Ever met a Sadhu?

[Nakosis]

Sounds like one of the scam artists pretending to be holy and duping the gullible. True holy people would not want your money and surround themselves with wealth.

Well, what did I know, I was a kid. Fortunately I had nothing to donate.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Well, what did I know, I was a kid. Fortunately I had nothing to donate.

Live and learn. At least you didn't give anything to him.

 

[Spiderman]

I want to be a Sadhu later in life. I've felt an urge to do it at various times but I'm reminded that it's hard to do and hold onto the way I do music. Despite that I hope to relatively soon live a life traveling and living very modestly without very much luxury. Later in my life I might abandon that and live with even less. I've also considered moving to India, this last year or so. Who knows, maybe in 10 or 20 years I'll be a Sadhu. I'll just see where everything leads me. I already live pretty modestly without too many things, and I think it's the better way to live, at least for me. I don't like having a bunch of junk around, with the exception of spare parts for things.

I don't know you, but it looks to me like you have a gift that a lot of people don't have, to be desiring that humble modest life of seeking Enlightenment and unity with the spirit world, the universe, or God... just really pray for discernment about moving to India... I'm not sure that is a good idea. What country do you live in?

 

[Amani_Bhava]

The sadhu way of life is nearly dead or at least on its deathbed. Most of the pictures shared show beggars who dress as sadhus.

A real sadhu stays very far from human habitation completely isolating themselves from this world and spend year and decades in meditation. There is honest doubt how many true sadhus exist today. Must be that some exist in upper reaches of Himalayas .. but not as many as there were till fifty years ago.

To exist without food for days, one needs to know several yogic processes. Where is the guru who will teach that?

Some calling themselves sadhus have huge ashrams in Haridwar .. teaching yoga and the like. Staying in a huge air conditioned ashram with air conditioning and marble floors is not being a sadhu. We call them "Dhongi Sadhu" (fake sadhu)

Diego Bunuel from National Geographic made an excellent documentary about Kumbh Mela - Wikipedia .. it is where one can find all kinds of sadhus

namaste

amani_bhava

 

[Spiderman]

The sadhu way of life is nearly dead or at least on its deathbed. Most of the pictures shared show beggars who dress as sadhus.

A real sadhu stays very far from human habitation completely isolating themselves from this world and spend year and decades in meditation. There is honest doubt how many true sadhus exist today. Must be that some exist in upper reaches of Himalayas .. but not as many as there were till fifty years ago.

To exist without food for days, one needs to know several yogic processes. Where is the guru who will teach that?

Some calling themselves sadhus have huge ashrams in Haridwar .. teaching yoga and the like. Staying in a huge air conditioned ashram with air conditioning and marble floors is not being a sadhu. We call them "Dhongi Sadhu" (fake sadhu)

Diego Bunuel from National Geographic made an excellent documentary about Kumbh Mela - Wikipedia .. it is where one can find all kinds of sadhus

namaste

amani_bhava

Great post!

Could you explain more, why it's necessary for them to be isolated in solitary confinement?

 

[Amani_Bhava]

Without naming names .. Two months back I wrote to a sadhvi .. a well educated woman who claimed to have become an "ascetic" in one of those huge marble floor ashrams in Haridwar .. (her email address was easily available)

I wrote .. the spiritual path is very lonely (at least in a big city) and I cannot find a guru .. can I have some guidance if I visit Haridwar .. and maybe thereafter I can visit once every two years.

What came back was a brochure from the ashram .. !! No reply .. just a brochure .. as if I am a customer.

Imagine the state of spiritualism in India !!

True spiritualism is still alive in Theravada Buddhism .. search for Thai Forest Tradition monastery ..

I have shared this in another post also .. listen to what Pamutto Bhikkhu has to say about his dhutanga practice (extreme asceticism) in cold New England .. henceforth anyone wishing to become as ascetic would have to look to Thai Forest Tradition and its offshoots in USA and Europe

namaste

amani_bhava

 

[Amani_Bhava]

Great post!

Could you explain more, why it's necessary for them to be isolated in solitary confinement?

Same with Buddhist monks too .. to deprive the senses ..

This world creates a screen or a mask of thoughts .. there is a blue sedan, I have to pay my cell phone bill tomorrow, that man has lot of long hairs coming out of his nose .. and so on millions of them daily.

To break free and see/understand the truth you need to remove this cloak of thoughts .. and that happens after years (or at least several months) of meditation in an environment where you are not disturbed.

Kind of like breaking through clouds and seeing the sun. The Buddhists find there is nothing .. Hinduism finds the same thing but calls it Brahman (the two religions climb the same mountain but from opposite slopes)

To understand the goal of the path would make it clear to you why seclusion is needed .. this monk does a good job of it .. he takes a long while to get to the point (but he explains it both from Buddhist and Hindu point of view) so you have to be patient

namaste

amani_bhava

 

[Amani_Bhava]

One last word ..

About 100 kms south of my home there is a huge gathering of holy people in early January every year Sagar Island - Wikipedia .. many naga sadhus visit at that time ..

Temporary huts are made for them by the administration ..

Due to vast number of devotees barricades are erected to guide the crowd along a certain path (such as when entering and leaving a stadium) .. one naga sadhu was complaining "I have a hut at a place where I cannot even earn $3 daily .. while his hut (gesturing to a competitor) fetches him $300 daily"

Not much more to say .. these people are not supposed to own anything more than a staff/trident and a small brass pot .. but they behave as cheaply as truck stop whores

namaste

amani_bhava

 

[Amani_Bhava]

Btw I noticed I have done a strange thing ..

Shared video of a good Buddhist monk followed by a video of a good Hindu monk (the word "good" signifying they are both true adherents of their path and not charlatans)

Wonder what they would have to say if they met each other.

namaste

amani_bhava

 

[Jedster]

Followed a Satguru for a while though he wasn't of the ascetic types. Had a big mansion in Malibu. His wealth all came from donations.

Folks would renounce all of their possessions to the church and enter an ashram. Married an American wife, had two kids, a hundred thousand followers. I know, nothing compared to some youtube celebs these days, but doesn't seem like too bad of a gig.

Jaisatchitanand.

Yup..I did just that for over 20 years. 10 years as an ashram premie(renunciate).
I was completely mesmerised by the claim the he could give the 'direct experience of God'.
Sad to say that I got caught up in the religiosity of the group.
I really believed he was God in a bod.

 

[Kapalika]

Uh, IDK. You don't have to live in the middle of nowhere, at least not all the time. Many do go out in the wilderness but many return to civilization. You can live ascetically in Varanasi, the wilderness, or really anywhere.

 

[stvdv]

Have you ever met a Sadhu? Did they teach you anything? Were you inspired by any of what you saw in them?

I love this post. Thanks. I love sadhus. I met sadhus. And I learned that sadhu life [detached from attachments] is a way to heaven.
I was quite good in not judging. Then I read and heard about aghori's. This really took "non-judging" to a totally different level

 

[Kirran]

Yeah, met plenty of sadhus in Varanasi. It's teeming with them. Sure, plenty just hang out, smoke weed, whatever. Some do very good work nevertheless. One guy I met was part of setting up a charity to help children with disabilities. And certainly there ARE some sadhus who are totally legit and have actually taken up that lifestyle to attain to God and to follow the teachings of their guru.

For example, it's not uncommon for some swamis of the Ramakrishna Order (google it ) to spend some time living as sadhus rather than as monks in a monastery as they tend to do, if it helps them spiritually. I also visited the Ramakrishna centre in Varanasi.

I have known much better quite a few swamis who do not live the sadhu lifestyle, however, but live together in their ashram and do their sadhana and serve pilgrims and look after animals and so on.

 

[Amani_Bhava]

Yeah, met plenty of sadhus in Varanasi. It's teeming with them. Sure, plenty just hang out, smoke weed, whatever. Some do very good work nevertheless. One guy I met was part of setting up a charity to help children with disabilities. And certainly there ARE some sadhus who are totally legit and have actually taken up that lifestyle to attain to God and to follow the teachings of their guru.

For example, it's not uncommon for some swamis of the Ramakrishna Order (google it ) to spend some time living as sadhus rather than as monks in a monastery as they tend to do, if it helps them spiritually. I also visited the Ramakrishna centre in Varanasi.

I have known much better quite a few swamis who do not live the sadhu lifestyle, however, but live together in their ashram and do their sadhana and serve pilgrims and look after animals and so on.

How do you define a sadhu?

How do you know some are "legit" .. in this sense legit can only mean they are working to extinguish their balance of Karma and never be born again (while running a charity is laudable, it is not part of job description of a sadhu)

Of course if you say - they have given up family, are celibate, wear robes, shun materialism .. and that is enough to be a sadhu .. it is a different matter ..

Monks of Ramkrishna Order are technically Giri sect sanyasis .. but can we call them sadhu/sanyasi? They have a system to provide them with their next meal, a bed to sleep in, a bathroom, good medical care, assured old age care. They have a more secured life than 95% Indians. Can they be called sadhus or sanyasi (in fact this is a very hotly debated topic in Calcutta, the home and headquarters of Ramkrishna Mission) Since the very purpose of being a sadhu is to lead an insecure and un-anchored life .. how can we call them a sadhu? A new word should be invented for them.

In fact if you look closely at the Salvation Army and read its mission statement "the advancement of the Christian religion… of education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole" omit "the advancement of the Christian religion" and you have RKM in a nutshell.

A sadhu according to some like me .. owns nothing.

Have to bring it up again .. this is why Buddha wrote the Vinaya Pitaka with detailed definitions and 227 rules governing the life of a Buddhist monk (patimokkha) .. so that anyone in a robe could not claim they were monks (the man had astounding intellect, wisdom and farsightedness and foresaw each and every problem that may arise)

By your definition if I head over to Varanasi, keep a beard, wear ochre clothes and I am not working an angle on tourists or disciples .. I am a sadhu .. that is too lax a definition.

All monks are not sadhus. However this is open to debate and independent interpretation.

namaste

A_B

 

[Kirran]

How do you define a sadhu?

How do you know some are "legit" .. in this sense legit can only mean they are working to extinguish their balance of Karma and never be born again (while running a charity is laudable, it is not part of job description of a sadhu)

Of course if you say - they have given up family, are celibate, wear robes, shun materialism .. and that is enough to be a sadhu .. it is a different matter ..

Monks of Ramkrishna Order are technically Giri sect sanyasis .. but can we call them sadhu/sanyasi? They have a system to provide them with their next meal, a bed to sleep in, a bathroom, good medical care, assured old age care. They have a more secured life than 95% Indians. Can they be called sadhus or sanyasi (in fact this is a very hotly debated topic in Calcutta, the home and headquarters of Ramkrishna Mission) Since the very purpose of being a sadhu is to lead an insecure and un-anchored life .. how can we call them a sadhu? A new word should be invented for them.

In fact if you look closely at the Salvation Army and read its mission statement "the advancement of the Christian religion… of education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole" omit "the advancement of the Christian religion" and you have RKM in a nutshell.

A sadhu according to some like me .. owns nothing.

Have to bring it up again .. this is why Buddha wrote the Vinaya Pitaka with detailed definitions and 227 rules governing the life of a Buddhist monk (patimokkha) .. so that anyone in a robe could not claim they were monks (the man had astounding intellect, wisdom and farsightedness and foresaw each and every problem that may arise)

By your definition if I head over to Varanasi, keep a beard, wear ochre clothes and I am not working an angle on tourists or disciples .. I am a sadhu .. that is too lax a definition.

All monks are not sadhus. However this is open to debate and independent interpretation.

namaste

A_B

By legit I mean they are people who have dedicated their lives to God in the lifestyle of a homeless mendicant.

Sure, generally Ramakrishna swamis do not live as sadhus (although they are still sannyasins) but there are plenty who do leave the maths and live as sadhus for periods.

I'd say the purpose of the Ramakrishna Mission is the realisation of God and the service of mankind.

Very definitely, I have nothing but the greatest respect for the Buddha.

Anyway, of course real spirituality is within, not in appearances, regardless of what different paths suit different people.

 

[Amani_Bhava]

By legit I mean they are people who have dedicated their lives to God in the lifestyle of a homeless mendicant.

If that is the criteria -

A ) dedicate life to God
B ) homeless mendicant

then there are quite a few thousand in India. And many, many in Varanasi .. I agree

namaste

A_B

 

[Kirran]

If that is the criteria -

A ) dedicate life to God
B ) homeless mendicant

then there are quite a few thousand in India. And many, many in Varanasi .. I agree

namaste

A_B

What criteria would you posit, Amani?

 

[Amani_Bhava]

What criteria would you posit, Amani?

That they have a bonafide meditation practice not spend time singing bhajans .. and some degree of learning/understanding

Dedication of life to God is something we find even among laypersons .. we also have the largest population of mendicants in the world and according to me simple intersection of the two cannot make a sadhu. That sets the bar too low. It just makes a glorified beggar.

If anyone has seen a video of Kumbha Mela .. it is difficult to understand how many of those million or so sadhus actually have understanding of the scriptures and also have a strong meditation practice. I have always wondered about it and there is no clear answer.

There is a simple test .. ask them to quote few passages from Gita or Upanishads .. but it seems a rude thing to do.

namaste

amani_bhava

 

[atanu]

It appears very self-centered to me...

That is actually the goal because in Self is All. Do you not know that Christ taught the same?

 

[Kirran]

That they have a bonafide meditation practice not spend time singing bhajans .. and some degree of learning/understanding

Dedication of life to God is something we find even among laypersons .. we also have the largest population of mendicants in the world and according to me simple intersection of the two cannot make a sadhu. That sets the bar too low. It just makes a glorified beggar.

If anyone has seen a video of Kumbha Mela .. it is difficult to understand how many of those million or so sadhus actually have understanding of the scriptures and also have a strong meditation practice. I have always wondered about it and there is no clear answer.

There is a simple test .. ask them to quote few passages from Gita or Upanishads .. but it seems a rude thing to do.

namaste

amani_bhava

You don't think one can be a sadhu and be just into bhakti yoga?