Aghori Sadhus…some Indian wizards…

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Wizards don’t just exist in fairy tales…there are real ones…modern day Merlins who live among us as imperceptibly as the wizarding world lives among muggles in the Harry Potter Series. You may believe that what they do is magic or you may not. But from their perspective there are spirits, gods, and complex alchemical energies flowing through the world that only the trained mind can see. They are shamans that travel between the spirit worlds, using marijuana and alcohol as sacraments. Hindu wizards are known as sadhus, and among them possibly the most intriguing bunch that roam the earth these days are the Aghoris. They commune with the dead, living among them and practice rituals with corpses in order to make contact with the divine mother, Kali, to whom they pray. It all sounds very macabre till you read some of their philosophy. For them, nothing and everything is sacred. That is to say, excrement and corpses are as sacred as flowers. They see all things as a divine expression and the idea of matter as being impure, an illusion. There are some books, if you are interested in this subject,by Robert E. Svoboda, called The Aghora Trilogy. They are very readable and full of the tales of one Aghori sadhu, describing his many years of wizarding training, his many strange adventures and his visions of the terrifying and beautiful dark Goddess, Kali and her male counterpart, Shiva. By the way, I’ve always wondered why Shiva always seems to be depicted clean-shaved. He was a sadhu like the Aghoris, and would have had dreds and a beard.

I’m posting one punchy little National Geographic clip on Agori Sadhus and then a 6- part British documentary on a young Aghori sadhu in training, narrated by Art Malik. They are visually, very compelling and I enjoy watching these guys and imagining the lives they lead…living their lives in shadow, with one foot in dream and another in death. In part 4 a young Agori sadhu in training is initiated by his guru and he weeps ecstatically as he feels overwhelmed by the presence of the divine mother. You hear about this kind of spiritual ecstasy from the writings of countless mystics across the ages but here you can actually witness it. In part 5 you can witness an exorcism of evil spirits and in Part 6 he goes home to visit his family, which is forbidden to Aghori sadhus. Its really a documentary about a young man’s right of passage, as he begins upon an unusual path. Enjoy!

National Geographic clip:

Aghori Series Part 1:

Aghori Series Part 2:

Aghori Series Part 3:

Aghori Series Part 4:

Aghori Series Part 5:

Aghori Series Part 6:

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