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 India's saddhu: Life of an aghori
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - Nov 18 2008 :  01:29:44 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Message
Life of an aghori

India’s saddhu: this is a nice documentary I’ve seen b4 on youtube concerning the life style of aghoris.

Aghori 1: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf9fSbcpqUg
Aghori2: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wm_S1Bfpmqw
Aghori3: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7EZS1NsxHPo
Aghori4: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DRhHCEf4KSk
Aghori5: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzy67vnYrY4
Aghori6: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_AXoB2FkA

enjoy!

porcupine

USA
193 Posts

Posted - Jan 16 2009 :  10:26:42 AM  Show Profile  Visit porcupine's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
thank ye kindly
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - Jan 17 2009 :  7:48:08 PM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
you are most welcome my friend
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themysticseeker

USA
342 Posts

Posted - Jan 17 2009 :  8:47:30 PM  Show Profile  Visit themysticseeker's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
HA HA HA HERUK!
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - Jan 18 2009 :  04:49:27 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
hi mystic, just out of curiosity what are you laughing about?
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Katrine

Norway
1813 Posts

Posted - Jan 18 2009 :  1:48:33 PM  Show Profile  Visit Katrine's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Ananda

quote:
hi mystic, just out of curiosity what are you laughing about?


It is what I seem to hear the Aghori in the very first video screaming:

Ha Ha Ha Ha Heruk !

I don't know what it means either...

Do you know, Mystic?
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - Jan 18 2009 :  2:49:37 PM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
oops sorry about that mystic and thk you for shiming in Katrine that's sweet of you.

these links were lying between my files and i saw the video a long time back that i forgot about it's details but sought it was great so i posted it here.

concerning the aghoris, they are simply amazing they exercise extreme advaitan thought (no good no evil, all is god down from the lowest to the highest) and at the same time they practice kundalini yoga and shamanist related practices.

if someone is interested about the subject, than these books by Robert E. Svoboda would help a lot:
aghora, at the left hand of god
aghora, kundalini
aghora, law of karma

you can purchase these books at this amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/AGHORA-Left-H...p/0914732218

namaste,

Ananda
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themysticseeker

USA
342 Posts

Posted - Jan 18 2009 :  8:38:51 PM  Show Profile  Visit themysticseeker's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by Ananda

hi mystic, just out of curiosity what are you laughing about?



HA HA HA HERUK is the mantra of Heruk, an emanation of the Buddha and tantric diety of highest order. He may be viewed as a name of Shiva. His tantra is written by Saraha as the Hevajra Tantra. It is one of the earliest works of tantra, a book that took me much work to acquire.

Saraha is seen as a lineage directly to the Buddha, and his disciple Nagarjuna is famous for the Madhyamika philosophy. He also was the guru to Tilopa. So Saraha (or rather his wife) is the founder of the mahamudra school of Buddhism, which is a little known, but extremely profound path of meditation.

It exceeds tantra, because once the view is absorbed, renunciation has no point. The convention shattering exercises of the aghori tantrics are not required, nor is vegetarianism, asceticism or celibacy.

The practice is simply to experience the totality without engaging the discursive mind (which we don't realize is sapping our energy), without concepts and judgments being with the spontaneous flow of self-liberating phenomena.

Best,

TMS

Edited by - themysticseeker on Jan 18 2009 8:48:29 PM
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2009 :  12:27:21 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
wow that's just beautiful mystic, thk you for sharing this my friend.

i am simply fascinated now but was repulsed at first from the aghori tantrics at the same time you can say but now i see their work as divine in it's own sense.

kindest regards, and again thank you.

Ananda
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rajeshsahai

India
3 Posts

Posted - Mar 01 2009 :  03:09:56 AM  Show Profile  Visit rajeshsahai's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
thanks!! but i wonder if u have met real aghoris in person and truly know of their mysterious lifesytle!!
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - Mar 01 2009 :  06:30:47 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
hi rajeshsahai,

and nope i haven't met one but i am sure that being arround one is not such an easy thing to digest.

i saw another video of them on youtube with scenes of cannibalism and that got me far beyond the state of disgust.

but to each his own path and we are all just manifestations of conciousness in the end...

kindest regards,

Ananda
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2009 :  03:05:33 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
encounter with aghoris (transcript + audio download):

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/encounter/.../1782966.htm

quote:
Yellow Baba (translated): I've taken human flesh at the burning ghats. I did not feel it's flesh. I feel it's very tasty so I take it and eat. It's the order of my guru so I do that.

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Simon

Germany
36 Posts

Posted - May 21 2009 :  10:24:54 PM  Show Profile  Visit Simon's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Thank you for sharing this video. A friend of mine is totally fascinated with this group and he's been telling me about them for quite a long time. He'll come over in a few hours and we'll watch it over breakfast.

Edited by - Simon on May 22 2009 05:01:39 AM
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - May 25 2009 :  12:19:41 PM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
you're very welcome brother Simon.
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Simon

Germany
36 Posts

Posted - May 25 2009 :  3:09:12 PM  Show Profile  Visit Simon's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I wrote the guy, who uploaded the videos on youtube, asking for a better quality version, but apparently the one uploaded on youtube is the only one he's got.

There's another video featuring aghoris but unfortunately it can't be watched online anywhere.

http://www.smallplanet.gr/en/e-shop...flesh-12.htm



Edited by - Simon on May 25 2009 3:10:56 PM
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - May 25 2009 :  3:49:53 PM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
hi Simon, the vid you are talking about as well as others which are more "gore" are on youtube for free and to be honestly speaking i got really ........ when i saw one which contained the practice of eating human flesh and sitting and praying on a dead body.

but i understand what this means for the aghories and why they do it, but i am against them sharing this kind of ritual in public for the sake of documentation bcz it's not necessary and honestly speaking it's offensive to the viewer and this is the main reason why i didn't share the links to these vids here.

in the end the aghories path is an interesting one and we should respect it as we do to other paths but i think that the attention which the aghories are getting in public is for all the wrong reasons and no where near spiritual.

love,

Ananda
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grihastha

USA
184 Posts

Posted - May 26 2009 :  8:21:04 PM  Show Profile  Visit grihastha's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Aghor has always fascinated me, for whatever reason. I don't hold much stock with past life memories but I have such a powerful attraction for cremation grounds, for no apparent reason, that I sometimes wonder if I was an Aghori or a Dom in a previous birth...

But I have found that the symbols of the Aghori - the cremation pyre, the skull, ashes, shavasadhana - are all powerful meditation aids. Ananda, I saw that film too - I'll freely confess I turned it off hurriedly at the point when they were obviously going to start eating the dead guy. Yes, horrifying and sick-making and, above all, sensationalist and tittilating - filming it and posting it on Youtube, that is, not the practices themselves. But seeing actual shavasadhana gave me a vivid image to use - I sometimes imagine that I am in shavasadhana in the cremation ground, seated (of course) on my own corpse. I very often visualize a cremation fire devouring my self, sometimes sitting in front of it, sometimes kindling it in my heart.

The original Tibetan Siddhis must have been Aghoris - that's my unprovable supposition, anyway. Where else did all the charnel imagery come from? Practices like shavasadhana and flesh eating are as old as the original Kapalikas, that is, as old as Tantra itself. I don't feel the urge to do it myself (although I will meditate on Manikarnika Ghat one day), but I appreciate the power these wrenching concepts have to liberate us from the Self of flesh and blood and bone...
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sagebrush

USA
292 Posts

Posted - May 26 2009 :  11:50:03 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
wow. thanks for sharing that. I watched all 6 of the videos.
I had seen photos of sahdus before but had not really seen a small documentary such as that. It is amazing and mind blowing to think of living like that and also just seeing the lifestyle of India.

Drinking out of the Ganges would be scary. I don't think it would be clean since so many bath in it, and also if there seem to be dead people floating in the river(that is where this fellow found his skull)
I think I can appreciate that this life of aghori-is stripped of everything... how difficult that would be on a day-to-day basis coming from my creature comforts like a roof over my head, bed, hot water, fresh everything...take me out on a backpack trip for 5 days and to get back to real food and hot water is a supreme treat.

I am glad to have seen the video, otherwise I wouldnt even know about them. Fascinating!
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sagebrush

USA
292 Posts

Posted - May 27 2009 :  12:03:15 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I wanted to add that I am sure here in the states it would not be leagal to burn bodies at the rivers edge and that you would be sent to prison for eating bodies at the pyre. So very interesting that India appears to not have rules/regulation, which also brings to mind they must save a bundle with not having funeral costs.
thought provoking.
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - May 28 2009 :  02:42:50 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by grihastha

Aghor has always fascinated me, for whatever reason. I don't hold much stock with past life memories but I have such a powerful attraction for cremation grounds, for no apparent reason, that I sometimes wonder if I was an Aghori or a Dom in a previous birth...

But I have found that the symbols of the Aghori - the cremation pyre, the skull, ashes, shavasadhana - are all powerful meditation aids. Ananda, I saw that film too - I'll freely confess I turned it off hurriedly at the point when they were obviously going to start eating the dead guy. Yes, horrifying and sick-making and, above all, sensationalist and tittilating - filming it and posting it on Youtube, that is, not the practices themselves. But seeing actual shavasadhana gave me a vivid image to use - I sometimes imagine that I am in shavasadhana in the cremation ground, seated (of course) on my own corpse. I very often visualize a cremation fire devouring my self, sometimes sitting in front of it, sometimes kindling it in my heart.

The original Tibetan Siddhis must have been Aghoris - that's my unprovable supposition, anyway. Where else did all the charnel imagery come from? Practices like shavasadhana and flesh eating are as old as the original Kapalikas, that is, as old as Tantra itself. I don't feel the urge to do it myself (although I will meditate on Manikarnika Ghat one day), but I appreciate the power these wrenching concepts have to liberate us from the Self of flesh and blood and bone...




hi grihastha, and thk you for sharing.

i personally think that even the buddha was an aghori to a certain extent but more into "emtpiness" than into "oneness".

i remember reading smthg about him giving advise on meditation on our bodies as dead corpses being eaten by worms and....

Father Anthony De Mello as well gives the instruction on to take 10 to 20 minutes daily and meditate on and in ourselves as dead.

btw Paramhansa Yogananda used to visit the smashans as well if my memory serves me right and most of the indian siddhars of south india and babas do.

nothing to say in this post except "AUM NAMAH SHIVAYAH" and respect to all which is in creation "high and low".

namaste,

Ananda
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - May 28 2009 :  02:49:24 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by sage

wow. thanks for sharing that. I watched all 6 of the videos.
I had seen photos of sahdus before but had not really seen a small documentary such as that. It is amazing and mind blowing to think of living like that and also just seeing the lifestyle of India.

Drinking out of the Ganges would be scary. I don't think it would be clean since so many bath in it, and also if there seem to be dead people floating in the river(that is where this fellow found his skull)
I think I can appreciate that this life of aghori-is stripped of everything... how difficult that would be on a day-to-day basis coming from my creature comforts like a roof over my head, bed, hot water, fresh everything...take me out on a backpack trip for 5 days and to get back to real food and hot water is a supreme treat.

I am glad to have seen the video, otherwise I wouldnt even know about them. Fascinating!





hi sage, and welcome.

nice argument it reminds me of a beautiful vid with a wonderful sage in it which i saw on youtube yesterday and he said smthg about what you mentioned.

take a look at it, this is nice to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta1cZYXMShI

Love,

Ananda
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miguel

Spain
1197 Posts

Posted - May 28 2009 :  07:48:40 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Ananda,Im watching now the videos from your first post and they are incredible.Specialy when he recieves the mantra form his guru and starts crying.When he calls the name of shiva...wow..i felt it inside me.Then he begins to enter in a trance state of inmense joy and bliss.Incredible.Thanks Ananda.

Edited by - miguel on May 28 2009 07:53:36 AM
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grihastha

USA
184 Posts

Posted - May 28 2009 :  09:23:16 AM  Show Profile  Visit grihastha's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Miguel, that's the bit that stuck in my mind as well. A really powerful image. Like you, I felt it deep inside me.

Another quite good film on sadhu life in general - there are a couple of aghoris in there - is Naked in Ashes http://www.nakedinashes.com (which is finally on Netflix, for all you Americans). It doesn't have the focus of the aghori film and certainly not the sensationalism of the flesh-eating piece on YouTube, but it's stirring and sort of whistful: the sadhus' otherworldliness confronting the madness of modern wired culture and realizing it is losing the battle.

Meanwhile, as soon as the weather clears up (and the kids are at school, and the neighbors aren't looking) I'm going to experiment with ashes. I've got to get it out of my system, for whatever reason...
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miguel

Spain
1197 Posts

Posted - May 28 2009 :  09:44:12 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi grihastha ,

After writing the last post i continued watching the you tube videos,and i dont know why exactly,but after watching all the videos i began to feel very bad feelings.Probably due to a shock with my westlife environment...I began to feel that specially when some people in the video criticize his life stile,and when his guru says that that the agori looks like a dark man and things like that...

Thanks for the link to that video.It seems really amazing.

And after your experiment with ashes,it would be much apreciated a report here of the experience (If you want and if you have an interesting experience from it.....I cant imagine what are you thinking to do exactly ,which procedure will you follow, but sounds amazing...

all the best and good luck.

Edited by - miguel on May 28 2009 09:49:18 AM
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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - May 28 2009 :  11:06:43 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Miguel, always good to have your light presence around.

namaste brother,

Ananda

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Ananda

3115 Posts

Posted - May 28 2009 :  11:12:57 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ananda's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
grihastha, i think that we are very lucky to have someone like yourself around this post and would like it if you could share some good sources such as books and movies on aghories and kapalika and if i wasn't drawn from the inside to this stuff i wouldn't be posting all this.

but i must admit openly that even though i am tempted i won't and don't think i can follow a life like that of an aghor.

i've seen the movie naked in ashes and recommended it in the movies topic in the forums.

this is smthg which might interest you, i haven't seen it yet (take a look at the reviews): http://www.amazon.com/Thread-Yoga-S...p/B000TB1X6K

by the way you mentioned smthg about "Dom" in your first post, could you elaborate some more on this point for i can't find anything about them.

and would like your opinion on Svoboda's books.

and would love to hear some feedback from you on the "ashes" part.

kindest regards,

Ananda
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