Hindu Monks Exhibit Mystical Powers At Kamakhya

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Hindu Monks Exhibit Mystical Powers At Kamakhya

http://newspostindia.com/report-4381

June 22nd 2007

 

One stands on a leg for hours while another buries his

head in a pit while doing a headstand... thousands of

Hindu seers from across the Indian subcontinent are

showing their psychic powers at a religious festival that

opened here Friday.

 

For these monks, the Ambubachi Mela, a four-day

Hindu ritual that began at the Kamakhya temple in

Assam's main city Guwahati, is the time to exhibit their

mystical powers before thousands of devotees.

 

More than 10,000 monks have converged here from

across India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, besides at

least a dozen Westerners.

 

'We are expecting about 800,000 devotees during the

next four days,' said Dipak Sharma, a temple trust

member.

 

'The idea of exhibiting our spiritual skills is to show the

people that mysticism is not a thing to be written off as

many modern day reformists argue. These are powers

acquired over the years through deep meditation and

direct contact with god,' Ram Baba, a sadhu or monk

from Kolkata, told IANS.

 

Ram Baba belongs to the secret Aghor cult, whose

adherents meditate in graveyards at night.

 

The Kamakhya temple has long been considered the

highest seat of Tantricism [....].

 

Devotees apart, tourists from far and wide haunt this

temple for its structural architecture - it is a cave, where

on a block of stone the symbol of yoni (in Hinduism, a

representation of the female genitals regarded as a

manifestation of the feminine principle) is carved, while

a natural spring always keeps the yoni moist.

 

There are stone edicts in the temple precincts

mentioning the contributions made for the promotion

and preservation of Mother Goddess Kamakhya by

kings of different lineages dating back to 1526 AD.

 

Mystics who gather at the temple claim they can

perform wonders - make a childless couple conceive,

find a distressed loner a spouse, or even cast an evil

spell on others.

 

'The Kamakhya temple is a different world altogether - a

paranormal world where most of the sadhus are capable

of doing miracles what most people would like to

dismiss such claims as rubbish,' said Kailash, a frail

looking man, his body smeared with ashes and sporting

a long beard.

 

Kailash belongs to a sect called 'Naga sadhus' - often

they are people who gave up on worldly life and live a

life of severe penance wearing virtually nothing.

 

These naked sadhus belonged to the non-Vedic or pre-

Aryan religion which flourished long before the Vedic

religion was introduced into India. Some of the sadhus

who have assembled here for the ritual are much sought

after.

 

'I have come to offer my respects to Bhola Baba who

blessed me to conceive and bear a child,' explained

Minakshi Paul, a housewife from Orissa.

 

Paul said she heard about the Baba from some relatives

and visited Kamakhya in 2005 during the Ambubachi

Mela - the couple was childless for eight years.

 

'It was a miracle of sorts. Baba made me drink some

whisky poured into a monkey skull after chanting some

hymns and said I would surely be able to conceive,' she

said.

 

And by 2006 September, a baby girl was born. Blessings

apart, many people approach sadhus to cast evil spells

on their adversaries.

 

'More than 90 percent of the people approach us to harm

their foes. I am capable of doing anything although I go

by my conscience when such requests come,' Bhola

Baba said while showering blessings on a stream of

childless couples.