Jap means repeated recitation of a mantra or a word, like Om or the name of a deity. Repeated recitation of a mantra or name, it is said, creates resonance or favourable vibrations that eventually elevate the devotee to an elevated level of siddhi or spiritual attainment. Hindu scriptures are full of instances where Jap has helped the devotees and saints attain spiritual elevation.
Normally a beginner starts with 108-time recitation of a mantra or a name with the help of a 108-bead mala (a rosary)— having 108 beads.
The most common mala (a rosary) is made of rudraksha or Elaeocarpus ganitrus seeds or a dried-and-cut stem of Ocimum sanctum plant.
The mala (rosary) helps a devotee count and remember the number of time he has recited the mantra. The more the number the more the effect of the divine blessings.
Tap Marg
The word “tap” in Sanskrit, literally, means “heat” and the words Tap marga, would therefore mean the path to salvation by purifying oneself. In Sanskrit, metaphorically, heating or burning implies purifying. Thus purification would be by burning our carnal desires by resorting to penance and self-mortification. This is said to be the first step of the “tap marga“.
In the second step the devotee resorts to the purification of thoughts, which in turn leads to purification of expressions and our aspects of life. Those who continue with their practice of meditation on this path are said to attain the state of nothingness — nothingness of thought, nothingness of self and an absolute state of calmness or bliss.
Aghor Panth
The Aghor Panth, or the Aghor path of salvation, is the most enigmatic of all the paths described in the Hindu scriptures. The Aghor Panth followers or the Aghoris’ enigmatic and weird way of life had lured many a westerner to the Hindu way of life way back in mid 1960s and 1970s. Remember those Hippie days?
Sitarist Ravi Shankar and tabla maestro Allaha Rakha made waves in the US luring hordes of hippies to India. The Beatles and the like drove all the way from the US and some European countries to meet Mahesh Yogi. Hordes of westerners thronged Goa beaches and Varanasi ghats. Here, in India, they found a garbled mix of spiritualism and psychedelic allurements — and drugs — that transported them into a state of trance. Their yearnings led them to their natural companions, the Aghori sadhus, whose weird lifestyle enticed them. Those days were the high point of Aghorim, after which the Aghor panth sadhus receded into the background of the Hindu life.
The Origin
The origin of Aghorism can be traced back to chapter 16 of Yajurveda which is totally devoted to Lord Shiva or Rudra. In mantra 2 of chapter 16 an explicit endorsement of the word “Aghor” has been made in reference to Lord Shiva. The mantra says:
या ते॑ रुद्र शि॒वा त॒नूरघो॒राऽपा॑पकाशिनी। तया॑ नस्त॒न्वा᳕ शन्त॑मया॒ गिरि॑शन्ता॒भि चा॑कशीहि ॥२ ॥
या। ते॒। रु॒द्र॒। शि॒वा। त॒नूः। अघो॑रा। अपा॑पकाशि॒नीत्यपा॑पऽकाशिनी। तया॑। नः॒। त॒न्वा᳕। शन्त॑म॒येति॒ शम्ऽत॑मया। गिरि॑श॒न्तेति॒ गिरि॑ऽशन्त। अ॒भि। चा॒क॒शी॒हि॒ ॥२ ॥
O Rudra, welfare personified, blissfully simple, gracious lord. Thou art calm, kind persona, O dweller of mountains, bless us with thy benign looks.
In the mantra, which is more of a prayer, Lord Shiva or Rudra is described as “aghora” which literally means “simple” or “not cumbersome”. The word, unwittingly though, subsequently gave birth to a cult called “aghor panth”.
The aghor panth followers, called aghoris have, of late earned a lot of disrepute because of their weird ways. People believe that the aghoris perform macabre rituals, varying from cannibalism to necrophilia. That is why, people believe, the aghoris prefer to dwell round cremation grounds and deserted places. Indeed, the Aghori sadhus prefer to dwell in lonely and deserted places but that’s because the kind of meditation they do isn’t possible in the hustle and bustle of a city life. Besides, a civil society like a town or a city demands its residents to follow certain norms of civility which isn’t possible for a naked, weird, grotesque sadhu to follow — and hence the aloofness.
Sadhguru the founder and head of the Isha Foundation, Coimbatore, India has in an interview spoken about the strange sadhna that the Aghoris do.
As the name suggests the Aghoris follow a highly simplistic life that a civilized homo sapiens like us would call “animalistic” — and that is because their needs like hunger, sex and shelter are fulfilled in a starkly blatant way. Hungry? Eat anything! Feeling sexy? Do it anyway! Need shelter? Park yourself at any suitable place. Naturally, such starkly blatant ways are proscribed by the Hindu scriptures.
A shlok in Shantiparva of Mahabharata says:
आहार निद्रा भय मैथुनं च सामान्यमेतत् पशुभिर्नराणाम्।
धर्मो हि तेषामधिको विशेष: धर्मेण हीनाः पशुभिः समानाः॥
(from Mahabharat Shantiparva)
To eat, sleep, fear and copulate — these base habits are common among men and animals. It is Dharma which makes all the difference. Man without dharma is like an animal.
However the Aghor Panth sadhus reject the cumbersome worldly civilities including the cult of dharma devised by the Hindu civil society and follow their own way of life — free from worldly hassles.
Next : A Postscript