Those who go to Nepal or India must know about the community, which is referred to as Sadhu or Sadhu.
What Does It Mean to Be Sadhu in Nepal?
In Hinduism, Sadhus are called people, who drives a suffering life and are literally away from the blessings of the world. In some resources, these persons are emphasized to be addressed in the form of vairagi or jogi.
You may find it difficult to hide your surprise!
When you meet a Sadhu in Nepal, you may experience extremely special feelings and have difficulty hiding your sense of bewilderment. Especially around the temple, you can see that many Sadhus take photos with tourists. In some temples, there are also people who are Sadhu for the purpose of mise-en-scène. Because generally the original Sadhus prefer an already isolated life. Sadhus are not communities that beg for money or care about money. That’s why, remember that people who give themselves the image of Sadhu can fool you.
Sadhus also think that they can get freedom through meditation or dreaming of heaven. This interesting community can have extremely interesting and unique, strict rules. This was causing major problems in Nepal, especially until years ago. For example, one of the reasons women are no longer allowed in cremation ceremonies in temples is the widespread ideas in the Sadhu belief. People in this belief want to purify their souls with their wives and come back into the world together. Therefore, many Sadhu women in the past wished to die after the death of their wives. About 50 years ago, during a cremation ritual, a Sadhu woman threw herself into the fire where her husband was cremated. After this incident, Sadh women were not welcomed in the ceremonies.
Sadhus generally want to focus as much as possible on their own traditions and beliefs. Therefore, you cannot easily see them in social life. Sadhus do not have sexuality, although they live together and naked. Sadhus, who are defined as the people who apply the spiritual path with great discipline, is also extremely interesting in appearance. Therefore, tourists firstly want to see them and take pictures.
Sadhus have a special dignity in society. This community, which already makes a living with quirks from the people, mostly live in India. However, in Nepal, you are likely to encounter many members of the Sadhu community.
Sadhus’ Daily Life
Sadhus live in various temples or woodlands, completely leaving behind their interactions at both the sexual and material levels. Their goal is to end the effect of karma. For this, they continue to suffer for the rest of their lives. They position themselves as people who protect society. No matter where they live, the public will come and support them with food and drink. A very important part of these interesting people who promise to be poor and stay purebred are men. Women sadhus are called “sadhin”.
In the past, only Brahmans were allowed to be part of this community, but today all caste members can be Sadhu. The most conservative and strict of the Sadhus are known as the Nagas. In Nepal, the Sadhus are trying to reach God by physically purifying their bodies by reciting holy verses in their daily lives. You can see some of them piercing their tongues. Sometimes they prefer to bury themselves in the sand.
Suffering to Get Close to God
They adopt sitting and sleeping in difficult positions. For example, we can say that most of the time they sleep by standing up. All Sadhus are known as anti-war people. They have adopted a life that is mostly free from lies and calm. In a word, they keep themselves away from everything related to the material. Each Sadhu’s self-isolation style and the rituals approach to God may be different. For example, some people may prefer to spend their entire lives in a cave.
I addition, Sadhu people don’t eat meat. They don’t cut the hairs on their bodies for life. For this reason, they create an extremely interesting image with their long body hair, apart from their hair and beard. The Sadhus, who spend their days in prayer and meditation in general, have no wild attitude towards tourists. Some may even include you directly between them, offering a variety of treats in a intimate way.
They are allowed to drink marijuana besides poppy. Marijuana is thought to help ease their pain. They consider alcohol harmful and do not consume it because it is made by human hands. But their point of view towards natural products with a narcotic effect is precisely the opposite. When you come to Nepal, if you go beyond taking pictures with them and make an effort to be among them, you can be sure that you will have an experience that you will not forget for a lifetime.
