How do Gurus/Yogis get burried?

[sunilsahota]

Is it true that they are buried sitting crossed legged and then the hole is filled up with salt to the neck and then the head is bashed with coconuts till it is completely fractured? i heard they do this in nepal but wasnt sure if this true! can sum1 let me know!? ow and why are they buried and not creamated?

[suchandra]

 

Is it true that they are buried sitting crossed legged and then the hole is filled up with salt to the neck and then the head is bashed with coconuts till it is completely fractured? i heard they do this in nepal but wasnt sure if this true! can sum1 let me know!? ow and why are they buried and not creamated?

 

Yogis mainly leave their body at secluded Himalayas mountain caves or holy rivers far away from civilization, so it's pretty unplausible that someone performs a funeral for a yogi. "Guru" means all kind of teachers, but if you mean a Vaishnava spiritual master, diksa-guru, mahabhagavat, uttama-adikari, Vaishnava acarya it is understood that he/she engaged the body 100% in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna and therefore the body becomes spiritualized and is not burnt up like some material body, but as you say "the hole is filled up with salt" and the thus this spiritualized body becomes mummified, preserved.

Nepal is a place of Buddhism so it might be a Buddhist ritual to fracture the head, but even the old Egyptians didn't fracture anything but took out the brain without damaging the skull before the mummifying.

Since in Buddhism there's no such thing as spiritualizing one's body by serving God, they actually believe God is zero, this might be some Buddhist ritual which symbolizes breaking the attachment to the material body, any Buddhists at this forum?

[suchandra]

In the News: American Buddhism on the rise

[harerama]

 

Yogis mainly leave their body at secluded Himalayas mountain caves or holy rivers far away from civilization, so it's pretty unplausible that someone performs a funeral for a yogi. "Guru" means all kind of teachers, but if you mean a Vaishnava spiritual master, diksa-guru, mahabhagavat, uttama-adikari, Vaishnava acarya it is understood that he/she engaged the body 100% in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna and therefore the body becomes spiritualized and is not burnt up like some material body, but as you say "the hole is filled up with salt" and the thus this spiritualized body becomes mummified, preserved.

Nepal is a place of Buddhism so it might be a Buddhist ritual to fracture the head, but even the old Egyptians didn't fracture anything but took out the brain without damaging the skull before the mummifying.

Since in Buddhism there's no such thing as spiritualizing one's body by serving God, they actually believe God is zero, this might be some Buddhist ritual which symbolizes breaking the attachment to the material body, any Buddhists at this forum?

 

I thought Nepal was a Hindu kingdom? How is it a place of Buddhism when until recently it was regarded as a Hindu kingdom? True, there are quite a few Buddhists there living alongside Hindus, but I would have thought there were more Hindus than Buddhists in Nepal.

 

Also, I believe Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama, and Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda might have something to say about yogi burial. I seem to recall that the disciples of the yogi burned the body and dispersed the yogi's ashes in a body of water, or something to that effect, but I'm not sure.

[Bhakta Harry]

Haridasa Sadhu

The famous sannyasi, Haridasa Sadhu, was born in a small village in Maharastra. When he was about fifteen or sixteen years old, a sannyasi arrived from Tailangadesa (a south Indian district) now in the vicinity of Andhra and Telingana), and sat down under a tree near Haridasa's house. This sannyasi was a Vaisnava of the Kuver sect.

 

Haridasa had great respect for this sannyasi and spent considerable time with him. Suddenly one day the sannyasi was found missing from his usual place under the tree, and simultaneously Haridasa also disappeared from the village.

 

Haridasa accompanied the Tailangasvami to Puskara where he took initiation in sannyasadharma. After spending a few months at Puskara, Haridasa went to Kuruksetra with his guru, and devoted himself to the difficult practices of yogasiksa. He began by learning the art of the intake of food, asanavandhana, vaksamyama, and pranayama.

 

Eventually, Haridasa became conversant with the entire difficult procedures related to yoga and successfully mastered the control of his respiratory system.

 

By following `khecuri mudra', Haridasa mastered the art of locking the tongue in reverse which increased his capacity to retain air required for samadhi-asana. At last as a result of his complete mastery over Yogabhayasa, Haridasa acquired certain supernatural powers which earned him a great deal of respect and admiration not only from the general public, but from such personalities as the Raja, associates and ministers from the royal court, Mussalmen of the sunni-sect, and even Hindu-hating Christians.

 

By 1815 AD. stories of the miraculous achievements of Haridasa Sadhu had spread far and wide. During his stay at Jambu, Raja Dhyana Simha, a minister of Maharaja Ranjitsimha, came to know, through his messenger, that a sannyasi named Haridasa had remained alive after a four months stay under mounds of earth in Amritsar.

 

Dhyanasimha then sent a messenger to bring Haridasa back to Jambu. Despite the messengers insistence, Haridasa refused to go to Jambu. Then Dhyanasimha himself went to Amritsar and brought Haridasa and his associate disciples back to Jambu. In Jambu, Haridasa remained like an inanimate object under the earth for four months which Dhyanasimha observed with his own eyes.

 

Prior to entering the prescribed spot Haridasa had his face clean shaven, yet when he emerged after four months, no growth of hair could be seen on his face.

 

When many accounts of such episodes regarding Haridasa began to appear in various magazines, many people refused to accept them as facts. It has been said (Visvakos) that Lord Bentinck and Lord Auckland, both wrote letters to political agents at Rajaputana and Punjab asking them to verify the authenticity of the published reports.

 

But Haridasa Sadhu refused to go to Calcutta as he thought that the Englishmen would, somehow or other, try to destroy a person like himself, who possessed extraordinary miraculous power.

 

However, Mr. McNaughton, the political agent of Rajaputana, was determined to find out the truth. He brought Haridasa to Puskara where Haridasa performed asanavandhana and entered into a state of dhyana in the presence of an audience of many respectable persons. McNaughton then locked Haridasa in a safe and kept the safe in his own room. When the safe was unlocked and opened on the thirteenth day, Haridasa was found in an unconscious state and his body had become stiff like dried wood. However, within a short time, signs of life appeared in his body.

 

Maharaval of Jalsamir was childless. Under the advice of his minister, Isvarlala, he brought Haridasa to his capital. On behalf of Maharavala, in order to nullify the effect of the antagonism existing on the planet, Haridasa, after performing the pre-samadhi rituals at his own residence, positioned himself in samadhi-asana within a very small pit about 3ft. long, 2 1/2 ft. deep, which was covered on top with earth. When the pit was cleared of earth after one month in the presence of Lieutenant Baylow and other high officials of the royal government, Haridasa was found still alive.

 

Such extraordinary happenings were witnessed by many dignitaries at that time and these became widely known not only within India but in many countries overseas. Rumor mongers became active; Some expressed views that Sadhu Haridasa was actually a Frenchman and had migrated to India in Punjab after the battle of Waterloo.

He became conversant with charlatanism while in Europe and had become an expert in the line; A section of the orthodox Hindu community claimed that Haridasa was the great saint Vedavyasa in his past incarnation and at the advent of Kaliyuga had kept himself in hiding (samahita) under the earth, and the Englishmen had discovered him while digging the earth; The Sikh community in Punjab regarded him with love and devotion, considering Haridasa Sadhu as an incarnation of Guru Nanak.

 

To Englishmen such as Lt. Baylow and others, Haridasa explained in brief three rules to be practiced for yogabhyasa. These were; pranayama, khecurimudra, and rules for the intake of food. By observing the said rules during samadhi-asana, the activities within the human body cease to work and the body becomes inert like a corpse.

 

Haridasa arrived at Lahore in 1835 Ad. on the occasion of the marriage ceremony of Navanihalsimha. Raja Dhyanasimha, the minister of Maharaja Ranjitasimha, who had previously met Haridasa, told the Maharaja about Haridasa's arrival at the palace and of his miraculous powers. Out of curiosity the Maharaja called for Haridasa, but upon seeing him the Maharaja suspected that all this talk about miraculous power was nothing but a fabricated story.

 

To verify the truth, the Maharaja ensured that Haridasa, after his routine rituals, was placed inside a small wooden safe under lock and key. He had his men affix the royal seal on the lock and had the safe buried in the palace courtyard. As a further precaution against any loop holes, the Maharaja had his men sow barley seeds on the land covering the area under which the safe was buried.

 

After forty days, when the seeds had grown into plants, the safe was excavated in the presence of Capt. Wade and other English officials. After the safe was unlocked, Haridasa's inert body was taken out and subjected to medical examination by Dr. McGregor, Dr. Murray and others. The doctors not only declared that Haridasa was dead, but remarked sarcastically that if Haridasa were able to regain his life then they would be prepared to believe that even the creation of a human being were possible.

Disciples of Haridasa began to apply various methods for the revival of Haridasa's respiratory system and slowly signs of life appeared in the inert body, while everyone present stood watching the performance anxiously.

After this incident no one had any furter doubts regarding Haridasa's miraculous power. In the course of discussing the subject of samadhi, Haridasa Sadhu spoke as follows:

In the state of samadhi he enjoyed such blissful pleasure that he did not consider the exercise as a form of self-castigation.

Actually the rituals to be performed prior to getting into the samadhi-asana were very painful and that is why Haridasa preferred to stay in the samahita state for a long period of time.

The renowned Honigueburger, in his comments on yoga-nidra, said that animals like frogs are known to live hundreds of years in a state of deep sleep in the darkness of mountains. But as soon as they are brought into the presence of light and allowed to breath air, they become like regular live species. The same explanation may be offered in respect to yogis; once in a yoga-state, yogis also sleep in the same way as the frogs.

 

Only on one more occasion Haridasa, at the request of Maharaja Ranjitsimha, remained buried underground for nearly ten months, that was his last demonstration. On various excuses, he declined the request of Englishmen like Mr. Osborne and others at Adinanagara.

 

The Rani of Jhindana, by virtue of her exquisite beauty, intelligence and spirited character, was an embellishment of womankind; and as such it is difficult to guess the reason why she was so displeased with Haridasa. In fact, under her advice, the royal messengers insulted Haridasa very badly. So much so that even a yogi like Haridasa flew into such a rage that he told the messengers to convey to the wicked Maharaja that the latter would have no one to continue his line of descent. The very next day Haridasa disappeared with all his disciples from Lahore. As if by coincidence, a ksatriya girl also ran away from her home in Lahore about the same time.

 

Haridasa's death also took place under extraordinary circumstances. One day he called his disciples and announced that his end was near. No one would be able to bring him back to life from the samadhi-asana he was going to perform. True enough he got into his usual samadhi-asana and passed away in a samahita posture. Around the time that Haridasa was born in India, ordained ministers of the Christian religion were busy propagating the viewpoint that the sastras and dharma followed by the Hindu's had no substance. By dint of Haridasa's yoga power he was able to establish that it was possible to acquire different kinds of power and authority by following the rules and practices described in the philosophy and sastra of the Hindu religion.

(Visvakos Vol. 22, p. 491-493)