The Inca believed strongly in the afterlife. For them the heavens were divided into four quarters. They believed that the souls of its people were sent to live in heaven or in hell after the death of their earthly bodies. The people who obeyed the Inca rule: -Do not steal (power), Do not lie (about your own power), Do not be lazy (work your own ground)- were sent to live a good afterlife in heaven, in the part of the quarters where the warmth of the sun was present and where there was plenty of food and drink. Those who did not live by this rule spent their afterlife in the underworld where it was dark and cold and they only had rocks to eat.
The Incas believed that the members of the ruling class were somehow direct descendants to a higher mind of which the first emperor, Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Ocllo, proved to be the first of its kind. To keep this sacred ruling the emperor would always marry his sister as his official wife, so that the heir would be a pure descendant of the all powerful force of the Sun (Inti) and they would rule with divine power.
Important roles occupied by these powerful souls in their earthly life were, at the point of death, subject of greater care by its subjects, in embalming and mummifying their bodies before burial. The body, then, was left in their palace or in a designated sacred place with numerous objects, in above ground chambers, to help them in the journey to their final destination known as "Pacari'Na. Upon reaching the Pacari'Na, the mummies were suppose to be able to mingle with the ancient ancestors that were also buried there. The Incas even kept some servants to watch over the dead emperor as a symbol of continuity of its life force (mind power) towards the afterlife. For certain Festivals, the dead emperors were paraded through the streets.
The Incas believed in reincarnation, and this is the main reason why funerals were a very sacred events.
The funerals rites were held for eight days. Relatives would re-enter the tombs or palaces and consult the mummies on important daily affairs. The dead were considered a manifestation of spiritual powers that were able to be manifested through natural events and/or through dreams using symbols. The priests were able to train their mind by using herbs and sophisticated methods to guide it to the correct channel of interpretation, otherwise they would ended up losing their own mind.
The Huacas, as sacred places or objects of natural source such as a rock, a statue, a cave, waterfall, mountain, or even a dead body, were manifestations of powerful forces, either from the light or darkness, alive in the spiritual world and manifested themselves in the physical world to communicate something sacred. The mountains, for example, were very important and powerful source of energies and for this reason considered very sacred, since they were the source of the natural element of water. Compared to the human body, the mountains were similar in power as the mind that empower the whole physical human body.
The Incas believed in an existence of an overall supreme power, and that the course of history formed a succession of repetition and renewal. Each age was ruled over by the power of the Sun (Inti), and the general course of development was from the most primitive to the sophisticated. Each world was suppose to end by some sort of catastrophic event.
Super helpful thanks 👍
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