Aghora
Every question on the site tagged Aghora, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The fierce, unconventional path of Shaiva Tantric practice, associated with the horn (Shringi), cremation-ground worship, and forms like Bhairava and Pratyangira.
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Who should stay away from Siddha Peethas where sacrifice is offered
The speaker says that anyone who finds these matters repulsive, very harsh or cruel should not read about them and should not go to pilgrimage places, the Siddha Peethas, where the rules of the Shakta tradition, Shaivagama and Aghora are followed and Bali is offered. He says the sadhaks engaged in that process, whatever qualities they carry, hold their own view which runs according to tradition. He tells people whose hearts are torn by seeing such things to take darshan of the Devi but never go to or watch the sacrifice ground, because it should not be their subject; whoever does take it up must accept that it has its own tradition.
Puranic precedents that deities can be bound: Hanuman by Meghanad, Mahakali by Malla and Mani
To those who laugh at the idea that anyone could bind a devi-devata, the speaker answers from the Puranic accounts: see how Hanuman ji was bound by Meghanada, and how Bhagavati Mahakali was imprisoned in their yantra and put into bandhan by the tantriks named Malla and Mani — which is why Bhagavan Shiva had to take the avatar of Martand Bhairav, an Aghora form. Something like these characters, he says, plays out in Kalikaal too among the deva shaktis and partial yoginis who sit in a kul and carry the family's nurture and protection.
Bead-by-bead abhimantran of the mala with the Ishana, Aghora and Tatpurusha mantras
The speaker says the full method is to hold each bead and recite the vowels and consonants nasally, from a to am and ka to ksha, enclosed in Om as a Samput. But ordinarily two mantras suffice. First, with a little chandan water, chandan is applied to every bead while the Ishana mantra is spoken (Om ishanah sarvavidyanam ishwarah sarvabhutanam brahmadhipati brahmanodhipati brahma shivo me astu sadashivam), because Ishana, Shiva's form, is the lord of all vidyas and mantras; after all 108 beads, the Sumeru is charged with the Aghora mantra (Om aghorebhyo atha ghorebhyo ghora ghoratarebhyah sarvebhyah sarva sarvebhyo namah shivebhyah). Then a second round over every bead with kumkum and the Tatpurusha mantra (Om tatpurushaya vidmahe mahadevaya dhimahi tanno rudra prachodayat), the sumeru again with Aghora. The Abhimantran of the mala is then complete.
What is the Hessonite (Gomed) Ganapati used for?
Worshipped in Aghora traditions alongside Vira, Kshipra, or Uchchhishta Ganapati, it is highly effective for pacifying severe Masana afflictions, curses from intentional abortions, or in households dedicated to Bhadrakali/Bandi Mata and Virabhadra.
What distinguishes the Garuda, Nandi, and Simha bells, and when should bells not be rung?
The Garuda bell presents the Samaveda's vibration to the deity even for a devotee who knows no Vedic chants; the Simha Ghanta is restricted to specific esoteric lineages; bells are traditionally not rung after 8:00 PM in domestic worship (except in perpetual temple worship), and not rung at all during certain esoteric night rituals like Tara worship.
Do Mahakali and Aghor Kali carry Shri tattva?
Asked in effect whether Bhagavati Mahakali or some other shakti such as Aghor Kali is devoid of Shri tattva, the speaker answers that no, their tattva is of a different kind — it is endowed with aghor tattva. Their subject is separate, and he puts it plainly: an ordinary householder person cannot accept those tattvas.
Why must copper not be used for Bhagavati Lakshmi?
And whenever any sweet substance is made, kheer and the like, that too is not to be kept in copper for the ahuti of Bhagavati Lakshmi, the speaker says. When it is of Aghor Lakshmi, then a copper vessel is used. Take care of this for the ahuti.
The vidhi would have to be shown live, as a guru does at the yajnopavita or a Shaiva diksha.
Asked to explain the vidhi of making bhasma from bel wood by the Aghor mantra, he says it would have to be shown live. Until such vidhi-vidhan is done — at the yajnopavita samskara or a Shaiva diksha — the guru does everything by demonstrating and telling. Otherwise we can only tell by mouth; to do and show it is not proper.
Kaushiki's most prominent day is the Bhadrapada Amavasya, so ask where Mahasaraswati's shakti arrives — and what is dissolving into Aghor, or Aghor into what.
The most prominent day of Kaushiki is this Kaushiki Amavasya, the Amavasya of Bhadrapada. So relate it, the speaker says: where is the shakti of Mahasaraswati arriving and meeting? To those who say that it cannot be so in Aghor, he answers — see what is dissolving into Aghor, or what Aghor is dissolving into. Look at it both ways.
An over-motivated listener reasons that since all shaktis are one, a householder may take up Aghori or Chamunda upasana directly — and does an upside-down sadhana.
Because it raises the chance that people, becoming excessively motivated, may go and do some upside-down sadhana on the reasoning that all the shaktis are one anyway — so why not do Ma Aghori; we are householders, why not do Aghori; Kaushiki is right here, this is the very form of Jagadamba; and since Bhagavati Chamunda herself manifested from her forehead, why not directly take up her upasana.
A caution before the Aghor swaroop is described — the form most misunderstood and most misused
Because, he says, this is the most prominent swaroop, and everyone's attraction towards it stays heightened. Many kinds of misconception exist about this swaroop, and people also make wrong use and misuse of it, and use it in an unauthorised manner — which, he says, should not be done.
How is the Aghor swaroop described?
In this swaroop both were of krishna varna: Brahma ji too bore a form of krishna varna, and Shiva ji here too is of krishna varna, exceedingly valorous, greatly valorous. He wears a black garment, the crown too is black, the yajnopavit too is black, the turban too is black, and he is anointed with fragrant chandan of krishna varna. This krishna-pingala hued wondrous form is the Aghor swaroop.
The Aghorebhyo mantra, and the four black mahatmas produced by that form
Seeing that form, Brahma ji did dhyana of the Aghor swaroop of the Parabrahma, and made stuti with the Aghor mantra अघोरेभ्योथ घोरेभ्यो अघोर अघोर तरेभ्य and the rest. By that tantric vigraha, the black-hued Bhagwan Shiva produced four mahatmas named Krishna, Krishna Sikh, Krishnasya and Krishna Kanthadrik.
What does Aghor Chaturdashi permit, and what does it not?
Hearing the word Aghor, we are not to perform any Tamasic worship, and this Navratri is not kept at home. The right to keep it belongs to the traditions in which it is kept, because many things in it cannot be done in a house. We should only do a special worship on the night the Chaturdashi holds.
What is at the Kamakhya sthan itself, and who is forbidden to see it?
In the swaroop we all see there stands a mahashila, kept covered and wrapped about with red cloth, whose darshan and pujan is forbidden — to those, the speaker says, whose marriage has not taken place. There are a great many misconceptions on this point too. The reason, he says, is plain: people today are ready in a moment to go and do sadhana in a shamshan, drawn by the word Aghor heard on YouTube channels, thinking that great powers will be got there.
What do people not know when they offer karan in Vamachar puja?
People do not even know, the speaker says, that if you are offering karan — having gone into the Aghor parampara, offering liquor and performing Vamachar puja as an initiate — you should know that liquor, that is madya, has been cursed. Whose curse? The Yadavas, the descendants of Bhagwan Shri Krishna, were all destroyed at the destruction of Dwarikapuri on account of madira-paan; so the story goes. After that Shri Krishna gave a curse to madira, that the curse would remain in the madira tattva, and whoever drinks it will incur a dosha.
What happens to a person on whom such a shakti is established?
Within her there will then be a very great surge of kamanas, the speaker says. Whatever her age — whether a girl of eighteen or twenty, or of twenty-five or thirty, or of forty or forty-five — such kriyas will happen within her that she will feel herself to be only sixteen years old, and will remain kaam-peedit at all times. In just the same way the prayoga is done upon men; and this, he says, we think has become high-grade tantra.
Should shamshan sadhanas and diksha be shown in live videos?
The speaker says that in the present time people make live videos of the shamshan sadhanas one by one in the name of Aghor, even giving diksha, seated on a pyre. He says that is their own affair and he raises no finger at them, but he cannot show such things himself.
What is the story of Baba Kinaram and Bhagavan Datta at Girnar?
When you read the katha of Aghoracharya Baba Kinaram or see his life, the speaker says, you will learn the tantrokta rahasya of the middle of the Girnar parvat, and how Bhagavan Datta comes daily from the Girnar parvat into the region of Kashi, to Manikarnika, to the Chakra Pushkarini tirtha, and how thereafter, by one ansh, he came to remain present with Aghoracharya Baba Kinaram and performed many kinds of leelas there in a tantric form.
Those who actually hold Maha Ganapati mantra siddhi fall silent — honour and insult no longer touch them
They become void of ordinary consciousness and speak very little. The speaker says such practitioners exist in the Digambar field too — but they are not in a condition even to speak or move about; you cannot address them and they will give you no reply, and honour and insult no longer touch them.
Sadhaks of the Kaul and Ghor sampradaya do sadhana nightly on the parikrama path below Kamakhya
The path that goes down leads towards Bhairavi — Bhagavati Bhairavi and Ma Dhuma — and it is the parikrama path. On the parikrama path, the speaker says, sadhaks of the Kaul or Ghor sampradaya are seen doing sadhana for Bhagavati; for as many days as they themselves stayed, these sadhaks were stopping there every day and performing sadhana. The footage is of the night time.
Can the Pashupatastra be practised without deeksha?
Asked what the Pashupatastra is and whether its sadhana may be done without deeksha, the speaker says that all astra mantras — whether the Pashupatastra, the Neelkanth Aghor astra, the Maheshwar astra, the Aghor astra — should not be practised without deeksha. This, he says, is his own view; you are free to decide for yourself. In his view you should never do astra sadhana without the principal sadhana, because an astra is an anga vidya.
Is there a sadhana for obtaining an aghori or tamasik guru?
Asked what to mix into bathing water, he says it depends — mix Gangajal and bathe. Asked whether the sadhana for obtaining a guru serves those who want an aghori guru or a tamasik guru for tamasik or aghor sadhana, he says: absolutely, do it holding that very wish in the mind — that we want such a guru for tamasik sadhana, that we want an aghori guru — and such a one will be obtained.
Why do people go to whoever looks most like a tantric?
What happens here, he says, is that whoever makes his outward dress look like a tantric — wearing a mundmala, wearing kade of different kinds, of which there are very many types — and whoever puts on more of a show of himself, doing havan in the shamshan, doing masanik kriyas, will look to you like a real tantric. They will talk of a hundred sadhanas, and then you will go to them and get initiated, or wish to receive diksha from them.
Can anyone do the Aghor mantra?
To Harita Mishra ji he answers that yes, there is no such difficulty in doing the Aghor mantra of Shiva ji; be free of worry about it. In the Panchanan mantra of Shiva ji, the five mantras of his five faces, you do not need to think anything of any kind — do the Ishan mantra, do the Vamdev mantra, do the Tatpurush, do the Aghor. Do whichever you wish.
Should a householder take the satvik pyala or the aghor pyala?
Asked whether to take the satvik pyala or the aghor pyala, the speaker answers that if you are a householder, take the satvik. If you are leaving householder life, then you are free to take whichever you wish.
Which kavach should a Bhagavati devotee who eats non-veg and drinks take up — Sabari or Kamakhya?
Asked by a listener who is a devotee of Bhagavati but eats non-veg and drinks alcohol whether to do the Sabari kavach or the Kamakhya kavach, the speaker says either may be done. As for a kavach to wear on the body, if one wears the Aghor kavachs — the Aghor Shiv kavach, the Aghor Kali kavach — that will work. He says to keep the Kamakhya kavach as the last option.
Why does the Aghor form disprove the fear of becoming an avadhoot?
If such a thing were true, he says, consider that Bhagavan Sadashiva too is not a householder in one form — he too is in the Aghora form, absorbed on Kailash in yoga mudra and in his dhyana. Have all the people who do his puja and seva renounced the world? Whoever worships that Aghor form today, he says, is the biggest householder of all: he has taken Aghor diksha, has made a whole separate tradition of his own, is marrying and fathering children, and is calling himself an Aghori too.
Why are some Datta upasak sadhus seen consuming intoxicants?
Asked to throw light on Datta's Aghor form, since many sadhus who are Datta upasaks have been seen consuming cigarettes in his upasana, the speaker says there is no need to throw light. They have left home and gone into the sanyas ashram; theirs is their own state. They say for the purpose of holding dhyana that we are taking booti — those are their things, and it is also true that they consume herbs in that manner. In the regions of the mountains, he says, whether Girnar, the Vindhya region or the Himalaya region, in every region there are divine Aushadhis, divine herbs.
Is what is seen as chillam and ganja the same as what the sadhus take?
Chillam and ganja are a separate matter, the speaker says; but the attainment of dhyana yoga through it, the consumption of those herbs, is taken by a different medium. You are thinking that they are taking a chillam, but that is a different subject, that thing is altogether different. And worldly persons cannot understand those subjects — therefore it is not proper even to discuss it. To them it will only seem that the man is indulging in an addiction of some kind.
Should a householder keep away because the word Aghor is attached?
This is a very important night for Bhagavati Tara, he says — and we who are householders should never think that because the word Aghor has become attached to this Amavasya it is therefore not for householders. It has very great importance of its own for us too.
How is the Neelkanth stotra to be made siddh?
Surya Patel ji asks how to accomplish the sadhana siddhi of the Neelkanth stotra. If you are speaking of the ordinary Neelkanth stotra, he says, you may do it for paath and the like. If you are speaking of the Neelkanth Aghorastra and so on, then for that he would say: first complete the ordinary sadhanas, and do it after that.
Was Baba Kinaram born on Aghor Chaturdashi?
A listener says that the prakatya of Baba Kinaram took place on the very day of Aghor Chaturdashi. That is right, he answers — Baba Kinaram, the Aghori.
What is an astra mantra actually doing?
Pay attention here, the speaker says: the Neelkanth Aghorastra is in itself a fierce aghorastra. It is an astra, an astra mantra. And in an astra mantra the various kinds of shaktis of the deity, the various kinds of astras, are told: whatever the affliction of the one in front — be it a graha, be it bhoot pret pishach, be it an enemy — bind them all, strike, cut, devour them. You become aveshit within me.
The Neelkanth Aghorastra is performed part-wise by ten or twelve people over two to three years
In our sadhak family, the speaker says, he thinks they have been having the Neelkanth Aghorastra performed for two to three years. And for over two years there have not been many people — there will be ten or twelve — and those people are doing it part-wise. The anushthan vidhi of each of the mantras in it is being done in a different manner.
Can the shankh be blown in Shiva puja?
Why can it not be blown, he says — the shankh can absolutely be blown. What has been forbidden for him is the puja of the dakshinavarti shankh; the blowing of the shankh is not forbidden. At home Bhagwan Shiva is worshipped in the grihastha svarup, and at home you do not do Shiva puja alone but panchayatana puja. You are a householder — you have not gone off into the Aghor parampara; there you would have to blow the shankhini instead, and by the blowing of the shankhini all the negative shaktis that there are come.
Diksha today and Aghori tomorrow — there is now one in house after house
That an Aghori of that kind is now everyone — there is an Aghori in house after house, and it has come to feel awkward even to speak the word Aghor. Whoever you look at is becoming an Aghori; videos come of people in the shamshaan taking photos and videos of themselves saying svaha, doing havan directly on a pyre, and they have become babas. Diksha happened today and tomorrow they became an Aghori. It should not be done.
A twelve-year dacoity case ended after one trikon, in an account of a disciple of Kinaram Baba
He recalls a post he will put up, of a story he cannot recall correctly — it was of the disciple of Kinaram Baba, of Bhagavan Ram, or perhaps of Vishal Baba, one of the two — in which someone had a case of dacoity or something running against him for twelve years, and only one trikon was performed, and in that single trikon everything was done. It could have run another twelve years, he says, but by performing the trikon the prarabdha was destroyed at once, because its fruit is immediate.
Should a householder read into shamshanik and Aghor practice?
A householder should not read into these things at all, the speaker tells the questioner. And especially the youth: if you wish to go into shamshanik sadhana, into Aghor, in tantra sadhana, then do not go by way of YouTube and Facebook. If you wish to perform the most ugra sadhana, then absolutely do — sadhana exists to be done: make up your mind that you are not to go into grihastha, that you have to do sadhana too, that you have to do tamasik sadhana in the tantra marga, sadhana in the veer bhaav, and that you have to advance on that path. Advance by all means — but having decided, going with someone, under the guidance of some qualified guru, face to face. All sadhana does not happen from YouTube and Facebook.
What is shav sadhana and where does it belong?
Shav sadhana is a tantric sadhana of a high order, the speaker says. Understand it this way: as when you are doing the sadhana of Bhagavati Kali, the sadhana in the veer bhaav — shav sadhana comes within that. In Shaiva sadhana too, that is in the parampara of Bhagavan Shiva, when sadhana is done in Aghor, in the Naar sampradaya, then in tantra sadhana too shav sadhana comes in. Its prominence was very great especially in the medieval period, although it has existed from the beginning.
Choosing a diksha path as an unmarried woman who intends to marry
The speaker says an unmarried woman who will marry in future must choose her Diksha carefully, since she does not know where her marriage will be and if she cannot keep the vidhi-nishedh of the panth and Guru Parampara she has entered after marriage she will have real trouble. Many people today take Aghora diksha while unmarried; that is fine, he says, but she must then look for a life partner who is at least of that parampara or knows of it. If she is initiated in the Aghor panth or a similarly ugra parampara, inclined towards tamasik and ugra sadhana rather than sattvik, and marries a man who is frightened just to hear of these things, he will run away the very night. Many such things will act on her body, he says, and after marriage it is the woman who is most affected by sadhanas done in her unmarried state, so she must choose her diksha path so that no trouble arises after marriage.
May a householder do japa of the Aghor mantra of Shiv ji without diksha?
Asked whether a householder can do the Aghor mantras of Shiv ji without any diksha and what the krama sadhana would be, he says that a very large or maximal japa cannot be done. One may do japa up to a limit — meaning at the maximum, if you wish, do japa 27 times.
What is the Aghor mantra within the Panchanan?
The Aghor mantra is in itself a complete sadhana paddhati of Aghor. It is one mantra among the Panchanan. Tatpurush, Aghor, Vamdev, Ishan — for all these mantras vidhi-vidhans are required, and it is by observing those very rules that maximal japa and siddhi can be done. Not otherwise.
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