Mehek Bassi's Blog - Posts Tagged "salvation"

It was specifically the second time that I was visiting Mussoorie and Dehradun, in my entire life till now, that my family decided to take a stop at ‘Haridwar’ and spend a night before we could proceed further to relax and enjoy our winter vacations in the queen of hills: Mussoorie. Everyone agreed to visit the holy river ‘Ganges’ and have a snaan (bath) in it, but due to overly cold weather, we stuck to just splashing some water on our faces, I (to be honest) didn’t want to do that even for I read an article about ‘The Ganga Pollution, a cause of concern – research by IIT-Kanpur Professor’ a few weeks back only, and even dipping my hand in the water made me nauseous. Sorry, but this is the truth (I don’t intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments!!)

So, we reached Haridwar at around 8pm, and it was freezing cold (not to forget the fog!) and we reached The Holy Ganga by 9pm. It was all dark and secluded, unlike the usual evenings, when one can’t even find a space of two foot steps to stand by. We all bought a little basket with a diya (earthen lamp) and some flowers, scented leaves and some incense sticks. The pandit initially demanded only Rs. 10 for the puja, but the amount rose to significant Rs. 200 as the puja was over! Then I remembered the movie ‘Oh My God’ by Paresh Rawal, where he brought the truth of pandits and priests in light, and enlightened their ways of befooling the common man on the name of God. But we couldn’t negotiate at that moment, for the priest also asked for Rs. 2500 more if we were interested in any further puja or donations. But we all simply chose to be quiet and washed our hands in Ganges, prayed in silent and moved on. I had to dip my hands in the water for I couldn’t argue with mom who is a devoted religious personality in the entire family!

Next morning, we all decided to visit some temples and also see the ‘Ram Jhula’ in Rishikesh. It is nothing, but an ancient bridge over the Holy Ganga. We watched some ancient temples like: ‘Swarg Asharam’, ‘The Gita Bhawan’ and continued our journey. The guide with us tried to mislead us and also provoked us to buy a ‘Rudraksh’ (estimated of worth a few lakhs) in just a few thousands (that proved it was a forging!).

Next we took a boat to cross the holy river and reach back to our car, and start with our journey to Mussoorie. We got off the boat and started walking along the banks of Ganges and meanwhile I was shooting some awesome shots of nature and hills, with river flowing speedily, making it even more serene. I took a few shots, and then my lens just got stuck onto a ‘saint’, who was rubbing the sand of the river-side on his body. He was dressed in loose saffron clothes, his hair all stuck up together, untidy white beard and lots of malas (garlands and ornaments) in his neck and arms. He had a jute bag with him in which he may be carrying some food or vessels, or may be clothes? I didn’t know, but the wheels of my mind churned and I was forced to think about if these people actually live a peaceful and contended life? Were the really happy with their life? Is it the way to abode to the heavens? I can’t imagine even one day of my life without electricity, internet and all the facilities that made the human race lazy and dependable, but this is the truth!

That man was wearing a few clothes in such a cold weather, don’t they feel cold? I was packed up with sweaters and jackets, but he was barely wearing two layers, and with his bare legs and feet, he started walking. The picture shown above is the actual picture of that man; unfortunately I couldn’t capture the frontal side, for we had to follow a different path. I was nearing the car, and my mind was filled up with questions. Was this the way to get salvation from the circle of births? If yes, then WHY? What about all the rest of the people who are far, far away from such a lifestyle. People like me, or you (reading this on computers via internet, dependable society!). He carried so little with him, and we have so, so much and still cry for more. He didn’t wear shoes, but we have multiple pairs, and still are not satisfied. He didn’t had much food, but we have pizza hut, dominos, café coffee day, and what not! But still we go to try the new Italian restaurant opened in the city.

What is MOKSHA (liberation)? The true definition might be different for each of us, but for them Moksha means living independently, till the last breath. Living with limited supplies, enough to keep them alive, and keep them away from all the moh-maya (hedonism) of this world, and more than enough to keep them happy.

I thought deeper and deeper…we were going to stay in Fortune Resorts in Mussoorie (rated as one of the best hotel chain in India), does it matter? NO! We were going to have a luxurious week ahead, but will it lead me to internal happiness and satisfaction? I don’t think so. I may end up craving for more, and being greedy instead, or just being plain about it. No amount of money or luxury can provide internal liberation, rather the person just ends up being avaricious and as per the mythology of Hinduism, his soul wanders and his cycle of re-births never ends. But is it the fate of around 6.5 billion people (if we roughly ignore a number as large as 0.5 billion, for all the priests and pandits and moulvis of the world)? Will all the souls wander and will they all take birth again and again?

The questions are endless and answers are limited and contradictory. The best thing is to find the answer within one’s own self and define liberation on our own terms. Till then, keep thinking, keep travelling, keep talking to yourself and know yourself within…one life!

Just a few moments ago, I read this short description about Hindu Cannibals, on a facebook page, that inspired me to jot down some information on my blog too!

Historically, there is a tribe of ‘Ascetic Sadhus’, who are known for their extremities. They are called cannibals by some, while some view them as dirty sect which destroys the image of Hinduism in the world. They are believed to be devotees of ‘Shiva’. They are supposed to possess miraculous healing power, and some even heal the person by cursing him.

There is a 1000 year old Hindu sect, that challenges traditional religious beliefs and follows an eccentric and quirky path to enlightenment, they are known as ‘The AGHORIS’.

‘If an ‘Aghori Baba’ curses you, that means your problems will end soon!’ – claim some people who are believers and followers of such sadhus. Some Sadhus even throw their faeces in anger on their devotees, who collect it and take is home in the form of ‘prasaad’ (holy food)!

In ‘Kumbh-Mela’ in Ahemdabad, that occurs every 12 years, there come 100 Sadhus to have ‘snaan’ (holy bath), and out of 100, only 99 are supposed to return, one drowns himself in the river to return back to his abode. Every person is considered to be ‘Shava’ (a dead body with emotions), and we are supposed to free ourselves from the materialistic bonds and attractions, and become ‘Shiva’ (deny human pleasures and comforts, and adopt Aghori life!)

Lord Shiva is seen as an Aghori, while some historians claim it to be false. Shiva adopted tapasya (sacrifice of human pleasures) and attained gyan (wisdom). An Aghori is believed to live in a cemetery and many of them roam around naked representing true human life. Sometimes they clothe themselves in the clothes they collect from the dead bodies. They usually carry a cup or bowl made from the human skull, and can eat anything! By anything, I literally mean anything they come across, rotten food, food from dumps, animal urine, animal faeces etc. They regularly perform rites to attain knowledge and wisdom, to enlighten themselves. They rub the ashes of dead human corpse on their bodies, and the final part of the ritual requires minimum of one eating the human flesh and meditating on a human corpse. This is a symbol for their rise from Shava to Shiva!

Aghoris are flesh eaters and alcohol consumers, unlike the other Hindu priests. They eat human flesh (at least once) to gain supernatural powers and power of being immortal and to stop ageing! According to them, they are destined to live such a life and impress the Gods and Devi’s, by offering them human flesh. They perform certain rituals before consuming human flesh. Although the Hindus ceremonially cremate their dead, but sometimes, the bodies are disposed of in the holy river of ‘Ganges’, and they float and reach banks of the river. The Aghoris sometimes collect the bodies, perform rituals and eat the flesh. They eat vital organs in a hope to gain power to immortality.

The Aghoris have to eradicate thoughts of dichotomy, between pure and impure, good and bad, right and wrong. Everything is sacred according to them, and the universe resides within them. Their soul is their universe, and so they adopt some bizarre methods to enlighten themselves and attain supreme wisdom!

Although there have been many debates about Aghoris being cannibals, some documentaries show the truth behind cannibalism residing in Hinduism, while some Hindu activists have declared the Aghoris to be an isolated sect, and they don’t consider them to be Hindus.

The Aghori Baba in the image is shown drinking something in a cup made from ‘human skull’, and on the other side, the Aghori baba, with ashes from the corpse, smeared all over his face.

That was, My Take On: Aghori Babas: Hindu Cannibals?

We are the people living in the 21st Century, an era of Science and Technology, and naturally, being educated enough, we do not believe in something that is beyond a scientific explanation, or something, that even science can’t explain. But there exist some phenomenon, which are literally beyond scientific elucidation, even today!

So many old rites and rituals, and even some obsolete beliefs have been rejected today, because we are able to find out the ‘reasons’ of death. Earlier, if a person would die of tuberculosis, people would mark it as a task of the evil, the blood vomits were counted as fall of the evil. But today we have found out cure, and if not cure, then diagnose, of most of the diseases, and so we abolish the mere thought of any supernatural phenomenon, occurring in today’s world.

But, not all theories have explanations, and not all people are purely scientific. There exist some people, even in today’s world, who not only believe, but also indulge themselves in black magic, voodoo and santet.

Black Magic: It is the use of supernatural powers for evil purposes, and destructive measures.

Voodoo: It is a kind of spell casting, by inviting the spirits of dead and deceased, and sometimes, trapping the spirits of an alive individual, and make him do what you want.

Santet: It is an Indonesian practise, to harm or kill people using black magic, often by inserting nails, wires, insects, into the body of the victim, causing pain and death.

There are different names, and practises for black magic in today’s world. It is often done with a little or no contact with the victim at all. Sometimes, the magician demands blood, or hair or even nails of victim, and sometimes, just an object that he has touched, is enough for him to cast his spells. The black magician usually claims to be able to contact spirits, and even talk to them. Sometimes, the magician even makes a dummy doll, and casts some spells and magic, and can trap the soul of the victim in the doll. What happens next is history!

Then there was another term I read, Astral Plane. The Astral Plane is a plane of existence, which is supposed to be crossed by souls and spirits, before birth and after death. And the souls and spirits are called Astral Bodies. Astral plane can be visited by meditation, Astral Projections, or Lucid Dreaming (Lucid Dreaming is a controlled dreaming, where you can control what you want to dream about! It can be achieved by meditation and a lot of practice.)

We, being realistic and logic-demanding people would of course consider it to be deceptive, but what I saw in a video recently, definitely put me into thoughts, and that was when I decided to write upon this theme.

Black Magic practise is widely practised in India, even now! Kalia Massan is the most ‘dangerous’ form of Black Magic, and it is claimed to be efficient also. In Kalia Massan, the magician uses the power of disturbed and sad souls, who are suffering and wandering on earth, even after their death. Sometimes souls live as parasites on the bodies of people, and hence there are several temples and holy places where many rituals are practised, to ‘remove’ those parasitic spirits, and purify the body.

In Kalia Massan, the basic theory is power of your subconscious. There are two types of minds, conscious, and sub-conscious. Conscious mind does what you order it to do, and so you remember what you did. But subconscious mind is usually not in control of the person. The dreams we see every night, the dejá-vu, that we experience sometimes, are all activities of your subconscious. If you get a very bad thought or dream, filled with hate or vengeance, and if you are unable to get it out of your mind, then the subconscious travels out and passes this energy to the so called ‘ghosts’ and ‘spirits’. You would have dreamt of some nightmares, which is nothing, but an out of body experience, as your body was asleep and at rest, while your subconscious, which has travelled into another world, while your physical body was asleep, the beings there have devoured on your negative energy. While this act has occurred without your will, you may actually do such an act of travelling to different astral planes using third eye meditation and various astral projections.

The elevated soul will be accompanied by a spirit guide who will directly take soul after death to the mid higher astral plane and will continue its journey to the next level. On the other hand when a soul leaves the body which is not yet prepared to leave as in cases of accidental death, suicide, murders the soul is lost and does not know where to go, it is out of the physical realm because the body cannot accept the soul anymore and is medically termed as dead. This lost soul reaches the lowest astral plane, this is the plane that has maximum negativity, souls who have left the physical plane with extreme lust, hate or any negative emotion dwell here.

At the entrance of this plane there is a river and there are some souls are waiting for the sprit guide to help them elevate from here, and those souls who carry a negative emotion stay back in this plane forever and often communicate with the people on earth who use black magic rituals to invoke them on the earth.

This river is very frightening and when seen inspires misery. Even hearing an account of this river arouses fear. It is a thousand miles in width and it does not contain water. It is a river full of blood and pus with heaps of bones on its banks and mud of blood and flesh. It is impossible for a sinful disturbed soul filled with vengeance, hate or lust to cross this river as it is obstructed by hairy moss and the river is filled with huge reptiles like crocodiles and alligators crowded with hundreds of flesh-eating birds. When a lost soul comes near the river in an attempt to cross, it seethes and becomes overspread with smoke and flames like butter in a frying pan. It is also covered with dreadful throngs of insects with piercing stings and vultures and crows with metallic beaks. It also contains leeches, fishes, turtles and other flesh-eating water animals. It is said that the hungry and thirsty sinful souls drink the blood flowing in the river. The sinners who fall into it wail with pain and fright. There is no rescuer for them. The hundreds of whirlpools in the river takes the ones fallen in to the lower region. They stay for a moment in the lower region and then they rise again such a soul sits on the bank of this river filled with frustration and awaiting some means to cross this river.

Unfortunately, the easiest way to cross this river is forgiveness

Such abandoned souls are then called upon to perform Kalia Massan, the most dangerous type of Black Magic. Kalia Massan ensures the death of the victim within 40 days of its application. And in most of the cases, the death is due to some disease, which occurred all of a sudden. Something which was not there before. There is always an excuse for Kalia Massan, but death is ensured.

In the end, I would say, black magic is parallel to ‘science.’ Some rituals cannot be explained, not even by science. While scientists argue and label black magic as a baseless and logic-less activity, but then there are still evidences of deaths by black magic. Where along with the body of victim, some of his hair, or some blood, or some nails are found, and suspicion goes deeper.

What is the truth? Either science is wrong or black magic, or both are just a pathway for existence of life. Without science we would not have been able to explore the world, while black magic helps us explore things, beyond the real world. A place we can’t even imagine, exists. Black magic opens such unexpected doors for us, to explore the world, beyond explanations, and beyond science!

That was, My Take On: Black Magic!