Sadhu sects

Important sadhu sects:

The Naga babas
The Gorakhnathis or Yogis
The Udasin
The Aghoris
The Ramanandis
The Sakhis

And more
Foreigner sadhus
Sadhus belong to many different sects or orders.
Upon joining a sect, an apprentice-sadhu must undergo an initiation-rite, which is regarded as a symbolic death -- and a rebirth. He dies from his former, earthly life and is reborn into the divine life. The visible symbol of this rebirth is the shaven head of the novice, bald as a baby's.
After initiation, any talk or thought about the former life is discouraged; it is irrelevant now and age is reckoned from the new birthday.
The bond with the guru is now all important. He is the 'dispeller of darkness', the guide for piercing the Veil of Illusion. The guru is father, mother and teacher -- and the disciple worships his guru as god incarnate; he will please him any way he can (in the ideal case, anyway).

Most sects are rather moderate in their practices, but some can be quite extreme.

2136 Saraswati Giri is a real master at the damaru. He rattles two different-sized drums simultaneously, each at a different speed, creating a specific rhythm. It is an active form of meditation and performing it for any length of time requires great concentration and physical strength.
One large and prominent Shaiva sect consists of the 'warrior ascetics', or Nagas (the 'naked'), who have existed since the prehistoric past.
Though sadhus in general can de characterized as peace-loving, the Nagas used to be extremely militant, fighting with rivalling sects, the Muslims and later even the British. They were excellent fighters for they had no fear of death.
Traces of this 'macho' attitude are still discernible today. The Naga sect is subdivided into Akharas, i.e. 'regiments', like an army.
Their bellicose past is visible in their display of weaponry -- sticks, spears, swords and especially the trident -- but nowadays these have a mostly symbolic function.

Among the Nagas -- as this name would lead us to expect -- we still find many sadhus who walk about naked. In other respects as well they represent the ideal image of the sadhu as it was created thousands of years ago.

1185 High up in the icy Himalayas, but naked all the same, Bhola Giri Naga baba blows the serpentine horn, called nagphani, that is, 'cobra-hood', producing one piercing note. This instrument is related to the cobra (naga), the intimate companion of Lord Shiva, always coiled around his neck.

2108 Santosh Giri Nagaji, a sadhvi belonging to the renowned sect of Naga-sadhus, smokes the chilam like a man. 1995 With a certain degree of 'exhibitionism' these Babas are displaying their various penis-penances. But then, they are here to give darshan, to show themselves and the visible signs of their austerities to the faithful; and the erotic element is lacking of course.
In their nakedness they do not emanate sexuality. On the contrary, they control, inhibit the sexual 'vibrations', retaining its energy so it can be mystically transformed into psychic and spiritual power.

The chilam, a clay pipe smoked through cupped hands, is filled with tabacco and hashish. It is smoked by many sadhus, in emulation of Shiva, the Lord of Hashish, who is himself in a permanent state of intoxication.
The Baba on the left wears a metal ring around his penis, an ornamental remnant of the large chains some ascetics used to wear some time ago.
The Baba on the right performs a yogic exercise which goes by the name of chabi, meaning 'key'. The aim of this exercise is not just retention of the sexual energy, but forcing it back, and 'up'.
Put in simplistic yoga 'mechanics': keeping the penis down so the kundalini may rise.

2339
Lal Baba keeps a special triangular stone for his lingasana (see below), on which is painted "30 kilos". He has developed this exercise into a regular show and even advertises himself as "lingasana Naga Baba" on painted boards (in the background). He is a small man so he has to stand on two bricks to lift the stone a few centimetres off the ground. But still, no mean feat: thirty kilos must be more than half his own weight.
0255
Lifting weights with the penis, as done here by Shyam Puri, is in essence the same exercise as the chabi (see above). It is a 'miracle' that the penis is not torn off. The scene recalls the chains used in the past to weigh down the penis continuously, but this exercise is now only occasionally done, and then for a minute or so. Just long enough to show the sadhu's power, his transcendence of sexuality.

Strangely enough, lifting weights with the penis does not have a special name, but is generally designated as a kriya (yogic exercise). Lal Baba (see above, photo 2339) uses the term lingasana (penis-posture), which he probably coined himself.
In a sense it is reminiscent of the now historic kara-lingi, the ball-and-chain with which the penis was continuously weighed down. As Abbé Dubois, a French missionary who lived in India from 1792 to 1823, observed in his Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies: "they attach to their generative organs a heavy weight which they drag about until the power of muscles and nerves is completely destroyed."
So the aim of these exercises (lingasana and chabi) is certainly not to enlarge the penis, as some rumours would have it, but rather to desensitize the penis, to destroy its erectile capacity. Whether this aim is actually achieved is hard to say, but it is a fact that the dozens of sadhus that I have observed performing these exercises did not have a larger than normal penis.

The Gorakhnathis or Jogis

0153 Pagal Mauni Baba belongs to the Aghori section of the Gorakhnathis. As his name reveals, this Baba is 'mad, divinely intoxicated' (pagal) and 'non-speaking' (mauni). The Gorakhnathis are commonly referred to as Yogis or Jogis.

Although in outlook very similar to the sannyasis, the Jogis do not follow the Vedantic teachings of Shankara, but adhere to the Tantric way taught by their Guru-founder Gorakhnath. Still, they are devotees of Shiva, albeit in his manifestation as Bhairava, and they worship Hanuman and Dattatreya.

Gorakhnath, being an incarnation of Shiva, is worshipped as a deity by the Jogis, and has a number of temples dedicated to him. The Jogis are therefore often designated as 'Gorakhnathis', or more simply 'Nath-Babas'.

The Udasin

0619 Vital Das, an Udasin baba, his body covered with ash.
The major sect of Udasin ascetics was originally not Shaiva -- nor even Hindu -- but belonged to the Sikh religion. It was founded in the sixteenth century by a son of Guru Nanak -- himself the founder of Sikhism -- called Shrichandra.
The Udasin are therefore also known as Nanakputras, the 'sons of Nanak', and they revere the Grantha Saheb, the sacred book of the Sikhs.
They were excommunicated by the successor of Guru Nanak and gradually turned to Hinduism.
The Udasin worship panchayatana, a combination of five deities, namely Shiva, Vishnu, the Sun, goddess Durga, and Ganesh; moreover they worship their founder-Guru Shrichandra.
Their philosophy is basically the monistic Vedanta as set forth by Shankara, and in other respects as well they closely resemble the Shaiva sannyasis.
2035 A quiet morning scene around the dhuni of Udasin Babas, who have gathered in their ashram in Junagadh for the annual celebration of Shivaratri.

Like all Shaiva sannyasis, the Udasin usually wear red or black cloth, apply ashes, have long hair in jata, and so on, but differ in details such as their woollen knitted caps and a small silver crescent ring in the right ear. Furthermore, whenever they had to choose sides in fights with rivalling sects, they were on the side of the Shaivas.

The Aghoris

2389 Drinking out of a human skull is only one of the striking peculiarities that differentiates Gauri Shankar Mishra from the average ascetic. He drinks liquor (forbidden to caste Hindus and certainly ascetics), eats the flesh of dead animals found in the street and abuses people with foul obscenities.
Holiness cannot only be macho, but even 'crazy', god-possessed, as it is shown by the members of a rather obscure and small sect, the Aghoris.
They emulate the most extreme characteristics of Lord Shiva as the Conqueror of Death: his favourite haunt is the cremation-grounds; he bathes in cremation-ashes; he wears a garland of skulls and bones; he keeps spirits and ghosts for company; he is continuously intoxicated; and he acts like a madman.

The Aghoris willingly transgress all ascetic (and Hindu) taboos, convinced as they are that by 'reversing all values' they will speed up enlightenment. While all sadhus are supposed to be vegetarian and teetotallers (like all ordinary Hindus for that matter), Aghoris eat meat and drink alcohol.

Even more horrid habits are attributed to Aghoris: they eat the putrid flesh of corpses; they eat excrement and drink urine, even of a dog; they have ritual intercourse with menstruating prostitutes on the cremation-grounds, where they usually hang out; and they meditate while sitting on a corpse.
It is questionable whether all this is regularly done, but it seems quite certain that at least occasionally, and then in a ritual context, as a kind of 'eucharist', these cannibalistic and other 'inhuman' acts are still taking place.
Aghoris preferably live on cremationgrounds and surround themselves with artifacts of death, like human skulls out of which they drink and with which they perform magical rituals.
Nonetheless, the Aghoris represent a tradition that is thousands of years old, and there have been times that the sect was quite numerous.

The Ramanandis

In the beginning of the fourteenth century, a very successful ascetic sect was founded by Ramananda: the Ramananda Sampradaya, more popularly known as the Ramanandis.

Nowadays, because of its dominant position, it is regarded as a separate organization, but officially it is still part of the Shri Sampradaya, for Ramananda started his ascetic career as a member of this sect. He remained loyal to the philosophy of its founder Ramanuja, but he choose Rama and Sita as personal gods, and made devotion to them the central feature of the sect's religious practices.
1877 Sects can be recognized by the symbols painted on the forehead, but within a sect the marks are seldom entirely identical. Most sadhus give it a personal touch. But some make more extreme variations on the fundamental theme. The result can be quite impressive, as is shown by Hanuman Hari Das, but it does not necessarily imply a higher status. Nor does it, by itself, reflect a higher degree of spirituality.

On the poster below Rama and Sita are surrounded by the main characters of the Ramayana and the Hindu pantheon.
Kneeling before them is their faithful servant Hanuman, the monkey-god and general of the monkey army.
The epic Ramayana, with its many exemplary adventures of Rama, is the primary source of inspiration for shaping the attitude of exclusive, one-pointed devotion to Rama which is the hallmark of a Rama devotee.

Rama plays an important part in contemporary Hinduism. He lives in the hearts of the common people. He rules the lives of sadhus devoted to him. For many sadhus, memorizing, analyzing, and absorbing the Ramayana is a life-time pursuit, and some become professional exegetes, reciting and interpreting the texts to the public.

It is believed that just hearing the sacred words of the Ramayana is in itself liberating and will confer the grace of Rama. And in an even simpler way, continuous recitation of the name of Rama from the heart will enlighten the soul. In fact, in this Dark Age, Rama's devotees regard it as the only way to reach the Absolute.
And if enligtenment does not happen in one’s life, it may happen at the moment of death, that is, if one dies thinking of Rama and with his name on one’s lips.
As it is chanted by the mourners in funeral processions: “Rama nama satya hai!”, “the name of Rama is Truth.”

Celibacy is no doubt the most important austerity practised by sadhus. According to Yoga-metaphysics, sexual energy, the fire of passion, is the main potential source of spiritual energy.
But as an aid to mental control of sexuality, physical restraint must sometimes be employed and one method is the continuous wearing of 'chastity belts'.

1076 This wooden arbandh with its wooden langoti attached, may quite rightly be called a 'chastity-belt'; only this one is self-imposed.
The langoti can be unhooked for cleaning, but the arbandh of course stays on all the time.
Jaganath Das has worn the belt for thirteen years and has vowed to remain doing so for life.
This austerity, like most, is usually undertaken for a minimum of twelve years.
A dhoti usually, modestly, covers this wooden underwear, but as these Bab's are about to take a bath, they have a valid reason to take it off. 1074 Kailas Das has worn this steel chastity-belt for fifty years.
He is also known as Mauni Baba, for he did not speak for twelve years.

The Sakhis or religious transvestites

1943 A sakhi, who regards Lord Rama as her Lover.
Sadhus who have chosen Rama or Krishna as their deity, are characterized by a strong, sentimental devotion and total self-surrender to one of his earthly 'incarnations' as the god-king Rama or the divine cowherd Krishna.
The deity is regarded as a 'person' with whom the devotee can establish an intimate bond, which usually takes the form of a Master-slave relationship.

Some sadhus, however, dare to regard him as their Lover, and since the deity is a male, it follows quite logically that they have to play the part of 'mistress' of the Lord. They are designated as sakhis. They imagine having an erotic 'love' relationship with him. Some sakhis even go to the extreme of pretending to have regular sexual intercourse with their Lord -- except on the days when they're having their 'period'.
Obviously, the sexual overtones of their behaviour make them rather suspect in the eyes of other ascetics, since repression of sexuality is the norm, not its projection. Even if this projection is aimed at a deity.

Nevertheless, it is a recognized way of expressing devotion to a deity -- and devotion is a characteristic of all sadhus.

These transvestite sadhus are to be distinguished from another group of transvestites, or rather eunuchs, who practise prostitution and obnoxious forms of begging.
The hijras, as they are known, are completely castrated upon initiation into their order. They are regarded as 'neither man nor woman', but they dress like women and affect exaggerated female mannerisms. As in almost all things Indian, there is a religious meaning to their voluntary mutilation and subsequent behaviour.
During Rama-festivals hijras may masquerade as sakhis in order to collect more money.

Foreigner Sadhus

Every foreigner in India, no matter how long he stays and how completely he 'Indianizes', will always remain an alien.
Yet foreigners can become sadhus too, and the locals consider them just as holy as Indian sadhus. Especially the simple rustics (75% of the total population still lives in the countryside) treat them with great respect and ask for their blessing. The city-dwellers, the modern, Westernized Indians often show less understanding.
Though many nationalities are represented, and both male and female, most of these foreigners are Italian or French.

1590 Mohan Das (left), a Japanese sadhu, being blessed by his guru of two years, Mathura Das. According to ancient tradition, the pupil must carry out all his teacher's chores, and Mohan Das acts almost as the slave of his master. However, he does so willingly, since such work brings much positive "karma" to wipe away the sins of previous lives.
1957 Charan Das, originally an American, has lived as a sadhu in India for over twenty years. Cheerful and without cares, he roams the country for part of the year, going from one holy place to the other, visiting with brother-sadhus. The other part of the year he spends in his guru's ashram; a period of study.

Some foreign sadhus are 'part-timers', who time and again plunge into the adventure of sadhu-life but keep their ties to the home-front.
Others burn all their bridges, as it should be done, and totally commit themselves to the realization of the sadhu ideals.

	2108 Santosh Giri Nagaji, a sadhvi belonging to the renowned sect of Naga-sadhus, smokes the chilam like a man.		1995 With a certain degree of 'exhibitionism' these Babas are displaying their various penis-penances. But then, they are here to give darshan, to show themselves and the visible signs of their austerities to the faithful; and the erotic element is lacking of course. In their nakedness they do not emanate sexuality. On the contrary, they control, inhibit the sexual 'vibrations', retaining its energy so it can be mystically transformed into psychic and spiritual power.
The chilam, a clay pipe smoked through cupped hands, is filled with tabacco and hashish. It is smoked by many sadhus, in emulation of Shiva, the Lord of Hashish, who is himself in a permanent state of intoxication.		The Baba on the left wears a metal ring around his penis, an ornamental remnant of the large chains some ascetics used to wear some time ago. The Baba on the right performs a yogic exercise which goes by the name of chabi, meaning 'key'. The aim of this exercise is not just retention of the sexual energy, but forcing it back, and 'up'. Put in simplistic yoga 'mechanics': keeping the penis down so the kundalini may rise.

	2339 Lal Baba keeps a special triangular stone for his lingasana (see below), on which is painted "30 kilos". He has developed this exercise into a regular show and even advertises himself as "lingasana Naga Baba" on painted boards (in the background). He is a small man so he has to stand on two bricks to lift the stone a few centimetres off the ground. But still, no mean feat: thirty kilos must be more than half his own weight.		0255 Lifting weights with the penis, as done here by Shyam Puri, is in essence the same exercise as the chabi (see above). It is a 'miracle' that the penis is not torn off. The scene recalls the chains used in the past to weigh down the penis continuously, but this exercise is now only occasionally done, and then for a minute or so. Just long enough to show the sadhu's power, his transcendence of sexuality.
Strangely enough, lifting weights with the penis does not have a special name, but is generally designated as a kriya (yogic exercise). Lal Baba (see above, photo 2339) uses the term lingasana (penis-posture), which he probably coined himself. In a sense it is reminiscent of the now historic kara-lingi, the ball-and-chain with which the penis was continuously weighed down. As Abbé Dubois, a French missionary who lived in India from 1792 to 1823, observed in his Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies: "they attach to their generative organs a heavy weight which they drag about until the power of muscles and nerves is completely destroyed." So the aim of these exercises (lingasana and chabi) is certainly not to enlarge the penis, as some rumours would have it, but rather to desensitize the penis, to destroy its erectile capacity. Whether this aim is actually achieved is hard to say, but it is a fact that the dozens of sadhus that I have observed performing these exercises did not have a larger than normal penis.

0619 Vital Das, an Udasin baba, his body covered with ash.	The major sect of Udasin ascetics was originally not Shaiva -- nor even Hindu -- but belonged to the Sikh religion. It was founded in the sixteenth century by a son of Guru Nanak -- himself the founder of Sikhism -- called Shrichandra. The Udasin are therefore also known as Nanakputras, the 'sons of Nanak', and they revere the Grantha Saheb, the sacred book of the Sikhs. They were excommunicated by the successor of Guru Nanak and gradually turned to Hinduism. The Udasin worship panchayatana, a combination of five deities, namely Shiva, Vishnu, the Sun, goddess Durga, and Ganesh; moreover they worship their founder-Guru Shrichandra. Their philosophy is basically the monistic Vedanta as set forth by Shankara, and in other respects as well they closely resemble the Shaiva sannyasis.	2035 A quiet morning scene around the dhuni of Udasin Babas, who have gathered in their ashram in Junagadh for the annual celebration of Shivaratri.
Like all Shaiva sannyasis, the Udasin usually wear red or black cloth, apply ashes, have long hair in jata, and so on, but differ in details such as their woollen knitted caps and a small silver crescent ring in the right ear. Furthermore, whenever they had to choose sides in fights with rivalling sects, they were on the side of the Shaivas.

On the poster below Rama and Sita are surrounded by the main characters of the Ramayana and the Hindu pantheon. Kneeling before them is their faithful servant Hanuman, the monkey-god and general of the monkey army. The epic Ramayana, with its many exemplary adventures of Rama, is the primary source of inspiration for shaping the attitude of exclusive, one-pointed devotion to Rama which is the hallmark of a Rama devotee.
Rama plays an important part in contemporary Hinduism. He lives in the hearts of the common people. He rules the lives of sadhus devoted to him. For many sadhus, memorizing, analyzing, and absorbing the Ramayana is a life-time pursuit, and some become professional exegetes, reciting and interpreting the texts to the public.		It is believed that just hearing the sacred words of the Ramayana is in itself liberating and will confer the grace of Rama. And in an even simpler way, continuous recitation of the name of Rama from the heart will enlighten the soul. In fact, in this Dark Age, Rama's devotees regard it as the only way to reach the Absolute. And if enligtenment does not happen in one’s life, it may happen at the moment of death, that is, if one dies thinking of Rama and with his name on one’s lips. As it is chanted by the mourners in funeral processions: “Rama nama satya hai!”, “the name of Rama is Truth.”

Celibacy is no doubt the most important austerity practised by sadhus. According to Yoga-metaphysics, sexual energy, the fire of passion, is the main potential source of spiritual energy. But as an aid to mental control of sexuality, physical restraint must sometimes be employed and one method is the continuous wearing of 'chastity belts'.
	1076 This wooden arbandh with its wooden langoti attached, may quite rightly be called a 'chastity-belt'; only this one is self-imposed. The langoti can be unhooked for cleaning, but the arbandh of course stays on all the time. Jaganath Das has worn the belt for thirteen years and has vowed to remain doing so for life. This austerity, like most, is usually undertaken for a minimum of twelve years. A dhoti usually, modestly, covers this wooden underwear, but as these Bab's are about to take a bath, they have a valid reason to take it off.	1074 Kailas Das has worn this steel chastity-belt for fifty years. He is also known as Mauni Baba, for he did not speak for twelve years.

Every foreigner in India, no matter how long he stays and how completely he 'Indianizes', will always remain an alien. Yet foreigners can become sadhus too, and the locals consider them just as holy as Indian sadhus. Especially the simple rustics (75% of the total population still lives in the countryside) treat them with great respect and ask for their blessing. The city-dwellers, the modern, Westernized Indians often show less understanding. Though many nationalities are represented, and both male and female, most of these foreigners are Italian or French.
	1590 Mohan Das (left), a Japanese sadhu, being blessed by his guru of two years, Mathura Das. According to ancient tradition, the pupil must carry out all his teacher's chores, and Mohan Das acts almost as the slave of his master. However, he does so willingly, since such work brings much positive "karma" to wipe away the sins of previous lives.	1957 Charan Das, originally an American, has lived as a sadhu in India for over twenty years. Cheerful and without cares, he roams the country for part of the year, going from one holy place to the other, visiting with brother-sadhus. The other part of the year he spends in his guru's ashram; a period of study.
Some foreign sadhus are 'part-timers', who time and again plunge into the adventure of sadhu-life but keep their ties to the home-front. Others burn all their bridges, as it should be done, and totally commit themselves to the realization of the sadhu ideals.