SHAIVISM - Sanatana Dharma

KEY SCRIPTURE: Saiva Agamas, Vedas

SCHOOLS: Saiva Siddhanta, Pashupati Shaivism, Kashmir Shaivism, Veera Shaivism, Siddha Siddhanta and Siva Advaita.

Synopsis

Shaivism declares God Shiva is Love, He is both immanent and transcendent Creator and the creation. This world is the scene of our evolution, which gradually leads to moksha - liberation from birth and death. Aum.

Shaivism is a unique religion in which God manifested and unmanifested, and dual and nedvoystven, within us and outside of us. This religion is not strictly pantheistic, monotheistic or polytheistic. Its fundamental theology known as monistic theism, panentheism or Advaita ishvaravada. Monism, dualism, in contrast, is a study of reality as a unified whole existence without independent parts. Theism is the belief in God and the gods as immanent and transcendent. Shaivism monistic in their belief in one reality and hell-vayticheskoe unity of man and reality. Shaivism teistichen in their faith in the gods, and Lord Shiva as a loving personal God, the immanent world. Shaivism expresses the unity of the Party-Pasha Pasha (God-soul-world) covers non-dual and dual, faithfully carries both Vedanta and Siddhanta, clean Sanatama Dharma Vedas and Saiva Agamas. "Tirumantiram" states: "Suddha-Saiva (net Saivites) meditate on the following on his religious path: your Self, the Absolute Reality and the Primal Soul, on the trinity of God, the soul and the shackles of Maya, a clean release and all that binds the soul. " Aum Namah Shivaya.


The objectives of Shaivism

The primary goal of Shaivism is the awareness of its identity with Shiva - in perfect union and invisibility. This condition is called nirvikalpa samadhi, Self-realization, and can be achieved in this life. This ensures moksha, liberation from the eternal cycle of birth and death. Intermediate target is savikalpa samadhi, the realization of Sachchidananda experience of unity with the super-consciousness, which are learned perfect Truth, Knowledge and Bliss. Every soul is ultimately destined vishvagrasa, complete solution in the God Shiva.


Ways to achieve

The path of enlightenment is naturally divided into four stages: charya - virtue and selfless service; Kriya - Sadhana, yoga - meditation under the guidance of a guru and Jnana - the state of the wisdom of a realized soul. Aum.

Charya, kriya, yoga and jnana are a sequence of evolution of the soul, like the natural development of a butterfly from egg to caterpillar, from caterpillar to chrysalis and then the final transformation into a butterfly. This four pads, or stages through which every human soul must pass over many reincarnations to achieve the ultimate goal. Before reaching this stage of spiritual soul is dissolved in a low-marginal nature anava or egocentric way, limited by fear and lust, painful malice, jealousy, confusion, selfishness, ignorance and anger. Then the soul wakes up, reaching a state of charya, selfless religious service or karma yoga. Having developed in chare, the soul enters the state of the kriyas - worship, or bhakti-yoga, and finally blooms, reaching a state of Kundalini Yoga. Jnana - a state of enlightened wisdom, reached at the end of the path as a result of Self-realization. Four pads are not alternative paths, but progressive phases constituting one path - San Marga. "Tirumantiram" says: "A great worship Jnana - life is life. The vision of the light of life is the great worship yoga. The giving of life by calling for the worship of God is the exterior. The expression of adoration is charya. " We Aum oh Shivaya


Six schools of Shaivism 
(Satguru Swami Shivaya Subramuniya )

1. Saiva Siddhanta2. Pashupati Shaivism3. Kashmir Shaivism4. Veera Shaivism5. Siddha Siddhanta6. Siva Advaita

In search of peace, enlightenment and liberation can not find a more tolerant, more mysterious, more advanced or more ancient ways than Shaivite Hinduism. During its long history of Shaivism has generated a lot of lines and spiritual traditions, each of which has unique philosophical and cultural-linguistic character, and up to 1100 dominated the whole of India, from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka, on the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. In this section, we present the main features of the six main traditions that stand out in the context of modern Shaivism. This Saiva Siddhanta, Pashupati Shaivism, Kashmir Shaivism, Veera Shaivism, Siddha Siddhanta and Siva Advaita. should be borne in mind that this is a formal and somewhat intelligent unit, as would be helpful it may be, can in no way be any exhaustive description of Shaivism, or even the only possible list of its traditions. Real Shaivism is much richer and more varied than is assumed by the scheme.

There is, for example, a kind of Shaivism who practice thirteen million people in Nepal, three million in Indonesia or fifty-five million induizirovannyh Javanese who worship Shiva named Batara. Think also about the millions of smarts and other universalists who took Ganesha, Shiva or Lord Murugan as their chosen deity, or the many fans Ayappana who commit worship in South Indian shrines of Lord Muruga. This is not to lose sight of the fact that only a handful of the millions of followers of Shiva Kashmir formally associate themselves with the school, which is called the "Kashmir Shaivism." Similarly, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Shiva is worshiped more than fifty million people, only a well-informed minority calls itself the Saiva siddhantinami. Our discussion of these six schools and their traditions are based on historical information. In historical records, there are significant gaps, but at every moment when the past raises the curtain in front of us, we can see that the worship of Shiva is present. In the Indus Valley 8000 years ago did the press, which was depicted as Lord Shiva Pashupati, sitting in yogic posture. In the "Ramayana", which dates back to 2000 astronomical methods E's. BC. e., Lord Rama worshiped Lord Shiva as his enemy Ravana. In the "Mahabharata", dating from about 1300-mi's. BC. e., we again encounter the worship of Shiva. Buddha was born in BC. e. Saiva in the family, and the historical records of the time talking about the Saiva ascetics who wandered over the hills and looked much the same as today. basis of all schools of Shaivism are the Saiva Agamas. The philosophy of these Agam - theistic, ie Shiva appears in them by God Almighty, immanent and transcendent at the same time accepting the worship of God as a personal and attainable through yoga.

This theistic concept runs through all schools. From a philosophical point of view agamicheskaya tradition includes the following basic doctrines: 1) the five energies or favors, Shiva, creation, preservation, destruction, concealment and revelation, and 2) three categories: Pati, Pasha and Pasha - God, soul and bonds, and 3) three types of bonds: anava, karma and maya, and 4) the triple energy of Shiva - iccha-, jnana and kriya shakti 5) thirty six tattvas, or categories of being, from the five elements of matter to God, and 6) the need to initiate and Satguru 7) power mantras, 8) four pods: charya, kriya, yoga and jnana. examining individual schools and lines the inside of Shaivism, keep in mind that they all adhere to these teachings. Our discussion will, quite naturally, focused on the differences between the schools, but the differences should not overshadow the impressive similarities that exist both in faith and practice. At the Saiva Agamas are and monism and dualism, and intermediate philosophy. Therefore, different schools may stand on different philosophical platform and thus all - rely on Agama.

The tradition of Kashmir Shaivism says that Shiva revealed different philosophies people of different mind-set, so that everyone can move forward on the spiritual path to the recognition of inner unity of man and God. At that very few of the followers of Shiva presently or in the past has been directly familiar with the Agama. Reading and writing was the prerogative of specially trained scribes, and even today Agama remain basically the same leaves Olam, in which they were handed down from generation to generation. Agamicheskaya philosophy and practice of the average person is transmitted through other channels, one of which is the Saiva Purana. These collections of oral traditions about the life of the gods imbued agamicheskoy philosophy. For example, "Shiva Purana" proclaims: "Shiva is the great Atman, for He is the Self of all, He is always endowed with great qualities. Devotee should realize that Shiva is identical to himself," I - only Shiva. '" second channel agamicheskoy philosophy - is Saiva temple, as the device of temples and performing temple rituals are set precisely in Agamas, in fact, it is one of the most important topics Agam. Priests are special guidelines (paddhati), which summarizes all the instructions for worship contained in the Saiva Agamas.

The third channel - these are songs and bhajans Saiva saints that "for all its simplicity, are powerful philosophical content. Channel Four - is continuous oral teachings of the guru, Swami, pundits, Shastri, priests and elders. So, Shaivism is not a single hierarchical system . Rather it is a collection of thousands of traditions, big and small. Some of them - the traditions of orthodox and pious, others - iconoclastic, and others - for example, Kapalika and aghori - rigidly ascetic, eccentric and orgiastic. For some, Shiva is a powerful, fearsome, terrifying destroyer but for the majority of He - embodied love, compassionate and gentle God. And for almost all of the millions of devotees of Shiva Shaivism - this is not a school of philosophy, and life itself. They just love to Shiva and to be honored traditions of their families and communities. These people visit temples and celebrate turning points in the life of the Holy Sacrament. They make pilgrimages, doing daily prayers, practice meditation and yogic discipline. They sing sacred hymns, listen to stories from the Puranas and repeat verses from the scriptures.

Today, all six schools of Shaivism, in one form or another, continue to exist. Their leaders and gurus reincarnated, pick up the threads of the past and stretch them in the twenty-first century. Seekers who worship Shiva, carefully choose a school. Guru - a dedicated, profane or self-appointed spiritual forces that within them - proclaim God Almighty God Shiva and adjacent to a particular Saiva line. Neinduisty raised profound philosophy of Shaivism, serve as volunteer missionaries. Many fully turned to Shaivism as a religion of their soul. In this modern era, in the late twentieth century, Shaivism gained new strength and power. School of Shaivism communicate with each other in love, kindness, compassion and understanding, share with each other their strength and the weaknesses of each other. Our supreme God Shiva knew that His creation is not the same. In a different mood, and at various times he has created different types of shower. Therefore, in His supreme wisdom, He created these six approaches to His grace on a common Vedic-agamicheskoy basis - one for yoga ascetics, one of the heroic nonconformists, one for the mystic kundalini, one for the astute philosopher, one of the immortal hermits and one for devotees nedualistov . No one has been forgotten. Indeed, today, Lord Shiva calls on the leaders from the ranks of supporters of the six philosophies preach His message in the sacred eloquence.

Aghora: At the Left Hand of God

AGHORA: At the Left Hand of God This trilogy forms a portion of the story of the Aghori Vimalananda. An aghori is a practitioner of Aghora, the spiritual discipline that takes Tantra to its farthest limits. For Vimalananda Aghora was a wholly internal process that eliminates all commonly-accepted restricitions to the human faculties of perception. He defined an Aghori in this way: “An Aghori is beyond the bounds of the earthly shackles; nay, something above the elements which shape the universe, and you. He takes a sort of intoxicant and thus gets intoxicated in Supreme Love which emanates from the innermost recesses of his heart. Shall I call it interiority? It is that part which is beyond awareness. He gives off the best part of love. Why part? Part of the Supreme, Universal Love, where one experiences, with the help of perception, All-in-One/One-in-All. When you, the finite, merge into infinity what dost thou not know? During this stage he merges with his own deity so that he becomes Him — capital H. That is why he is said to have gone from darkness to divine enlightenment. This is an Aghori.”

Aghora: At the Left Hand of God is the first book in the Aghora trilogy. Written almost entirely in Vimalananda’s own words, it presents events from his life, tenets of his philosophy, and highlights from his spiritual practices. Designed partly to shock and partly to comfort, but wholly as an offering to his Beloved, Aghora is as clear a picture as possible of a man who was a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. Vimalananda insisted that this book be published only after his demise, that he might be spared pursuit by those whose curiosity might be inflamed by some of the sensational events described within. He believed in devoting his all to the pursuit of the direct perception of Reality, and advised others to be similarly dedicated to attaining personal experience of God. To readers he offered this warning: “Don’t take anything I say as gospel truth. I am human, I make mistakes. Test on yourselves what I’ve told you. Try it out, experience it, and then you will know whether or not I’m telling you the truth.”

“Required reading for anyone interested in knowing and experiencing Tantra.” – Nik Douglas

http://youtu.be/PknfxJHwpuI

“Often even a sentence or two will shed more significant light on profound states of consciousness or very complex stages of meditation than the reader is likely to find in whole volumes intended to illumine the same subjects.”
Robert Masters, Ph.D.

THE '' Aghori Sadhu ''

What kind of feelings does the word cannibalism arouses? Well most of us would get disgusted, but there are people who follow cannibalism in India even now.

Foreigners Meets to Aghori sadhus To know About them 

India land of oldest society, oldest civilization, but all this time in the Indian history there was a sect dedicated to Shiva was involved in cannibalism and other very crude animal behavior. The aghori or aghouri sect has its origin in ancient Vedic system, even though these people don’t follow the main stream Vedic system but the root is the same. The word aghori in Sanskrit means non terrifying, ‘a’-‘ghori’ most of the Hindi speaking people would have heard the phrase ghor kaliyug, ghor paap, etc.. it is the same ghor, theoretically these people don’t attach themselves to anything mortal. They do things which a common man finds to be terrifying, so they overcome this terror by going through it, since they do it regularly it is a common thing for them.

In Hinduism, “there is no evil, everything is emanated from ‘Brahman’, so how could anything in this universe be impure”? this is the kind of philosophy the aghori babas follow. According to them anything in this universe is the manifestation of god itself, so everything is as pure as god and is god like, so abandoning anything is like abandoning god itself.

The aghori mainly worship lord Shiva, according to the sect every human is a ‘shava’(dead body) with emotions and they should try to become ‘Shiva’ by denying the human pleasures and involving in the aghori rituals.

Ghauri Shankar Mishra an aghori
drinking liquor in a kapala(skull cup).

The root of aghoris are as old as Hinduism itself, but the sect in its present form has its origin in Kinaram, he was an aghori ascetic and lived for about 150yrs. He was believed to be the incarnation of lord Shiva. He attained many siddhis through tapas and rituals and then helped the people with his siddhis. There is a temple in Varanasi for this baba and is the most sacred for the aghoris. Some also trace the root to Dattatreya.

The aghori is a human symbol of lord Shiva himself. The aghori lives in cemetery (shmashana), the living place for lord Shiva, this is the representation that the final abode for everyone is the cemetery. And many of the aghoris roam around naked, representing the true humans and their detachment from this world of mortals who live in the world of illusion. By this they transcend beyond human feelings of love, hatred, jealousy, pride etc..

Bhola Giri Naga Baba blowing
 the Nagaphani.

There are many aghoris walking the streets of northern India with kapala(skull cup). These aghoris eat anything, when I said anything, it really meant anything like rotten food, food from the dumps, the animal faeces, animal urine.. etc they regularly perform rites(some are so crude that it cant be explained here) to attain the highest level in aghoratva, the enlightenment. The final part of the ritual requires a minimum of one eating of putrid human flesh, and also meditating on(sitting) the dead corpse. This is the symbolic of their rise from shava to Shiva. They follow the simple rule that the universe resides in them and they try to attain enlightenment by self realization.


As the ascetic advance in his search, he attains many siddhis. Slowly they gain control over the environment. They seem to posses powers to cause a rain or to stop one. This is disturbing but this is true, even though they possess this kind of powers they will not use it, for the basic rule of aghori itself is to deny human pleasure so the change in climate is an event which should happen on its own. Whatever the ascetic says happens, I have met people who have had direct relation with the ascetic, and I cannot question the veracity of the datas. It is also said that when he curses someone, every wish of the person comes true.

A place considered dreadful by others is home for Aghoris - The Hindu cremation ground! 

There have been many aghoris in the past. Some of them being Dattatreya, Kinaram, Tailanga swamy, Aghoreshwar Mahaprabhu Baba Bhagwan Ram.
Some stories

Tailanga swami

Tailanga Swami of Benaras was a very powerful Aghori, and perhaps the only one who performed worship of Shiva at the Kashi Vishwanath temple using his own filth. And Tailanga Swami could do so because he had full realization that filth is as much a part of the Universal Soul as roses, holy water etc. The priest who saw Tailanga Swami doing such "dirty things" slapped him and ordered him out. But at the
same night, Shiva appeared in a dream to the king of Benaras and told the king about his anger since someone insulted Tailanga Swami, who's Shiva's very essence. The King then set out to find the priest and
punish him, but the priest was mysteriously found dead.


Dhuni wale baba
This refers to an incident which a man narrated to Ambar joshi about an Aghori Baba who lived in Burhanpur (near Khandwa,MP).This is what he narrated---There used to be an old Baba .People used to call him Dhuni wale baba. Now there is a samadhi of Dhune wale bab in Khandwa whre people still throng in large numbers to worship him.He used to stay ther and roamed the adjoining areas ,use to eat whatever came his way- rotten food or thrown away food .He used to utter obscenities if anyone talked to him or disturbed him even while he seemed to be doing nothing. He used to stare into the sky for hours and talk to himself. One day i saw a person come up to him and touch his feet and ask him to bless his daughter who had not been married in spite of their best efforts. The Baba uttered obscenities on him. Cursed his mother and family members and said that his daughter would go to hell. Then the man went away contented and after three days he came with some sweets and gave to the Baba who again uttered obscenities on him. I intercepted him on the way back and asked him why he respected a useless mad old man. The man remarked he is a great Baba and has cured many peoples problems. If he curses you then your problem is bound to get solved. Aghori Babas are like that he said and offered me a piece of burfi(An Indian sweet)which I gladly ate. Then I saw many other instances when the Baba uttered obscenities, people used to still go behind him even while he used to answer the call of nature. He used to throw his faeces all over people who came behind him and they used to collect it and take home as prasad.(holy).


Maldevata incident taken from ‘The Week’
Maldevta is a popular picnic spot near Dehra Dun. Thirst overtook us while trekking to Maldevta and we decided to ask for some water at a small thatched hut about a eight hundred scrubby hundred yards from the canal we were following. A dusky, well built man wearing a skimpy loin cloth emerged from the dark interior of the hut. Why, of course, we could have water, he answered. He didn't have that much left, just a couple of glasses, as he'd just finished cooking, but we were most welcome to it. Was this his permanent residence, we asked him conversationally? Oh no, he had no fixed place of stay. There was a cremation ground just a stone's thrown away, and he'd built this hut as he had been waiting for a lawaris body (homeless person's body which is generally cremated by a philanthropic organization or trust). As luck would have it, after waiting for some three months, such a body had arrived just yesterday, and he'd been able, in exchange for a good luck charm, to obtain the head of the dead man. In fact, he'd almost run out of water as he had used most of it for cooking the dead man's brain with some rice.

He brought out a blackened pot and showed us the contents. He'd already had one portion of it, and would have to space out eating the cooked brain and rice over the next three days. Repelled, chilled, yet curious, we asked him who he was. He was an aghori, he said, and Calcutta was his birthplace. After early initiation when he was just nine years old into Tantric Kali worship, he'd moved into other deeper sadhnas (disciplines), but always, it was with the forces of the dark. The rules and demands of the search for power in which he was now engaged ordained that he had to eat at least one human brain annually. Already, he had acquired the ability of divining the future. He could actually show us our future, in case we were interested. Why didn't we come in?

The Great Peacful Aghoris Symbol Of Lord shiva

Fascinated yet afraid that at this isolated spot we might end up becoming his annual meal, we left somewhat hastily, forgetting all our lessons in politeness. Over the next few days, I couldn't get the aghori out of my mind. When a brigadier and his wife came to seek a reading from the cards as they were in deep trouble with a court martial looming on the horizon, it gave me the opportunity to go back to the aghori, with the anxious brigadier and his wife in tow. After all, he had said he could show one the future. What better way of testing the claim ? He was still there, at the peak of his powers, he informed us, as he'd recently consumed the human brain. This time, we entered his hut and our eyes soon became accustomed to the dimness. The aghori requested us to sit, and as we sat cross-legged on the earthern floor, placed a lota (container) of water before us. "Look into the water" he commanded. And in the water, we saw the brigadier, older, dressed in civilian clothes. After several sequences, we saw the brigadier with the Supreme Court clearly visible in the background, and he was wearing a dark blue suit and distributing sweets to a group of people who were with him.

Some months after this amazing incident, the brigadier wanted to take a friend to meet the aghori, but when we reached there we found the hut in a sad state : it was just a bundle of grass and straw and twigs strewn on the ground. Enquiries at the cremation ground revealed that the aghori had been driven away by irate residents of Raipur, a nearby suburb. Seven years passed with only occasional meetings with the brigadier, who was no longer in active service and was fighting his case in the civil courts. One day I received a message from him. The Supreme Court was to give the verdict on his case. And when I went on the appointed day, apart from other settings, there, outside the imposing Supreme Court building, was the Brigadier, dressed in a dark blue suit, distributing sweets just as he had been seven years ago in the lota of water the cannibal aghori had placed before us.

Philosophy behind this: Aghoris are indifferent to everything. For them there is nothing good ,ideal or bad. Everything that exists in this world is essentially made up of same thing. Hence they utter obscenities, may take liqour, eat Dead human flesh and do other things which might appear to be 'uncivilised' to us.

We should respect the way chosen by these people for enlightenment. After all lord shiva is also an aghori, yes it was his another name. Many people think that aghori babas kill humans for their rituals, but there is no strong evidence for this. Since this sect has most of its rites and rituals a secret, we don’t have exact number of aghoris present in India, but you can always find few aghoris in the Kinaram aghori temple in Varanasi.

Hundreds of New Initiates to Hindu Holy order Perform Rituals on the Ganges

Hundreds of new initiates to Hindu holy order perform rituals on the Ganges

Photos chronicle the initiation of the mysterious ‘Naga Sadhus’, a  secretive Hindu sect
They undertake the ritual during Kumbh Mela, the largest gathering of people on Earth
The rite involves being covered in ash and takes place on the shores of the Ganga river
These intriguing photos show newly-initiated ‘Naga Sadhus’ perform rituals on the bank of the Ganga, or Ganges, River in the city of Allahabad in Uttar Pridesh, India, earlier today.

They were taken during Kumbh Mela, a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which the faithful gather at a sacred river for a bath. It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation; Haridwar, Allahabad, Nasik and Ujjain.

It is the world’s largest gathering and around 80million people are expected to bathe in the river during the festival.

Revered: Newly initiated ‘Naga Sadhus’, Hindu holy men, perform rituals on the bank of the Ganga River during an Indian festival

The Naga Sadhus are highly secretive and have never divulged the details of their initiation processes
The men are taking part in the diksha, a ritual of initiation held by gurus, to become Naga Sadhus – holy men who have left behind all material attachments and live in caves, forests and temples all over India and Nepal.

There are an estimated five million sadhus in India today and they are widely respected for their holiness. It is also thought that the austere practices of the sadhus help to burn off their karma and that of the community at large.
There are many different types of Sadhus. Naga Sadhus are known for stripping naked and covering themselves in ash.

The Naga control the religious affairs at the world’s biggest gathering and have the right to remain naked. Naga is derived from the Sanskrit for naked, ‘nagna’.

The Kumbh Mela attracts Indians from all over the vast country,
 as well as Hindus from other nations

The festival is the largest gathering in the world and is held every three years. An estimated 80million people will bathe in the water throughout the event

 

The ritual is ancient, but that doesn’t stop the zealots using modern technology to capture the event and make themselves heard
The Naga order is a highly secretive and closed group. Its initiation and rites are not made known to the public.

This year, for the first time ever, women from the Naga holy order have won the right to have their own separate camp at the Kumbh Mela.

Called the Juna Sannyasini Akhara, or the Juna Nuns’ Order, the women have their own symbolising, an anointed leader and a separate enclosure at the event.

Hinduism is the biggest religion of the Indian subcontinent, and includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Śrauta, among numerous other traditions. It is not so much a rigid set of beliefs but an amalgamation of practices, cultures and spiritual beliefs.

The holy men walk hand-in-hand to the river before the ceremony begins

Faith: The diksha, or ritual of initiation, attracts followers of all ages and backgrounds

The Foreign Hindu Monks at India’s Kumbh Mela

JAMES MALLINSON

Sir James Mallinson is perhaps the only baronet to wear dreadlocks.

The fifth baronet of Walthamstow started growing his hair around the time he first travelled to India in 1988.
He had enrolled to study Sanskrit at Oxford University’s St Peter’s College because his only other option, Chinese, came with a “boring introduction”.

At the end of his trip to India, he “fell in” with a group of Hindu monks in Kashmir and became fascinated with their way of life.

 James Mallinson was renamed Jagdish Das by his order
In 1992, Sir James was initiated into a Hindu order with the monastic name of Jagdish Das at Ujjain in central India.

“I was kidnapped by some competing monks who wanted me as their student. Finally it was Ram Balak Das who got me initiated,” he says. Sir James received his doctorate – on a critical translation of a 14th Century Sanskrit text on yoga – in 2002 from Balliol College, Oxford.

In India, when not with Hindu monks, he runs a paragliding business in Bir in the western Himalayas.
Sir James was ordained a mahant, or abbot, of a Hindu religious order in early February at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.

His friend from Eton, actor Dominic West of The Wire fame, had wanted to make a documentary on his work in India. When Sir James offered his guru some money for the film crew’s fortnight-long stay, he was offered the post of mahant.

“The word translates more as a military commander than an abbot,” says the Sanskrit scholar.

VALERY VICTOROVICH MINTSEV

Valery Victorovich Mintsev had an experience at the age of six that he could not quite articulate.
But it was inspiring enough to make him stand on a rock and tell his puzzled young friends “the ways of the universe”.

It took the 46-year-old monk, who is the son of a Ukrainian typographer and Soviet Communist party member, another 10 years to “find the right words”. That was when he came upon the texts of Shankaracharya, an 8th Century Indian philosopher and Hindu revivalist.

Valery Victorovich MintsevValery Mintsev met a Hindu monk in 2006 who reinforced his ideas
While studying Cold War politics at the Kiev Higher Naval Political School, a belief that Russians and Indians are descended from the same Aryan ancestors became stronger.

“Why else do we have old Russian places named after Indian deities – like Ram and Sita lakes or Narada mountain?” asks Mr Mintsev.

A 2006 meeting with Pilot Baba, a Hindu monk who got his name because of his former career as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, reinforced his ideas. Three years ago, Mr Mintsev was initiated into a Hindu order with the monastic name of Vishnu Dev.

Later this year the Russian monk is planning to put up a Chinese-made, 18m (59ft) bronze statue of Dattatreya, the presiding deity of his sect, at his 1,000-acre retreat situated 600km (373 miles) east of Moscow. Why did he choose to be a Hindu monk? “I have searched for freedom all my life and I got it in Hindu philosophy. It must be a great connection from a past life,” is his explanation.

BABA RAMPURI

Baba Rampuri guards his personal history – his life before he came to India from the United States in 1970 – with a fierce zeal. Not even those who have known him for decades know his real name. What is known is that he came from California.

But when asked to comment on reports that he is the son of a Jewish plastic surgeon, he laughs and says, “maybe I was his daughter who had a sex change.”

NAGA BABA MARCH IN KHUMBMELA

Hindu naked holy men take part in a procession to the Sangam at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad The Kumbh festival is the world’s largest religious gathering
Whatever his antecedents, Baba Rampuri is today one of the most successful Hindu monks from the US.

Part of his popularity flows from being one of the first Westerners to be initiated into the secretive Juna order of monks, the largest of the 13 powerful sects that control religious affairs at the Kumbh festival.

The publication of his book Autobiography of a Sadhu: A Journey into Mystic India, later added to the mystery. In 2010, Baba Rampuri was made one of the three abbots of the order’s international chapter and today he is one of the very few Hindu monks raising funds through internet-based social media.


He derives his monastic lineage from Keshav Puri, a monk buried outside Multan in Pakistan who is also called Multani Baba or Shamshad Tapa Rez.

“He is called a pir, a Sufi saint. And Muslims wearing black sit with Hindus wearing orange at his memorial meetings,” says Baba Rampuri. So possibly there was an undercurrent of commonness between the faiths that we deny today.”

The belief is shared within his order but, like Baba Rampuri’s own past, the real history is shrouded in mystery because of a lack of verifiable evidence.

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk