bodies have been cremated on the banks of the river ganes for hundreds of years bathed in the waters of their holy River wrapped in linen and placed on a wooden P the dead are consumed by Flame Swami Barista a monk and a doctor is my guide to death and the afterlife in Hinduism but the one place he can't take me is The Cremation ground itself okay this is the holiest crematorium correct in the holiest city on the holiest river right in the world right okay can anybody come and watch in a way yes but from far it is not proper to go there and watch from far you can watch from far but you can't come to the crematorium right uh it's a secr place only [Music] MERS you can however get very close to a body before it's burned MERS carry them down this Lane to the ganes all day long 7 days a week in barasi life and death mangle freely [Music] so swamy I see these these funerals we've seen two or three pass by and the people following they seem to be joyously chanting rather than sadly wailing why is that they are facilitating the Soul's Journey further and in a way it's a matter of uh Joy one grief is there having lost the near one yeah but that person has moved on to a better way of getting on with his or her life