Photograph by Joey Varanasi
Renowned filmmaker Mahiema Anand spent a month filming the enigmatic Aghori sect in India. Here, she shares her personal story…
“We like to be in control of our lives, we like to see ourselves in the driver’s seat. However, I believe that everything has already been charted for us. I realized this a few years ago when I learnt the biggest lesson of my life – learning to surrender to the Universe.
In late 90s, I was still groping in the dark, trying to find my purpose in life when a documentary project from the US took me to the burning ghats of Benaras. This is where I found my soul.
I was to film a documentary on the Aghoris. These Shiva devotees usually live by the Ganges and are said to attain salvation by eating the flesh of the dead. I knew it would be a huge challenge for me to portray them to the West in the right light otherwise they might simply be dismissed as cannibals and nothing more. I wanted to gain an understanding of the Aghoris and their rituals.
The first night at Benaras, I sat with my production manager on the steps of the Manikarnika Ghat, known as the burning ghat of Benaras. They say the flames of this pyre never go out. My colleague couldn’t handle it and had to leave but I sat there until the early hours of the morning, watching the sunrise absorb the energy of the place.
It turned out to be the most liberating moment of my life. For nearly ten hours I sat in incredibly close proximity to death and this helped me to demystify the fear surrounding it. I witnessed bodies being burnt in front of my eyes. I was only a few feet away from the unusual ritual that involves breaking the skulls of the deceased. It was at this moment that I got over my fear of death. It suddenly hit me – there is no such thing as dying, I told myself. There’s only life and life again.
I was no longer scared of death; I was able to look at death in the eye. At once, I felt free from the bondage of life and from its many manifestations of illusion (also known as ‘maya’). It was also a reminder that when you pass away, you do not carry anything from the material world with you.
Over the next few days we filmed the ghats extensively, including the Aghoris sitting by the shamshan bhumi (cremation ground) waiting for the ashes to be surrendered to the Ganges. Once the cremation was over, they would then search for a piece of unburned flesh from the body. They would plunge their mouth into the fire rather than use their hands to pick it up. The piece of flesh would then be cooked in alcohol and eaten by the Aghoris.
We also filmed Aghoris doing what is known as tapasya (penance) until death. Their prayer rituals involve an inverted human skull as a bowl, in which they mix alcohol with blood drawn from their own bodies.
It was slightly bizarre and my head was buzzing with questions once the filming was over. My inner voice told me to stay back for longer. My production manager tracked down a university professor who was an Aghori. And I hoped he could unravel the mysteries surrounding the rituals.
After walking through narrow lanes of the city we finally arrived at the professor’s house. When we knocked at the door, we heard a man call out my name in a loud voice. Was I hallucinating? How did this man know my name? We were then taken in to a small room to meet a bare-chested Prof Chaturvedi sitting with eyes closed, a large tika on his forehead. He was smiling. He knew I had to come to meet him!
He gestured us to sit down and surprised me by producing some ash and bone from thin air in his palm, as an offering from his deity! I was speechless. Teary-eyed, I said nothing, he knew why I was there. And while the camera rolled, he talked…
He had studied the Aghori cult while under the guidance of a guru who understood the nuances of these wanderers who were basically devotees of Lord Shiva (the Hindu God of destruction). He explained that most human beings are victims of maya jaal, which means we are victims of our own desires – ranging from material possessions to physical and emotional needs. And in most cases, our never-ending desires lead to disappointments and unhappiness!
The two most powerful desires include our sexual urges and our taste buds. Human beings always yearn to fulfill these desires. Some even put their lives at risk just to satiate their hunger for food and sex! In essence, this spiritual practice is designed to rise above these banal desires and overcome our greed for food and sex, which are usually beyond our control.
In a bid to reach spiritual evolution and cosmic consciousness, the Aghoris aim to reach the stage of hate and repulsion, so that they kill such desires. So, their extreme post-mortem rituals of eating repulsive human flesh and even having sex with a corpse is supposed to take them to a place far beyond these desires and gives them the chance to reach salvation.
My short film was aired in the US and in Asia and reached out to a wide audience. However, what it did for me was beyond comprehension. Witnessing the Aghoris and their profound connection with death helped me overcome my own fear of dying – it was like a beacon of light that changed my life.
For more information e-mail mahiema.anand@gmail.com
