the mirrors adjusted to send the sun’s warmth toward the body. Nature itself embraces the remains and only simple ash is finally released into the river to then flow to the sea.
This is all quite normal and has been nature’s way for millennia. There are more than 350 million Hindus in India who regard the Ganges as their way to a Holy Release from this earth. More than 40,000 people are cremated along the river each year. Many others are not cremated at all but just slipped gently beneath the waters to flow out into the Bay of Bengal.
We welcome the diversity and the broadening of our world view that will now be brought to the Sanctuary.
There is some concern, however, that particles of human remains may be intact as they flow down the Sacramento River and to the sea and so another recent immigrant to this land, the Red Eared Slider turtle, will be bred and distributed to support a continuous cleansing of the river.
The Red-eared Slider — Trachemys scripta elegans — while not a native to California, has spread its domain over much of the state. This turtle can be encouraged to live in and along the banks of the Sacramento. As with most turtles, it is omnivorous and can easily keep the waters fresh.
The Sanctuary is a place of diversity and welcoming.
While the remainder of our population will celebrate their demise through Green Energy Composting where the fermentation of their bodily remains produces the life-giving methane gas we use to power our homes and offices, the Hindu among us can place their loved ones into a solar fire and know that the remains will flow to the sea and to the Pacific Ocean and finally, thanks to the ocean currents, be returned to the Bay of Bengal and to the Ganges itself.
The Solar Crematoria can be conveniently located just to the south of the bridge leading to the Capital Mall. Along the centerline of the road in the image we see California’s state capital building in the far distance.
In the right of the image and just to the south of the Capital Mall, along the riparian lands, there can be a wealth of solar-powered crematoria and the remains can be gently slid into the Sacramento River and flow into San Francisco Bay and then the Pacific Ocean.