The Aghori
- Origin
- The Aghori are a living Hindu ascetic tradition. One source here is Wikipedia's summary of scholarship. The other is a page from Shri Sarveshwari Samooh, an organisation of the Aghor tradition, about its leprosy ashram. Neither is a text of the order's own teaching.
- How we treat it
- The label says this is a living religious practice held by its followers. It does not rank their beliefs or customs. The account of rituals comes from an outside summary, not from the order.
- Routes out
- The order's own description of its work comes first, followed by the encyclopaedic summary.
A group of Hindu ascetics devoted to Shiva as Bhairava, known for rituals that set aside ideas of purity, and for a leprosy ashram run by an organisation of its tradition.
Shri Sarveshwari Samooh, an organisation of the Aghor tradition, describes the Kusht Seva Ashram, its leprosy hospital. It says Shri Aghoreshwar made the main remedy himself in the ashram's inner pharmacy, using recipes from Siddha medicine, and that it is an oil produced by a long process and applied to the affected parts. Patients lived in purpose-built quarters surrounded by fields that grew part of their food. The organisation says the ashram is due an entry from Guinness World Records for its record of successful leprosy treatment with traditional medicine.
Wikipedia describes the Aghori as Hindu devotees of Shiva in his form as Bhairava, and as ascetics who seek liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. They hold that the Self is identical to the formless Absolute, so that all opposites are in the end illusory. Their Tantric rituals and customs involve intoxicants, pollution and physical degradation, with the aim of passing beyond social taboos and perceiving the illusory nature of conventional categories.
"Aghoris are Hindu devotees of Shiva manifested as Bhairava,[4][5][6][11] and ascetics who seek liberation (mokṣa) from the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (saṃsāra). This freedom is attained through the knowledge that the Self (ātman) is identical to the eternal and formless metaphysical Absolute called Brahman. Because of their monistic doctrine, the Aghoris maintain that all opposites are ultimately illusory. The purpose of embracing intoxicant substances, pollution, and physical degradation through various Tantric rituals and customs is the realisation of non-duality (advaita) transcending social taboos, attaining what is essentially an altered state of consciousness and perceiving the illusory nature of all conventional categories."
- Kusht Seva Ashram, Shri Sarveshwari Samooh (Aghor tradition)