ARMY INSTITUTE OF LAW

DRUG ABUSE PROJECT:

“AGHORI BABAS AND DRUG ABUSE IN INDIA”

Submitted By: Submitted To:

Animesh Puneet Gupta Mrs. Gagandeep Dhaliwal
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Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the faculty and Principal of Army Institute of
Law, Mohali for helping us gain awareness about Drug Abuse and helping us become better and
enlightened citizens. I would also like to thank Mrs. Gagandeep Dhaliwal ma’am for accepting
the project for evaluation.
Index

1. Introduction II
2. History III
3. Aghoris and Drug Abuse IV
4. Conclusion V
INTRODUCTION

India is a diverse nation filled with a plethora of religions and communities. Within these
religions, exist several different sects which hold their own beliefs, values, customs and
practices. When you think about Hindus, especially Hindu Sadhus a certain stereotypical image
comes to mind: a saffron clad long-haired man who indulges in worship, rituals, consumes only
vegetarian food and abstains from materialistic desires like money, fame and alcohol. While that
is true for a majority of Hindu sadhus, there exists a small community of Shiva worshipers who
can be deemed to be complete opposites of this stereotype. They are mysterious, dark men
covered in ash, who roam around inducing fear in the hearts of the public and make their blood
curl. They believe in heavy consumption and uncontrolled abuse of alcohol and drugs. These
men hold no regard for the laws of the land or the morals of society. They live in their own world
of intoxication and taboo practices. Aghoris are devotees of Shiva manifested as Bhairava,1 and
monists who seek moksha from the cycle of reincarnation or saṃsāra. This freedom is a
realization of the self's identity with the absolute. Because of this monistic doctrine, the Aghoris
maintain that all opposites are ultimately illusory. The purpose of embracing pollution and
degradation through various customs is the realization of non-duality (advaita) through
transcending social taboos, attaining what is essentially an altered state of consciousness and
perceiving the illusory nature of all conventional categories. Aghoris are not to be confused with
Shivnetras, who are also ardent devotees of Shiva but do not indulge in extreme, tamasic ritual
practices. Although the Aghoris enjoy close ties with the Shivnetras, the two groups are quite
distinct, Shivnetras engaging in sattvic worship. Aghoris base their beliefs on two principles
common to broader Shaiva beliefs: that Shiva is perfect (having omniscience, omnipresence and
omnipotence) and that Shiva is responsible for everything that occurs – all conditions, causes and
effects. 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. Aghoris believe that every person's soul is Shiva but is covered by
aṣṭamahāpāśa "eight great nooses or bonds", including sensual pleasure, anger, greed, obsession,
fear and hatred. The practices of the Aghoris are centered around the removal of these bonds.
Sādhanā in cremation grounds destroys fear; sexual practices with certain riders and controls

1
"Shiva: The Wild God of Power and Ecstasy" Page 46, by Wolf-Dieter Storl

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help release one from sexual desire; being naked destroys shame. On release from all the eight
bonds the soul becomes sadāśiva and obtains moksha.2

HISTORY

Although akin to the Kapalika ascetics of medieval Kashmir, as well as the Kalamukhas, with
whom there may be a historical connection, the Aghoris trace their origin to Baba Keenaram, an
ascetic who is said to have lived 150 years, dying during the second half of the 18th
century.3 Dattatreya the avadhuta, to whom has been attributed the esteemed nondual medieval
song, the Avadhuta Gita, was a founding adi guru of the Aghor tradition according to Barrett
(2008: p. 33):

Lord Dattatreya, an antinomian form of Shiva closely associated with the cremation ground, who
appeared to Baba Keenaram atop Girnar Mountain in Gujarat. Considered to be the adi
guru (ancient spiritual teacher) and founding deity of Aghor, Lord Dattatreya offered his own
flesh to the young ascetic as prasād (a kind of blessing), conferring upon him the power of
clairvoyance and establishing a guru-disciple relationship between them.4

Aghoris also hold sacred the Hindu deity Dattatreya as a predecessor to the
Aghori Tantric tradition. Dattatreya was believed to be an incarnation of Brahma, Vishnu,
and Shiva united in the same singular physical body. Dattatreya is revered in all schools of
Tantra, which is the philosophy followed by the Aghora tradition, and he is often depicted in
Hindu artwork and its holy scriptures of folk narratives, the Puranas, indulging in Aghori "left-
hand" Tantric worship as his prime practice.

An aghori believes in getting into total darkness by all means, and then getting into light or self
realizing. Though this is a different approach from other Hindu sects, they believe it to be
effective. They are infamously known for their rituals that include such as shava samskara
or shava sadhana (ritual worship incorporating the use of a corpse as the altar) to invoke the
mother goddess in her form as Smashan Tara (Tara of the Cremation Grounds).

2
https://sladeviper777.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/aghori/ "Aghori". True Hindu. Retrieved 14 February 2017.

3
Parry, Jonathan P. (1994). Death in Banaras. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46625-3.

4
Barrett, Ron (2008). Aghor medicine: pollution, death, and healing in northern India. Edition: illustrated.
University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-25218-7, ISBN 978-0-520-25218-9. p.33

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In Hindu iconography, Tara, like Kali, is one of the ten Mahavidyas (wisdom goddesses) and
once invoked can bless the Aghori with supernatural powers. The most popular of the ten
Mahavidyas who are worshiped by Aghoris are Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, and Bhairavi. The
male Hindu deities primarily worshiped by Aghoris for supernatural powers are manifestations
of Shiva, including Mahākāla, Bhairava, Virabhadra, Avadhuti, and others.

Barrett (2008: p. 161) discusses the "charnel ground sādhanā" of the Aghora in both its left and
right-handed proclivities and identifies it as principally cutting through attachments and aversion
and foregrounding primordiality; a view uncultured, undomesticated:

The gurus and disciples of Aghor believe their state to be primordial and universal. They believe
that all human beings are natural-born Aghori. Hari Baba has said on several occasions that
human babies of all societies are without discrimination, that they will play as much in their own
filth as with the toys around them. Children become progressively discriminating as they grow
older and learn the culturally specific attachments and aversions of their parents. Children
become increasingly aware of their mortality as they bump their heads and fall to the ground.
They come to fear their mortality and then palliate this fear by finding ways to deny it
altogether.5

In this sense, the Aghora sādhanā is a process of unlearning deeply internalized cultural models.
When this sādhanā takes the form of charnel ground sādhanā, the Aghori faces death as a very
young child, simultaneously meditating on the totality of life at its two extremes. This ideal
example serves as a prototype for other Aghor practices, both left and right, in ritual and in daily
life."6

AGHORIS AND DRUG ABUSE

The lifestyle and beliefs of the aghoris has already been described in this manuscript. The main
reason behind the bizarre practices of the Aghoris has perhaps, a deeper and more religious
meaning than most perceive. The aghoris are probably, the most connected to God and the
Ultimate Power and are able to indulge in such great levels of meditation due to the very basic

5
http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/monier/indexcaller.php 'Aghora' in Monier Williams Sanskrit-English
Dictionary
6
Ibid.

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fact that they are so intoxicated. The have no worries of the present nor do they have any interest
in the worldly pleasures. They are different from the young man who consumes drugs and drinks
alcohol for pleasure and social status. Such deviant acts are committed by the youth as part of
their defiant streak. On the other hand, aghoris in particular, devour these drugs since they
consider them as a fundamental aspect of their religious ceremonies and practices. Sadhus claim
that use of hallucinatory drugs brings them closer to God, and thus closer to salvation. The use of
the hemp plant in the religious rituals of the worship of Lord Shiva is noteworthy. It is said that
cannabis is one of the favourite plants of the deity and is thus respected and held reverently by
his followers. Drinking of ‘bhang’ (a drink made out of cannabis) is considered highly
auspicious by these Sadhus as it is said to unite the disciple with the deity and open a way to
achieve salvation and get rid of the miseries of life and death. According to religious beliefs it is
said that bhang is capable of cleansing one’s soul of all forms of sin.7 Marijuana has long been
used as a spiritual tool and mood enhancer, and it is also said that a person taking marijuana has
a heightened emotional experience. The Sadhu’s intake of ‘ganja’ or ‘charas’ brings them into a
state where they feel one with God. The spiritual impact of psychedelic drugs depends entirely
upon the person using them, it depends on his/her mental state and his/her intentions in using it.
While Sadhus on one hand use drugs to experience the divine presence of God around them, on
the other the Beats used them to run away from society into the world of ecstasy and bliss.
Sadhus who embrace marijuana as a sacrament find it spiritually beneficial, as they feel that the
intake of the drug purifies their soul; marijuana helps them focusing their attention inward,
toward the realm of spirit and towards God.

CONCLUSION

This makes the consumption and intake of drugs just a matter of perspective. This goes on to
show that while, one may consider the act wrong, it may hold a significant meaning for the other.
This does not, however, validate any and every action. If this argument is accepted, then every
murder, rape and theft can be validated by the mere difference of perception. It is therefore,
important to understand that even though something maybe right and acceptable for one set of
people, if the laws of the land and the general perceptions are against a certain concept then, no

7
http://www.beatdom.com/from-ganja-to-god/ Accessed on: 08 April, 2018

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matter what such acts cannot be given validation. The fear of a certain sect cannot be made the
sole reason behind a blatant lack of enforcement on the part of the state machinery cannot be
allowed to continue. Not only are Aghoris consuming illegal substances like marijuana, but, they
also indulge in other activities such as cannibalism, necrophilia and alcohol abuse. The argument
that they are not interfering with the general society can also not be accepted as they lead to a
new and influential perception that if you are feared, then you can commit any wrong. They are
influencing the youth and promoting drug abuse and the enforcement of the laws and provisions
for the prevention of consumption of drugs must be enforced and enforced with serious
dedication in order to cull the new perceptions being formed.

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