New York: An ashram in Los Angeles that has had an urn of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes for over 50 years and has set up a muchvenerated memorial is hesitant to part with it — for now.

Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson, had asked the Self Realization Fellowship (SRF) ashram founded by Paramahansa Yogananda to immerse the ashes.

“In Hinduism, ashes from the funeral pyre must be immersed in water. It is sacrilege to keep them,” said Tushar’s father Arun Gandhi. SRF denies receiving any communication from Tushar Gandhi.

“This is the first time we are hearing about the matter. There is no way we can respond in an immediate way on something we have had in our possession all along,” SRF spokeswoman Lauren Landress told IANS on telephone from California.

The ashes are kept in an ancient Chinese stone sarcophagus at the Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Memorial which is part of the Lake Shrine seaside ashram established by Yogananda in 1950.

“The memorial has become a place of pilgrimage where tens of thousands from all over the world come every year to pay their tribute to the Mahatma,” Landress said.

The Mahatma and the yogi had enjoyed a special friendship. Yogananda, who was the first Indian guru to extensively travel and teach in the US, initiated Mahatma Gandhi to Kriya Yoga at Wardha in 1930.

“VM Nawle of Pune, a common friend, gave the ashes to Yogananda,” Landress said.

Gandhi’s ashes from the last surviving urn in India were immersed on Wednesday, on the 60th anniversary of his martyrdom. The urn was handed over to Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya by the son of ex-governor of Gujarat, Sriman Narayan.

Source : Agencies