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story reading for a funeral service
Here is a simple Jain‑based story you can read during a funeral service. It is short, gentle, and suitable for mixed audiences (including non‑Jains), and keeps the focus on the soul, peace, and compassion.
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Story: “The Traveller and the Inns”
Once a disciple asked a Jain saint:
“Gurudev, I am very sad. My loved one has died. Why did this happen? How do I live now?”
The saint replied with a small example:
“Imagine a long road with many inns (sarāī). A traveller walks all day and, at night, rests in one inn. In the morning, the traveller must leave that inn and continue the journey. If the traveller starts crying, ‘I will not leave this room, this bed, these walls,’ can the journey stop? No. The road continues, and the traveller must move on.”
The disciple said, “Gurudev, but our loved one was not a simple traveller to us. They were everything.”
The saint answered:
“In Jain dharma we understand that every soul (jīva) is an eternal traveller. Birth and death are only like changing inns on a long journey. The body is like that inn – temporary. The soul is the traveller – without beginning or end.
Your loved one’s soul has simply checked out of this inn (this body) and moved ahead on its karmic journey.
Our crying cannot change their next birth. What truly helps – and helps you as well – is:
- to keep peace in the heart,
- to forgive and ask forgiveness,
- to reduce anger, pride, deceit, and greed,
- to live with non‑violence and compassion.
When we live like this, we send no ‘objects’ to the departed soul – but we purify our own soul. And a pure, peaceful heart is the best tribute we can offer.
Remember them with gratitude, release them with love, and walk your own path with more awareness and kindness.
This is the Jain way of honoring the departed.”
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How to use this in the service
You can read it like this:
- Brief intro (optional):
“I will now read a short Jain story that explains how our tradition sees death and the soul’s journey.”
- Read the story slowly, with pauses, especially at:
- “The body is like that inn – temporary. The soul is the traveller – without beginning or end.” - “Remember them with gratitude, release them with love…”
- After the story, you may keep a short silence (30–60 seconds), then, if appropriate, recite the Navkār Mantra once.
If you tell me the approximate length you want (very short / 5 minutes / 10 minutes) and the language (English / Hindi / Gujarati), I can prepare 1–2 more ready‑to‑read pieces in the same Jain spirit.
