Mircea Eliade YOGA IMMORTALITY AND ... - Brihaspati.net

know because the paper des-empefiado the cemetery (smasana) and meditation, in
sentnda position on the corpses, in many Indian ascetic schools. The symbolism is
frequently highlighted in the texts: the cemetery is full of psycho-mental life nourished
by the consciousness of self, the corpses symbolize the vari-ous sensory activities and
materials. Seated at the center of his profane experience, the yogi burns the activities that
feed the same way that corpses are burned in the cemetery. Meditating on a smasana, one
end more quickly even the burning of selfish experiences at the same time, one free of
fear, they evoke the terrible demons and subjected.
Now there is a class of ascetics sivaitas the Aghori or Agho-rapanthi sometimes been
interpreted as material that symbolism of "cemetery" and "corpses". The name of these
ascetics has been translated as "not-terrific" (a-Ghor); aghorapanthi which would follow
the path (or worship) of Shiva in this form. La relation with Tantrism is evident. These
Aghori eat food put into human skulls, cemeteries and attend the late nineteenth century
even practiced cannibalism: Crooke cites the case of an Aghori of Ujjain in 1887 had
devoured a corpse on a burial mound (see Note VIII 1). They feed on all kinds of filth
and any kind of meat, except the horse. They justify these practices by saying that all
tastes and natural inclinations of man must be destroyed, that there is neither good nor
bad, neither pleasant nor unpleasant, and so on. As human excreta equally barren soil
fertilized assimilation of all kinds of dirt fertilizes the body and the mind becomes
capable of any meditation (Barrow, OnAghoris, p. 222). For them there is no difference
of caste or religion, the parents are simply accidents (ibid., 223). These ascetics are
divided into two branches: Shuddh (cigars) and malin (dirty). As to worship, some
confess Sitala worship Devi, Devi Parnagiri others, 2 others to Kali. Any Saiva, of any
caste can become agho-ra. According to Barrow, to the Jains are admitted, which is not
true for visnuitas (ibid., 210). Do not worship the pictures. Outside of God,
2 God venerated in Pali, near Ajmer, and regarded as the tutelary goddess of the ascetics,
Barrow, cited, p. 210.
respect to celibacy is required. They
vagrant life and the disciple (chela) can become guru recent 12 afios after the death of his
spiritual master. The bodies were buried not widespread, but sitting with her legs crossed.
(See below Note VIII, 4.)
Aghori These are but the successors of a much more ancient ascetic order and known, the
Kapalika or "carriers of cra-neos. The Maitrayani Upanishad (VII, 8) mentions as a
Kapalin, one inscription from the first half of the seventh century to the god named Kapalesvara
and ascetics (Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism, Saivism, p. 118; Brahmasutra, II, 2, 37)
. The Kapalika worshiped Siva under his appear-ance of Mahakala (Great Destroyer) and
Kapalabhrt (the bearer of the skull). Are very similar to the tantric vamacari, but carried
to the extreme of cruelty and orgiastic ritual. From the sixth century allusions multiply:
Dasakumaracarita in the sixth century, Hsiu-Tsang, qui in found on his trip to India (630-
645), Bhavabhuti (vra century), who presents in his play Malati - Ma-DHAV, a kapalita
called Aghoraghanta, ready to sacrifice the virgin Malati in honor of the goddess
Camunda. We found a similar episode in Prabodh Chandrodaya, represented in 1065: the
author is a sannyasi named Krsnamisra which seems to have known enough to kapalita.
Consider what one of them says: "My necklace and my adom are made with human
bones. I live among the ce-Nizas of the dead and put the food into a skull (. • •) • We
drink liquor in the skulls of the Brahmans ; our sacred fires are fed with the brains and