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detached from the worldly affairs. He does care at all about his own physical conditions. His only mission
during this period is to experience and realize that divine power, the Shakti.
This kind of severe Tapasya is known only in Aghor tradition. This is how an Aughar attains a spiritual
elevation. Aughar is actually a high stage in seekers life when all rules are finished. It is the highest
discipline, without any worldly discipline. Contrary to accepted practice for religious sects, Aughars have
no rules for eating, sleeping, cleanliness or wearing particular robes. For them there is no difference
between the water in the gutter and the sacred water from the Ganges river. For them there is no
difference between a diet of pure fruit and vegetables and the decayed flesh of dead animals. They are
above good and bad.
They are totally against performing miracles. They want mantra and tantra to become a convention in
society. They are concerned that people would not understand the subtle things and would start to talk
about or do things that will not be good for the society. And therefore, Aughars deal with or attend to
everything is such a simple and natural way that people can understand. For instance, Aughar recognize
that Medical Science too is the great gift of the Divine Mother. One should make full use of it. They
believe in the fusion of science and spiritual discipline. An Aughar teaches his people two things: conform
to the social provisions and at the same time, develop mental stability.
An Aughar is not interested in spreading the name or expanding the influence of his tradition. His interest
is to serve the humanity and to bring harmony in society, nation and the world. He is against the
polarization of the humanity caused by faith, religion, race, culture or geography.
Unlike other traditions, where people become disciples to live in a monastery or an Ashram and live a
traditional life of devotee, Aghor tradition really believes in active Sadhna and Tapasya (penance, selfmortification). An Aughar wants to acquire spiritual power within himself and in order to do so he goes
through a very difficult period of Tapasya.
During this period, he lives a shelter less, meal less, cloth less and mean less life; he does not care
whatever happens to his own body; the only motivation that drives him is his desire to see or feel the
power, the Almighty. The primary difference between Aghor and other traditions is that in other traditions,
in general a devotee makes a complete surrender to God and follows a path of devotion which brings him
mental peace. An Aughar on the other hand goes a step beyond that. He not only makes a complete
surrender to God, he actually became aware of Brahm in Himself.
Guru
The details of an Aghor Sadhna are known only to the Guru (an Aughar) who transfers his knowledge to is
disciple(s) if and when he chooses to do so. It is not open to everyone. The external activities of an
Aughar are no clues at all for what goes on within. And that is why this chain is survived since ancient
times despite numerous upheavals and turmoil in society and in the country.
After becoming an Aughar, aspirants heart becomes very pure and no evil can touch him. His mind
resides in vacuum (a state of mind with no thoughts) all the time. He attains a state of indifference; for
him, all living beings are Godly creatures and therefore they are equal. Actually, there are people in this
state of mind all over the world, however, they may not be known as Awadhoots, Aghoris or Aughars.
Aghor Tantriks believes that is behavior and conduct, not his talk, should represent his Guru. For this, he
draws an analogy with the culture of an Indian wife who never utters her beloved husbands name. He
encourages everyone to avoid using Gurus or Masters name in general conversations. This is vital for
bringing harmony in the spiritual world. An Aughar has two forms of behavior: one is external or social that
people can see but cant understand. And other one is his personal treatment which is very sweet. He has
no such thing like hatred for anything or anybody. He is at such a mental stage that he is capable of giving
equal treatment to everyone.
Although akin to the Kapalika ascetics of medieval Kashmir, with whom there may be a historical
connection, the Aghoris trace their origin even before Ramayan. Aughars have traditionally lived in
isolation, in mountain caves, jungles and on cremation grounds. They visited households only
occasionally. They neither had a need nor desire to live within the society and hence they stayed away
from it. That is why they adopted a living style that distracted general public. To avoid people, they
behaved as though they were imbalanced.
The Aghori ascetic is himself a symbol of the god Shiva. He goes naked or wears 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 ritual practices 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.
Due to the secrecy of this religious sect, 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 a large lay following,
and devotees in India.
Any cremation ground would be a holy place for an Aghori ascetic.
They encourage complete freedom in spiritual practice. Man is born free and should remain free. They
believe that spiritual capacity should indeed be used to provide relief to the worldly people. However, it
should be done in confidence, not with a great pomp and show. There primary goal is the upliftment of the
common humanity and in particular, support and care for the neglected and destitute people. Aughars
themselves dont want to be in the limelight. Aughars believe in complete freedom: freedom from cant,
freedom from hypocrisy, freedom from hatred, envy and pettiness, freedom from desire, freedom from
ego, freedom even from scriptures. They prefer character to brilliance, action to inaction, justice to mercy