Higher Living, Aghora

Q: “There was a documentary on TV which showed a tāṁtrika eating human corpses!”

Guruji: “I’ve seen it. Eating dead bodies, their own feces, etc, all these dirty deeds are part of black magic. We read that piśācas eat dead bodies – there are many descriptions in purāṇas
that they drink blood and eat dead bodies. These are not human acts, they are demonic acts. And a human will only do them if he is under the influence of a piśāca. And they claim it’s higher living! It’s the lowest of low living, guaranteed to go straight to hell!”

Q: “They claim this the life of a aghori since aghora means no distinction between good or bad!”

Guruji: “I don’t think that’s the case. Aghora means “the most beautiful”. Also know for sure that aghora is not a sectarian belief. It’s a stage of development. That what I have realized now, only after toiling in śmaśāna for 10 years! It’s not a separate path.

“Only a person who is trying to catch a ghost would eat corpses and put excrements on himself and put cotton doused in his own urine in his ears so he could contact a karṇa piśācinī . There’s no purity in all that! Avadhut Rama who we were talking about used to sit arond on a garbage dump and drink 7-8 bottles of alcohol. These people lie around in śmaśāna and carry skulls around. They dont do any spiritual practice; just stay in śmaśāna and repeat mantras. Now their founders – Aghori Kinaram, for example – must have been accomplished beings because their supernatural acts are well known.

“Take the nine Nathas on the other hand; we’ve never heard that they were chewing a chicken leg or dragging a corpse or playing football with a human skull (laughs). Yoga is really an art of highest living.”

Q: “I think people look for shortcuts.”

Guruji: “People get influenced by small siddhis so they get into this business. And once you go into the business of ghouls, that’s the life that you lead. Higher living is really a tough thing. To reach that standard is really a big thing. Because for higher living, you should have high standard, and high mental capacities. Now imagine some laborer who’s earning Rs 1500 in a month, you give him 10 million rupees one day. What will happen to him?”

Q: “He’ll go insane.”

Guruji: “He’ll go insane and won’t even be able to spend that money in anxiety. Why? Because he doesn’t have that training, doesn’t have that capacity, doesn’t have the mental status or standards in life. He’s been thinking narrowly so can’t think of higher things in life.”

Q: “Is it just a matter of training or could be sanskaar (impressions) from past birth?”

Guruji: “It could be carryover from past birth. Intelligence is not accidental.

“Higher living could be to get a chance to live in Babaji’s group. Who knows. There’s always a chance. This business about Kriya tradition he started, may be is it to recruit a new member in his club every 1000 years or 500 years. it might be. it’s quite a possibility. How he lives, what he does, nobody knows.

“Remember Jonathan Livingston Seagull: when one school is over, another begins. One qualification is achieved, who knows what’ll come next.”

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