The Aghoris Dead Flesh Eating Sadhus

The Aghoris Dead Flesh Eating Sadhus
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1

I am perhaps by default a malang, or maybe a naga sadhu or also a Hijda , the last is a thought that worries my daughter Samiya no end, she is on My Space and Orkut , is new to blogging, she tells me to stop writing eunuch poetry , as her friends are quite confused about me , I am a tourist attraction for her college friends all doing Media at Rizvi College Bandra.

They read my blogs also come here to take tips regarding photography some of her friends I think are better visualisers than me , recently there was a project they had on various human emotions, one of them was envy , they wanted an idea I gave them a tame one, a hand in a cookie jar , but the guy was a step ahead of me , he and his friend dropped a RS 5 coin in human shit he took only the shot of a the hand going to extricate it .. this is sheer mind over matter some are born talented, some have talent thrust on them..

My Naga Sadhu Guru Vijay Giri Maharaj of Junagadh akhada recites the Holy Koranic verses, lives on a hillock at Film City , we met at the Nasik Kumbh I have shot him and his mates doing the Ling Kriya , pictures on my Hindu ethos home site.

The aghoris I met in Lucknow on the banks of the crematorium grounds on the Gomti banks , respected me on condition that I dont shoot them, but eat and drink with them,I politely refused.

Something on the Aghoris from the net..

Aghoris

Doctrines



Aghori ascetics, while being devotees of the Hindu god Shiva, are monists who adhere to the common Hindu belief in liberation (moksha) from the cycle of reincarnation (samsara). This liberation is a realisation of the self’s identity with the absolute. Because of this monistic doctrine, the Aghoris maintain that all opposites are identical and the conventional Hindu distinctions between purity and impurity are ultimately illusory.
The Aghoris are ascetics living in cremation grounds, smearing themselves with the ashes of corpses and eating from a cranial begging bowl. They are attributed with eating corpse flesh, which may be a once in a lifetime ritual act, and meditating seated upon a corpse and thereby gaining control over the corpse’s spirit. They have also been accused of practising human sacrifice. The Aghoris claim to perform a secret Tantric ritual involving sex with a lower caste, menstruating woman during which the Aghori becomes Shiva and his partner Shiva’s female energy or shakti (see Tantrism).The purpose of embracing pollution in these practices is realisation of non-duality through transcending social taboos and seeing the illusory nature of all conventional categories.

History



Although akin to the Kapalika ascetics of medieval Kashmir, with whom there may be a historical connection, the Aghoris trace their origin to Kina Ram, an ascetic who is said to have lived to 150 years during the second half of the eighteenth century. Kina Ram is thought to have been an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva, as have been each of Kina Ram’s successors. Necrophagy, the eating of corpse flesh, is attested to by a sixteenth century Persian source and in nineteenth century British accounts.

Symbols



The Aghori ascetic is himself a symbol of the god Shiva. He goes naked or is dressed in the shroud of a corpse, he covers himself in the ashes of the cremation ground, which would be polluting for an orthodox Brahmin, and his, sometimes macabre, ritual actions are symbols of his non-dualistic beliefs. The corpse upon which he meditates is a symbol of his own body and the corpse devouring ritual is a symbol of the transcendence of his lower self and a realisation of the greater, all pervading self .

Adherents



No official figures are available. At the end of the nineteenth century there were an estimated two or three hundred Aghori ascetics in Varanasi, though now there are perhaps as few as twenty living in their main centre. The Aghoris do, however, have quite a large lay following and devotees from the Indian middle classes.

Headquarters/
Main Centre



The main centre of the Aghoris is Kina Ram’s hermitage or ashram in Varanasi. Here Kina Ram is buried in a tomb or samadh which is a centre of pilgrimage for Aghoris and Aghori devotees. Apart from this, any cremation ground would be a holy place for an Aghori ascetic.

The gruesome Aghoris of India are said to have been given human flesh to eat at their initiations. This was generally choice pieces filched from the cremation ground rather than specially cooked morsels. Shrl Ramakrishna, the Bengall Saint, is said to have undertaken a similar initiation but shrank from actually eating the human titbit. He satisfied the initiation rites by tasting it with the tongue. The Aghoris took this meat to prove to themselves and others that the concept of opposites–good and bad, nice and unpleasant (also mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita) — only existed in the mind. The Lord Shiva is also known by the name Aghora and meaning that there is nothing really horrible, or can be in a world supported by delusion.




Posted on 05/04/2006 6:59 AM