CoSurvivor
Aghori!
The Aghori are a Shaivite Hindu sect mostly composed of ascetic sadhus.
The Aghori are known for their extreme and outlandish violations of typical Indian and other social mores, as well as their unorthodox, taboo rituals. They are, for instance, known to engage in post-mortem ritual cannibalism (necrophagy), urophagia and corprophagy; they also often dwell in charnel grounds, have been witnessed smearing cremation ashes on their bodies, and have been known to use bones from human corpses for crafting skull bowls (which Shiva and other Hindu deities are often iconically depicted holding or using) and jewellery.
Many Aghori gurus command great reverence from rural populations as they are supposed to possess miraculous healing powers gained through their intensely eremitic rites and practices of renunciation.
The Aghori ascetic is himself a symbol of the God Shiva in Shiva's form as Bhairava. The main symbol which makes him distinct from other sadhus is the skull cup he uses as a begging bowl. He goes naked or wears the shroud of a corpse, covers himself in the ashes of the cremation ground and always has his hair disheveled or in matted dreadlocks. If an aghori uses a corpse as part of his ritual worship, the corpse upon which he meditates, it is a symbol of his own body and the corpse-devouring ritual is a symbol of the transcendence of his lower self and a realization of the greater, all pervading Self that is universal consciousness. Another symbol of the aghori, which ties him to the affiliation of Bhairava and links aghoris together with other Saiva and Sakta traditions, is the trident. The three pronged trident staff in Tantric Hinduism, which aghoris follow, is a symbol representing the three constituents of which Shiva and/or Shakti first creates the universe: iccha shakti (power of will/desire/intention), jnana shakti (power of knowledge - the preconceived architectural design of the universe), and kriya shakti (the power of action). The staff part of a trident in Hinduism represents the human spinal cord, of which the sushumna nadi runs along. The sushumna nadi is the main nerve current, or meridian, in the human body which is the track that the kundalini energy rises up, bringing the aghori or yogi, or meditation practitioner into full spiritual enlightenment, nirvana, or more precisely nirvikalpa samadhi.
Aghoris base their beliefs on two principles common to broader Shaivite dogma: that Shiva is perfect (omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, etc.) and that Shiva is responsible for everything that occurs – all conditions, causes and effects – in the phenomenal universe. Consequently, everything that exists must be perfect, and to deny the perfection of anything would be to deny the sacredness of all life in its full manifestation, as well as to deny the supreme being and the demigods' perfections.
Aghori!
The Aghori are a Shaivite Hindu sect mostly composed of ascetic sadhus.
The Aghori are known for their extreme and outlandish violations of typical Indian and other social mores, as well as their unorthodox, taboo rituals. They are, for instance, known to engage in post-mortem ritual cannibalism (necrophagy), urophagia and corprophagy; they also often dwell in charnel grounds, have been witnessed smearing cremation ashes on their bodies, and have been known to use bones from human corpses for crafting skull bowls (which Shiva and other Hindu deities are often iconically depicted holding or using) and jewellery.
Many Aghori gurus command great reverence from rural populations as they are supposed to possess miraculous healing powers gained through their intensely eremitic rites and practices of renunciation.
The Aghori ascetic is himself a symbol of the God Shiva in Shiva's form as Bhairava. The main symbol which makes him distinct from other sadhus is the skull cup he uses as a begging bowl. He goes naked or wears the shroud of a corpse, covers himself in the ashes of the cremation ground and always has his hair disheveled or in matted dreadlocks. If an aghori uses a corpse as part of his ritual worship, the corpse upon which he meditates, it is a symbol of his own body and the corpse-devouring ritual is a symbol of the transcendence of his lower self and a realization of the greater, all pervading Self that is universal consciousness. Another symbol of the aghori, which ties him to the affiliation of Bhairava and links aghoris together with other Saiva and Sakta traditions, is the trident. The three pronged trident staff in Tantric Hinduism, which aghoris follow, is a symbol representing the three constituents of which Shiva and/or Shakti first creates the universe: iccha shakti (power of will/desire/intention), jnana shakti (power of knowledge - the preconceived architectural design of the universe), and kriya shakti (the power of action). The staff part of a trident in Hinduism represents the human spinal cord, of which the sushumna nadi runs along. The sushumna nadi is the main nerve current, or meridian, in the human body which is the track that the kundalini energy rises up, bringing the aghori or yogi, or meditation practitioner into full spiritual enlightenment, nirvana, or more precisely nirvikalpa samadhi.
Aghoris base their beliefs on two principles common to broader Shaivite dogma: that Shiva is perfect (omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, etc.) and that Shiva is responsible for everything that occurs – all conditions, causes and effects – in the phenomenal universe. Consequently, everything that exists must be perfect, and to deny the perfection of anything would be to deny the sacredness of all life in its full manifestation, as well as to deny the supreme being and the demigods' perfections.