The initial encounter with alleged accounts of the Aghori, a small, esoteric sect within Hinduism devoted to Shiva, can be profoundly unsettling. Reports detailing practices that deliberately challenge societal norms – such as living in cremation grounds, smearing oneself with human ashes, wearing minimal clothing (even nakedness), and disturbing claims of consuming excrement or the flesh of human corpses found floating in the Ganges – are designed to shock and repel.
The stated aim of the Aghori is said to be philosophical and spiritual: to transcend worldly attachments, dismantle the ego, and to apparently attempt to achieve union with the divine by confronting and embracing that which society deems impure or taboo. By engaging in antinomian practices, they seek liberation from conventional social conditioning and dualistic thinking.
Yet, here lies the initial paradox presented in many accounts: while reviled by some for their extreme practices, the Aghori are also revered by others, credited with profound spiritual insight, whilst following a non violent approach to life, that evidences powerful healing abilities, and a surprising humanitarian kindness towards those who seek their help. How can such a seemingly contradictory existence be possible?
Addressing the Claims: Sensationalism Versus Reality
It is crucial to address the veracity of the most extreme claims regarding the Aghori. Media portrayals, both historical and contemporary, are often highly sensationalised, focussing on the most shocking alleged acts of some who claim to be Aghori, to the exclusion of the sect’s spiritual philosophy or the more mundane realities of most Aghori practitioners’ lives.
While some Aghori do live in cremation grounds (a deliberate choice to confront death and impermanence), wear ashes (symbolising death and detachment from the physical body), and a few who identify as Aghori may engage in practices related to human remains (that are not representative of daily life for all who identify as Aghori), the widespread consumption of excrement or floating corpses as a regular practice is highly disputed. Credible sources indicate that such accounts are media driven by a fascination with the taboo. It is important then to differentiate between philosophical ideals, symbolic rituals, and isolated extreme behaviours attributed to a few individuals within a diverse group. Verified accounts often highlight their humanitarian practices, deep asceticism and spiritual discipline more than the sensational claims.
The Shift: Turning the Gaze Inward
After the initial shock subsided and the need for accuracy was considered, a deeper, more uncomfortable process began – observing the reaction itself. Stepping back, not just from the Aghori accounts but from one’s own visceral response, allowed for a different perspective to emerge. The question shifted from “How can they do that?” to “Wait a moment, what about our Western culture!?”
This introspection led to a questioning of the mores, taboos, and accepted practices of one’s own society. And surprisingly, parallels – or perhaps contrasts that are equally jarring from a different viewpoint – began to appear.
Uncomfortable Parallels in Our Own Backyard
Consider, for instance, the medical practice of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT), where screened fecal matter from a healthy donor is introduced into a patient’s gastrointestinal tract – essentially, medicinal excrement, often encapsulated. While driven by science and performed in clinical settings, the core act, when stripped of its medical context, involves the very substance that causes such revulsion in the Aghori accounts. Similarly, practices like urine therapy – the consumption of one’s own urine for perceived health benefits – exist on the fringes of Western wellness culture. These examples, though different in intent and context, challenge conventional notions of bodily waste and purity, just as the Aghori practices do. What’s more, we must recall that public nudity, in the form of naturism, is also a well established practice in the West.
Perhaps a more stark comparison arises when we consider the consumption of animal products. Millions in Western societies regularly consume the flesh of other beings. Walk into any supermarket, and you encounter rows of dismembered animal bodies – cadavers. While some Aghori are alleged to consume human flesh found after natural death as a ritualistic act (a claim itself often disputed and certainly not universal), mainstream Western diets rely on the systematic, often cruel, slaughter of billions of sentient animals annually. The scale of death and suffering involved in factory farming far surpasses any isolated, ritualistic act attributed to some Aghori that causes understandable shock, but not physical harm. Many Westerners consume commercially packaged cadavers taken from lives prematurely snuffed out, often after the victims have been held in confinement and subject to much suffering, a reality such people compartmentalise or ignore.
Beyond Physical Taboos
The introspection moves beyond physical practices to the pervasive shocking behaviours that exist in our societies. How does the shock induced by alleged Aghori acts compare to the pervasive harm caused by corporate workplace bullying and psychopathic bankers? What about the systemic damage inflicted by self-serving CEOs prioritising profit over people or politicians acting purely for personal gain or according to narrow, harmful ideologies? All of these unpleasant behaviours are rampant in the West, and no doubt, paradoxically, many of those who engage in them would be shocked by the practices of the Aghori.
Consider too, those divisive individuals who publicly condemn others online, like those who accuse the Prophet Muhammad of supposedly promoting deceit, based on their own biased interpretations of the principle of Taqiyya, while simultaneously supporting political leaders known for habitual lying and dishonesty (like Donald Trump). This striking hypocrisy – judging others by standards they don’t apply to themselves or their chosen representatives – is a form of accepted deceit that causes confusion and erodes trust on a societal level, arguably far more damaging to others, than private symbolic ritual acts that primarily impact the individual performing them.
Or reflect on the casual cruelty enabled by anonymity online – trolling, deliberate nastiness, the spread of misinformation designed to hurt. These are commonplace behaviours in our societies that inflict real emotional and sometimes physical harm.
And then there are political statements that, while not violating immediate bodily taboos, reveal a chilling indifference to immense human suffering. The comment by Vice President J.D. Vance stating he doesn’t care what happens to Ukraine – a nation reeling from the brutal, psychopathic aggression of Vladimir Putin – is shocking in the extreme. It normalises a callousness that can have devastating real-world consequences on a global scale.
The Contradiction Resolved? Cultural Blind Spots
The apparent contradiction of the Aghori – being both reviled and revered, engaging in confronting taboo practices while allegedly possessing humanitarian traits – begins to dissolve when we turn the critical lens back onto ourselves. Our revulsion is often rooted in the violation of deep-seated cultural taboos surrounding death, decay, and bodily waste. These taboos are powerful engines of our societal structure and sense of order.
However, this focus on taboo violation can blind us to the profound and widespread harm caused by practices we do accept: the systemic cruelty of industrial animal farming, the pervasiveness of interpersonal abuse and exploitation, the damage wrought by political hypocrisy and callous indifference, the erosion of truth and empathy in public discourse.
Perhaps the Aghori, in their radical confrontation with the aspects of existence we prefer to ignore (death, decay, impurity), inadvertently hold up a mirror to our own society. They force us to ask: which is truly more shocking or extreme – the way of the Aghori, or the normalised, large-scale infliction of suffering, deceit, and indifference embedded within the very fabric of our ‘civilised’ world?
In confronting the shocking allegations about the behaviours of some who identify as Aghori, we are forced to confront the uncomfortable truths about our own cultural blind spots too, our hypocrisies, and the boundaries of what we deem acceptable – boundaries that may protect our sensibilities but often fail to protect against very real and pervasive harm.
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See also:
(2) Kinaram Ashram – The Habitat of Aghori Wisdom in Varanasi
(3) Aghor Foundation
Additional reading:
Aghori, by Jan Lavrin:
Worldwide Temple of Aurora 