For someone who doesnt know what Vibuthi is…

Vibhuti is the holy ash obtained from sacred Puja rites involving fire. Ash as the product of fire is considered intrinsically pure. It is used on the forehead, normally as three horizontal lines representing Shiva.
Some Hindus meld both the three horizontal Vibhuti lines of Shiva and the ‘U’ shape Thilaka of Vishnu in an amalgam marker signifying Hari-Hara (Vishnu-Shiva).

This is Navarathri season. When I went with Vibhuti on my forehead, one of my colleague mentioned me, “in US we call Indians dot-face” because of this. He also asked me, “Why do you keep this dot on your forehead?” I just told him “Nothing is permanent and this symbolizes that.”

The reason for the Vibhuti on fore head is to remind you that “one day your body will turn to ash. And that remembrance will rid of all the evil thoughts”.

The reason for Hinduism to constantly remind that the body is not permanent is not to scare, but to indicate that no one is spared from death and that realization will help the mind to direct the body and soul to live an honest and truthful life.

“Sacred ash signifies that the body’s origin is from dust and ash and to dust and ash it shall return. The ash is a marker of impermanence. Everything in the interim is but an illusion (maya).”

“vittu vitu pogudhu uyir; vittavudan udalai suttu vida pogindranar;” – Patinathar
Translates to “The soul departs the body, and the moment it departs, our relatives burn the body and even our relatives depart from our place”.

A common man gets enlightened on this at some point of time in his life. The body is God’s gift for the soul which is temporary. The signs of ageing are mere indications that the time for the soul to depart is nearing and the body is becoming useless. That’s why many Tamil poets often refer to the body as the wick “yaakai thiri”.

This realization enables a human being to lead honest, positive, kind and affectionate life. This also helps humans disregard any difficulty in personal or professional life.

A person who does not realize this fact runs behind immaterial things in life. For instance some people earn plenty of money and depart from this world, even before making full use of the money they earned.

This is one of the main intentions of Hindu Scholars is making a man realize the power of his death even before it actually occurs.

One may inquire in way what considering this body or its beauty useless is beneficial. Any extraordinary passion towards it is eliminated. Allows a person to be satisfied with what he has and lead a peaceful life.

That is also the reason why Hindus burn the body after a person is dead. This is to indicate that the purpose of the body is achieved and turning it into ashes is the best thing to do. If we bury it, then the body is present in this world with out life. This creates an illusion that the person is still there.

Also, when we bury a person, the place becomes the body’s property. But a body turned into ash, does not own anything and it is dissolved in water. A person should be able to judge himself and correct if he is wrong is what Hindu Scholars insisted by considering the body as useless.