Introduction to Aghori Saints

AGHORI's are called cannibals by some, while some view them as dirty sect which destroys the image of Hinduism in the world. They are believed to be devotees of ‘Lord Shiva’. According to the Aghori's every human is a ‘shava’(dead body) with emotions and they should try to become ‘Shiva’ by denying the human pleasures and involving in the Aghori rituals. It is believed that they possess miraculous healing power, and some even heal the person by cursing him. ‘If an ‘Aghori Baba’ curses you, that means your problems will end soon!’ – claim some people who are believers and followers of such sadhus.

Life of Aghori Sadhu

The life of an Aghori Sadhu is not easy, to become like them one has to meditate about twelve years and complete certain rituals under the guidance of an Aghori guru in order to enhance one spiritual strength. Aghoris use woods from pyre, clothes from dead bodies, and ash of burnt bodies for the various rituals. There are certain rules one must follow to become an Aghori. Firstly an Aghori must find a teacher and do what the teacher tells him to do. And Aghori must find a human skull known as “kappala”. And use only this as a ritual tool before initiation. An Aghori must apply pyre on his body to symbolically show the nature of the Lord Shiva.

Aghori culture

The Aghori culture is quite strange and frightening for an ordinary people. They practice meditation and they usually stay in forest or by the riverside. The most frightening fact about them is they enjoy cannibalism. They eat human flesh digging the dead body from the crematory places or from the grave yards. They consider it as a Bhakti (religion). They usually live near the grave yards or crematoriums and start to dig the ground or search the flesh after the cremation process is done. They also collect the woods and logs usually left over from the crematory areas and they cook their foods from the same woods. 

  

There are large number of Aghori community in India and many of them throng to Pashupati Nath during Maha Shivatri. They have pretty much a nomadic lifestyle. They stay in community and share their culture with each other. They justify their act of eating human flesh as holy. As per their logic when a person dies he just becomes a useless body of flesh his soul simply escapes from the body. And same things happen with the other animals so there is no difference between eating a dead chicken or other animal or a dead human being.

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Aghori's not only eat dead people but they also eat other animals like goat or chicken but they never eat cows. They also drink alcohol and smoke cannabis(weed,hashish).The ritual practices of the AGHORI are symbols of their non-dualistic beliefs.

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The corpse upon which they meditate is a symbol of their own body and transcendence of the lower self and realization of the Supreme Self.They are far beyond the human civilization and they do not bother to care whats happening in the outside world.. they have their own world and style of living have their own world living in between normal human beings likes us.

10 FACTS ABOUT THE GRISLY AND MYSTIC AGHORI SADHUS OF INDIA

The most feared and the most respected clan of sadhus or ascetics of India , the Aghori sadhus are notorious for their uncommon and grisly rituals they perform as a part and parcel of their religious routine, enough to arouse curiosity and awe among the public. Before going to facts lets know who the are.

WHO ARE AGHORI?

Aghori is a peculiar clan of of sadhus or ascetics of India. The Aghoras is said to have been over 1000 years old, the first Aghora sadhu being Keenaram. They inhibit the city of Varanasi (Banaras), alongside the banks of the river Ganga, where the most revered temple of Kasi Vishwanath stand proudly. Aghoris are devotees of Shiva manifested as Bhairava, who seek moksha from the cycle of reincarnation. This freedom is a realization of the self’s identity with the absolute.

So, below is the list of odd and amazing facts about the lives of these Aghori Sadhus, a sect of people who revere and relish what we usually dread – Death.

• Profanity is the route to Nirvana:

For Dhuniwale Bhaba (as the locals call him) cursing in an utterly profane manner for virtually no reason. And is the only way he claims that can lead him to Nirvana or ultimate enlightenment. An incident reveals that when a man approached the baba seeking blessings regarding his daughter’s wedding, the baba cursed the man using utter obscenities and that his daughter would rot in hell. After three days the man was reported to have approached the baba again with some sweets stating that the baba’s blessings solved his problem. The Dhuniwale Bhaba is also notorious for throwing faeces on people who demand his blessings and the most awful yet unbelievable fact is that the people are very contended with his ‘prasad’ and some even take it home.

• The nasty appetite:

All over India and among other curious westerners, the Aghori are well known for their extremely revolting appetite. Their food habits include whatever a civilized human being will not eat at any cost, such as rotten foods, foods from dump site, animal faeces, animal urine and putrefying human corpses which are most often eaten in a cup made of human skull. But they seem to have their own reasons for their nasty appetite. Consumption of excreta is said to kill ego and derail the human perception of beauty, which is essential for a man to lead his life as an Aghora.

• Tailanga Swami:

Here comes another baba who did the unimaginable again. This baba is hailed as very powerful by the people of the locality. Records say that he was slapped and driven out of the Kasi Viswanath temple by a priest when he was worshipping and performing a puja on the sculpture of Lord Shiva using his own excreta. History says that Lord Shiva himself appeared in the dream of the local king of Benaras and complained about the insult meted out to Tailanga Swami, and also revealed that the swami was an incarnation of his holiness himself. The priest was also found dead mysteriously, later.

• Legitimate Cannibalism:

In spite of Varanasi being a densely populated city, Cannibalism is openly practiced by the Aghoras in Varanasi without any public upheaval as they usually do not kill humans for their necrophagic needs, but only consume corpses from cremating grounds. Corpses are eaten raw and at times they are roasted over open flame. After eating a certain quantity of flesh, they start meditating sitting atop a corpse which is continued all night. If cannibalism amidst a populated city is not awkward enough, move on to the next item in the list.

• A Creepy sense of fashion:

Aghoras are known for their spooky sense of fashion. They move about in the city with nothing more on their bodies except a skimpy jute loin cloth and at times, nude. Being nude, in their terms is complete renunciation from the material world and its attachments. Most often, they smear their bodies with ash from human cremated remains to cover their nakedness. Talking about accessories, Human skulls are worn as jewelry around their necks. Some Aghoras(or Aghori) are also reported to roam around with the femur (thigh bone) of cremated people as a Aghoran symbol. (May be as a walking stick). They never cut their hair, letting it to fall to their knees, making Agoras to be easily spotted anywhere amidst a hell of a crowd.

• Mysterious medicines:

To the surprise and awe of the scientists all over the world, The Aghoras claim they have medicines that can treat some of the most stubborn diseases such as Cancer and even AIDS. You guessed right. These medicines called ‘human oils’ come from burning the human body collected from the burning pyre. The babas claim that these medicines are very effective on curing the above mentioned diseases but are not used in modern medicine due to ethical considerations. However, the authenticity of their claim has never been tried and tested yet by the scientific community.

• Tantric powers and Black magic:

The healing powers of Aghori Sadhus are said to come from their expertise in Black magic. What they say about these practices is that they never use their powers for harmful deeds. instead they absorb the diseases that plague the victims who visit them into their bodies and eliminate the diseases by burning them using Black magic. Certain Aghori who intensely practice Black magic say the more they please Lord Shiva and goddess Kali, the more they gain powers of control over the environment and the forces of nature. But they never do it, as they adore and respect Mother Nature.

• The ‘left way’ to reach god:

It may seem a pun, but actually it isn’t. While the whole world follows the right way to reach god, these sadhus proudly assert that they follow the ‘left way’ to reach god which is far quicker than the former. According to them, true godliness lies in seeking the ‘purity in the filthiest’. One of those sadhus says they are true Aghoras if they were able to concentrate on god while performing the most perverted acts such as necrophilia, necrophagy and Coprophagy. To mention, the right ways to reach god include veganism, sanctity and abstinence from lust according to Hinduism.

• Mantras, Tantras and Marijuana:

No Aghora would ever abstain himself from smoking Marijuana because they believe it is marijuana that helps them concentrate on religious mantras and the strenuous yogic practices they perform by routine. In spite of being under the effect of marijuana all the time they appear very sober and calm. When asked by curious visitors that whether they consume weed for pleasure, they abruptly deny the assertion. The delusion and hallucinations provided by weeds are taken as religious ecstasies and heightened spiritual experiences.

• The ‘Five M’ Concept:

And finally, The Agoras are cool enough to compile their beliefs into a 5M protocol. The five M concept has many other different versions , but the Aghoric version of the 5M concept or Dakshinakara has its own translation of the original.

Madya – Wine (which means a heavenly fluid which drips from the glands of human brain.)

Mamsa – Meat (swallowing the tongue)

Matsya- fish (twin-fish an ‘8’ shaped structure which forms a part of the backbone)

Mudra- parched grain (positions of Kundalini yoga, followed by Aghori ascetics)

Maithuna- Sexual intercourse. (should be learnt from a Sriguru)