Cremation, Caste, and Cosmogony in Karmic Traditions.

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When it again closes then Shiva becomes subject to duality, and the cosmos can again arise” (Svoboda 1993a:63). “When I look at someone I don’t see them as they are now; I see them as they will be. Then I can try to change them if there is something in them I think I can change. If I love skin and bones how will I be able to help them? Skin and bones will only decay, but the individual will continue to exist even after death. That is why I can say that I love people not for their present value but for their future value; not for what they are but for what they will become, or for what they have the potential to become. This is an Aghori’s love” (ibid:167). The human body deteriorates, and even the most pretty young girl will become old and ugly, and Viamalananda therefore never looked at people in their present condition, but how they will become in the future, and consequently he looked at all as mere skeletons. By this way he was not deceived by Maya, or bodily beautiness (ibid:290). “If you know about birth you know about death, and vice versa. The best place to learn about death is the smashan” (ibid:86), and it is always best to have gone through the process of death and dying when still being alive (ibid:88). “Sadhana” is any spiritual practice, and “Aghora Sadhana is designed to replace the Aghori’s personality with his deity’s personality by creation of the deity’s form in the Aghori’s subtle body” (ibid:326). If an Aghori do sadhan it is always for someone else than himself, and especially for all progenitors because if it was not for them the devotee would never have been born in a human form (ibid:80). When a spirit of a dead person enters a body of a living human, it will immediately feel at home. An “ego” refers to the force of an individual identity in an organism. The stronger the self-identification is, the more immune is the personality from attacks from other personalities which may usurp some areas of an ego’s domain. According to Tantra, if a person is doomed to live with a limited personality, he is considered ill (ibid:8). It is not death but birth that is to be feared because when you are born you forget everything of your former lives and what you did in the past, a forgotten knowledge which may ruin your future. Death is release (Svoboda 1993:101). “Some say that karma is at the root of everything, but when they are asked the origin of karma they say that karma is eternal. But how is that possible? If karma was eternal how could anyone ever escape from it?” (ibid:109). Karma is the law that each action causes an equal but opposite reaction. Whenever the one occur, the other has to follow – “Cause is Effect concealed, and Effect is Cause revealed” (ibid.). “If you know birth you know death, and vice versa. Birth came first: Shakti emanated from the Unified Unmanifested Reality. When Shakti returns to Her controller, Lord Shiva, that is death. Birth and death occur only as long as the causal body exists, but only when there are sufficient karmas with which the ego have self-identified will there be 316 enough impetus for birth to take place to create situations in which the karmas can be worked out. All the karmas in storage in the causal body must be burned away before one gains exemption from rebirth” (ibid:113). “The whole idea of Tantra and Aghora is transmutation. Whether you make use of the Shaktis of spirits or deities or magical plants or whatever, transmutation is the goal” (ibid:232). Hindus do not worship the image, but they request the deity to take place in the image whereby the devotee may concentrate his worship. The image is treated as a living being because the prana – the life force – may actually be transmitted into the image (ibid:211). According to Viamalananda, “Deities are very simple, really; They’re a lot like children. When They love you They love without restraint; but if you cheat or harass Them They’ll never forget it. If you really want to become close to your deity, you have to become just like a little child. Remember the words of Jesus: “Unless you become like a little child you will not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven” “(Svoboda 1993b:125). Aghora teaches knowledge where the devotee has to embrace the world, embrace impurity, embrace darkness, and by this push through into light. Consequently, nothing is inauspicious to an Aghori, and these ascetics have to die when they are still alive. Dying when still being alive means to relinquish all attachments to possessions, and especially the body. There are basically three things which restrict humans and bind them to the body; food, sleep, and sex. Thus, Aghoris restrict all these three things. Sleep is very much the same as death, although less permanent, since the mind is overcome by dullness and the mind is un-concentrated. Food fills the body up and makes it sleepy, and sex is exhausting the body. Aghoris will therefore sleep as little as possible to keep their minds sharpened, and both food and sex are basically bodily processes (Svoboda 1993a:170-171). There is a saying “Ante mati sa gatih” – whatever a person thinks of at the moment he dies determines the next rebirth. This is the reason why sadhus and ascetics are deeply concerned with meditation and thinking of God constantly, because if you think of God constantly during your life it is a better chance that you think of God at the moment when you die (ibid:89). In the words of Viamalananda, “I have never believed in religion. Religions are all limited because they concentrate only on one aspect of truth. That is why they are always fighting amongst one another, because they all think they are in a sole possession of the truth. But I say there is no end to knowledge, so there is no use of trying to confine it to one scripture or one holy book or one experience” (ibid:167). The true yogi knows when he will die because the prana will start to leave the body six months before he eventually dies. When the moment comes when he dies,
he will sit in lotus position surrounded by his disciples and suddenly a load pop will occur, and a lot of blood will spurt from his Shivarandhra – the posterior fontanelle of the skull where the third eye is located – and then the soul is released and free (Svoboda 1993a:92). Most souls are not enlightened, and they do not know where to go after the body dies. This is the reason why Hindus cremate their dead within 24 hours. Since the spirit does not know where to go, it hopes it may re-enter the dead body as long as the body exists. But as soon as the dead body is reduced to ashes, the spirit has to find its own path. The sooner the spirit finds its own way, the better, because if the spirit lingers around it is not good for the next incarnation. From this point of view it is doubtful whether elaborate and expensive rituals are of any use except of making money to the priests which are greedy (ibid:93). The different types of sadhus reflect different paths of philosophies. Being a Naga sadhu – a naked sadhu – means that you are not bound to this world – every thought for the body is removed, being a Aghori means that you have died to the world (Svoboda 1993a:298). “It is this intense desperation to live life to the fullest which is the hallmark, the stamp, of a true Aghori” (ibid:322). Aghoris are already dead, not only are their date of death fixed, but they are already skeletons. Aghora is the mastery of all practices, auspicious ones as well as inauspicious ones. This is crucial regarding the Left- Hand path, since left is always controlled by Shakti and more intense than the right. “Inauspiciousness” does not exist for an Aghori, and corpses, skulls, menstrual blood, and consumption of human flesh are extremely useful for them. To become an Aghori is to accept that everything in the Universe is a part of Atma. The Aghoris go stepwise, and nobody can become an Aghori without taking one step at the time, and it is a very long and difficult process. One test for the Aghoris is to eat his own faeces with real love, and if they do they have succeed a little bit. This is not perversion in common sense because the basic thought is the true oneness with all existence – it is the devotee who produced the faeces, it has only been a part of the body and he enjoyed the food, he produced the faeces, and the only thing between the delicious food and the faeces is the subtle body of the devotee. If it is impure, then the devotee is impure and imperfect. It is Atma feeding Atma to Atma, cosmologically speaking. When an Aghori reaches this stage he eats whatever he finds; dead dogs, slops from the gutter, and even his own flesh. Cosmologically, he sees everything as One, and therefore Aghoris may eat human flesh, not because they are cannibals but because it is ritual intensified (ibid:181-183). The intensified rituals characterise the path of Aghoris. Once meditating as a young student, a Jain ascetic named Jina Chandra Suri requested Viamalananda to bring his horoscope, and one day he asked him to join 317 him on a trip outside Bombay. Jina Chandra Suri told him that he was going to perform “Shava Sadhana”, which is to perform a ritual sitting on a naked fresh corpse. Viamalananda refused abruptly, but the Jain ascetic threatened him that if he did not do this ritual, Jina Chandra Suri would do it on Viamalananda’s dead body. Afraid of losing his life either by fear or by Chandra Suri, Viamalananda agreed. The corpse was a fifteen years old young girl, very pretty, and for the first time drunk in his life, Viamalananda sat naked on the corpse, and started the meditation. Jina Chandra Suri looked very pleased and said, “I am giving you my Yantra which I have worshipped for forty years in Assam. It will take care of you” (ibid:46-48). A Yantra is “a diagram which acts as a receptacle for the power of a mantra. “Mantra is the energy which moves your vehicle (the Yantra) according to the road map (Tantra)”. There are three main types of Mantra; firstly, the descriptive one which either describes the process undergone, the desired goal or both; secondly, the meaningless which aggregates sounds which have no known meaning in human language, and thirdly, bijas which are individual nasalised syllables (Svoboda 1993a:11). Tantra is the ritual by which the Yantra is empowered by the mantra. Any substances can be used for a Yantra, but…the best of all possible Yantras is the human body” (ibid:327). The “Shava Sadhana” is an enormous powerful ritual whereby the practitioner is revealed for the dark goddesses, and it is possible to achieve divine and spiritual qualities very fast. By this practice it is also possible to bring life back into the corpse and control it (ibid:49), but it is a very dangerous enterprise because the spirit might overpower the practitioner and then the devotee will die. Aghoris prefer cemeteries as their place for living and devotion. “I used to sit there all day and all night. I would cook my rice in a fresh skull each day, without even cleaning out the bits of brain”, said Viamalananda, “The smashan is the ideal place for worship of Lord Shiva because death is the eternal reality and Lord Shiva is the Destroyer, the very embodiment of death. You will always find Him among the dead, amidst spirits, corpses, and the ashes of burnt bodies. Manikarnika Ghat is Shiva’s favourite haunt” (ibid:84). The Aghoris use a lot of intoxicants, but “you must drink the drink, you must not let the drink drink you, lest you become its slave and be lost. You must always retain your control” (ibid:171). The use of intoxicants are means for brightening the experiences, and when he sits naked on the cremation ground smeared with ashes shouting obscenities, no one will come near and he can stay in this mood for as long as he wishes. Being an Aghori means to go beyond all limitations, and the body is the biggest limitation in this world. The use of drugs has three advantages from an Aghori’s point of view. Firstly, it is a contest between the drug and the Aghori – who is the stronger? Will the drug overcome the Aghori
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Death and Life-Giving Waters Cremat
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Preface Contents List of figures In
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The origin of Pashupatinath and the
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Fig. 5.1 Map of Bangladesh with Far
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In karmic traditions, death and lif
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constructions, it has often been ap
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Part 1: Cremating Death - Creating
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ethically conditioned (fig 1.2). Th
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The pervasiveness of karma linking
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Fig. 1.3. Pashupatinath temple and
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Fig. 1.5. Cremation priest lighting
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Fig. 1.7. Ghat management and servi
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theories of castes as an organisati
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Fig. 1.9. The sons collected the as
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highly polluted that the people wou
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24 Fig. 1.12. Durga Prasad Sapkota
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problematic (Levinson 1982:198), es
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(seeds, food). In life a person bec
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Fig. 2.1. Manikarnika Ghat, Varanas
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the dead, (they shall eat) their fo
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Fig. 2.6. The representation of cas
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degrees of purity and pollution. En
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Fig. 2.8. Caste structure according
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Nevertheless, it is preferable to b
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the sacrifier is the sacrifice. Thu
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partly a process by which the gods
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Chapter 3: Meditation upon death an
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Being a part of a religious elite i
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The dangers of social interaction S
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Third party observing and legitimat
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Fig. 3.4. Tyaginath sitting next to
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57 Top: Fig. 3.6. The grave of Nara
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the Mahabrahmans mostly consume the
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Religion and ritual Studies of deat
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purest in common sense is not alway
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Fig. 4.3. Modes of fleshly incarnat
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e reincarnated into regarding spiri
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Fig. 4.5. Hocart’s and Dumont’s
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impure and still treated as a Brahm
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Part 2: The Sisters Kali and Ganga
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Ganga Brahmaputra • Faridpur Bay
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Fig. 5.4. Ambikapur Shashan Ghat. F
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Fig. 5.6. Channel from the pyre whe
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The head is always supposed to be d
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Hinduism. She is employed as a care
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Only Hindus are cremated at the cem
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According to Hazera, Badol cremated
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Fig. 6.1. Statue of Jagadbandhu. 90
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Fig. 6.2. Rajani receives the bless
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His disciples are like missionaries
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In the Ashram all the expenses are
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Fig. 6.7. Burial in coffin. 98
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Fig. 6.8. Private Kali temple in Ba
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Fig. 6.9. Jagadbandhu temple in Ban
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The importance of the priest in rit
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the rituals, and they have differen
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108
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Fig. 7.1. The mighty Ganga. Fig. 7.
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Fig. 7.3. Tara. Fig. 7.4. Tripur-Su
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Fig. 7.11. Chinnamasta. 114
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immediate divine access and godly g
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Fig. 7.12. Pot-maker in front by th
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Fig. 7.14. The making of Durga. 120
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This image is the most important pa
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Fig. 7.17. Replacement of Shashan K
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Fig. 7.18. The Baishanti Durga puja
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tradition. The Bhaishanti Durga sta
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enlightenment and achieve liberatio
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132
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cloth. Although the Hindus in Farid
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Fig. 8.1. A combined Kali and Saras
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high-caste and priests as religious
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1979:115-118). As seen in Faridpur
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142
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144
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Fig. 9. 1. Map of Nepal. Kaligandak
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The opposite approach is the histor
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Fig. 9.2. Manang and Gangapurna gla
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Fig. 9.5. Bone grinding. 152
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Only 20-25 years ago air-burials we
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was completed by the end of the 18
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As a cultural construct water is al
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These sacrifices rebuild the deceas
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giving mother. A “spirit” is
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Gorakhnath promised the Nepalese th
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“Shiva, the god of eroticism, is
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Fig. 10. 3. Dagbatti - the lighting
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Fig. 10.4. Sexual engravings at the
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priori”, Jung argues; “The repr
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174
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are there in a quite objective sens
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Purana, “those who recite them wi
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forms of colour, 4) water with the
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Fig. 11.2. The spot where humans we
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Fig. 11.4. Bagmati originating from
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186
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Fig. 12.1. Sadhu fasting for Nepali
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If the river could not cleanse itse
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The trust is not directly involved
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Fig. 12.6. The outlet of treated wa
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As an example, once a complete drun
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Fig. 12.10. Bagmati River with clea
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positive or negative feedback upon
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this process happens slowly and pro
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Fig. 13.1. Decaying corpse at Nire
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achievement of a wanted state or co
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while unmarried girls and boys with
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Logic of sin and pollution Cosmogon
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212
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214
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less “true”, unimportant, or in
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From the present to the past, urban
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Dating traditions - the development
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The Muluki Ain aimed to arrange all
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spiritual fold took them to the upp
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choose one’s own path because onl
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esult of a variety of combinations
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practice, common people are ignoran
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procured for the people. The import
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Fig. 15.1. Gundestrup cauldron with
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236
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took place, at some time in history
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Fig. 16.1. Maneckji Seti Agiary in
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stony desert. The polluted body was
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Fig. 16.3. Zoroastrian ossuary from
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Fig. 16.4. Zarathushtra and fire-te
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Fig. 16.6. Inside a Tower of Silenc
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Fig. 16.7. Zarathushtra. 250
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meaningfully constituted and situat
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creative act in world-history - unl
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Alexander there offered sacrifices
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therefore concentrate on his docume
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Marshall suggested that the height
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Fig. 17.5. Dharmarajika: plan of re
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Fig. 17.6. Buddha from Building L n
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Page 292 and 293: of birth and death. The soul is ete
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Page 306 and 307: kept perpetually ablaze for over a
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Page 310 and 311: Manosha The patron saint of serpent
Page 312 and 313: Ratnasambhava The third dhyanibuddh
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Page 318 and 319: very nice. The last son (or husband
Page 320 and 321: y putting faces on people who other
Page 322 and 323: Hence, I have a feeling that I am o
Page 324 and 325: Fig. 18.3. Ram Mani Gyawali, author
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Page 330 and 331: or the opposite? Is the Aghori capa
Page 332 and 333: A man, after taking a bath in the P
Page 334 and 335: Vishnu said: Obeisance to you, O de
Page 336 and 337: The linga is pure, auspicious and i
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Page 340 and 341: Cambridge. Barth, F. 1990. The Guru
Page 342 and 343: Art, Religion & Culture: 184-191. M
Page 344 and 345: Priest. Cambridge University Press.
Page 346 and 347: Insoll, T. 1999b. Introduction. Res
Page 348 and 349: Lahiri, N. 2000. Archaeology and id
Page 350 and 351: Ahmedabad. Mirza, H. K. 2002. Liter
Page 352 and 353: Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
Page 354 and 355: (eds.). Representing Hinduism: 51-8
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