The favourite objects of the dead person kept in the coffin are attacked by ghosts in the same way as the corpse is attacked. This includes even dressing up the dead body in their favourite clothes. The subtle sorcerers can use these objects to do black magic. Also as the vibrations of the person are more in those objects, the subtle body instead of attaining onward momentum is attracted again and again to the coffin because of prior attachment to those objects and then finally starts residing in it.
Due to being Earth bound, the subtle body of the deceased ancestor falls prey to other tamasik subtle bodies in the graveyard and also to ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.). It comes under their control and becomes a medium for their activities. Therefore while the act of keeping something special in the coffin may be done with the best intentions, it is most likely to be harmful for the subtle body of the deceased. Instead of moving out of the Earth region, the subtle body gets stuck in its favourite objects. As the subtle body becomes more earth bound, it gets easily controlled by ghosts and thus suffers immense agony. Besides being trapped by ghosts, he also gets stuck in the cycles of birth and death.
For this reason it is best not to add anything into the coffin, not even flowers. Also in the case of burial, it is best to dress the body in white and simple clothes.
