Aghoris means… Ghora means terrible. Aghoris means that which is beyond terrible. Is there an Aghoris path? Definitely there is. It’s still a very active spiritual process. A recently dead body has some possibilities. So certain systems use that. If you really want to see raising the dead and that kind of stuff, these are the people.
Aghoris means that which is beyond terrible
So, what they’re doing is – there is still prana in the body that is dead. So they’re sitting there – if you go there to Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghat – the Aghoris will be sitting there, watching. Everybody who’ll come, they inquire – how old is this person, how did he die. That’s why some of them who don’t want that to be known, they’re covering with plastic sheets. You know, where people cannot see. How old is the person? They won’t say how old was the person. But the Aghoris want to know.
If it’s a young person, somebody who was vibrant life and for some reason he died, they want that kind. When that happens, they want to do work there. They want to make use of the energy that’s released. Once the body begins to burn, this prana has to exit immediately. When that exits, they want to make use of that life energy to do something with themselves. If you do not know the science of that, you cannot just think it’s all bizarre. Yes, it’s an extreme way of doing things. It is not for everybody.
Why should somebody choose such a way? Because they don’t see life as ‘good’ and ‘bad’. They just see life as a possibility towards the ultimate. They don’t care how. It is a very – I would say, crude technology. If you want to look at all systems of spirituality as a technology – it’s a very crude technology. But still a technology. It works. But very crude.
You have to do the most disgusting things in the Aghoris path
So these paths are generally taken – more than spiritual dimension, to acquire occult powers. That’s why they go on that path. As a spiritual process also it’s a possibility. But most people may not get there, because most people do not have that kind of perseverance. Nor do they have that kind of courage. Nor are they capable of handling disgust. Because you have to do the most disgusting things in the Aghoris path. But they’re done by people who want to acquire certain powers to dominate life, to dominate other human beings. In that context – yes, it has been an active and effective path. It has also been an active and effective spiritual process for some people. But that’s for a rare few, not for others. Others will just break on paths like that. They’ll just break up.
