00:00Good morning ladies and gentlemen, or as the Naga Babas say, Om Namo Narayan.
01:00At the Kumbh Mela, as we take a plunge into our bhakti tradition, our experience is made
01:18complete when we see the Naga sadhus.
01:22On the sandbanks of Prayag, they are like a visual presence of our ancient religious
01:28traditions, what we refer to as sanatan.
01:34With their ash-covered bodies, their jatas uncoiling in a… with a serpentine energy,
01:41eyes piercing with the fire of ancient wisdom and standing stark naked of all worldly possessions,
01:50these warrior sadhus embody our living spiritual traditions of bhakti, virakti and shakti.
02:00The images that you are seeing over here have been photographed over two Kumbh Melas.
02:06Spanning seven years, I have photographed them getting rare access to live with the
02:12Naga sadhus in their akharas.
02:16The photographs capture some of their practices and also their distinct body language.
02:21I recently had a week-long exhibition of these images.
02:25The core bhav to show these images is to bring to you a deeper, a more granular darshan of
02:33the Naga sadhus, much beyond how the reels and the viral videos have shown them.
02:40It's really fortunate that we have amidst us today Digambar Mani Rajpuriji Maharaj who
02:49is from the Shri Panchayati Mahanirvani Akhara.
02:52He will shed light on some of the key aspects of Naga sadhus as we share these images.
02:58Now this first image that you are seeing, here you have a Naga sadhu flinging his matted
03:05hair in the air to dust off the extra ash, also known as bhasma.
03:11Bhasma is one of the key identifying marks of the Naga sadhus.
03:15They hold it to be sacred as it symbolizes the ultimate truth, that which remains when
03:21everything else is burnt in renunciation.
03:27Moving on to the next image.
03:33The fabled ferocity of the Naga sadhu is mostly a performative act.
03:39It comes to the fore as Naga sadhus are historically warrior saints.
03:44Like actors donning a costume, they put on this fierce persona like a shield.
03:49It is a firewall to ward off undesired intrusions in their sadhana from curious onlookers.
03:57This is also to distance themselves from adulation and reverence, which is their path in their
04:03path.
04:04It is a trap of attachment.
04:33Moving on to the next image.
04:56Dense smoke swirls up as a Naga sadhu exhales after a deep breath of his chilam.
05:02Smoking of ganja, marijuana is widespread amongst Naga sadhus.
05:06They explain that it helps to enable strong focus and awareness during sadhana.
05:32So yes, in conversations I got to know that many of the Naga sadhus said that it leads
05:42to reduction in appetite and also sexual urges.
05:48Moving on to the next slide.
05:54Almost in a ballerina's pose, a young Naga ascetic applies bhasma on his body.
06:00Each application of bhasma is accompanied by sacred mantras.
06:05The white ash against their skin also represents that they have burnt all worldly desires and
06:10attachments in the fire of yogic practices.
06:56The dhuna or the sacred fire pit is the nerve center of a Naga akhada.
07:04The presence of the agni is manifested as a living deity.
07:10The dhuna is the axis of the Naga sadhu's tapasya and is never left unattended.
07:16To absorb the heat of the dhuna itself is an act of worship and purification.
07:27Next one please.
07:33This is Naga sadhu Digambar Karanbharti photographed inside a cave shrine near Haridwar.
07:39Contrary to their popular image, not all Naga sadhus live in a perpetual naked state.
07:44They are also not covered by bhasma all the time.
07:48That is their ceremonial appearance.
07:50Otherwise they live like normal sadhus in temples, ashrams, deras or Himalayan retreats.
07:59The next one please.
08:05Naga sadhus also have a streak of quirky flamboyance.
08:10They know the eyes are on them and they don't fail to seize your attention.
08:15Their spiritual state is that of a guardian knight of dharma.
08:20This image reminds me of the Urdu verse, hum fakiron se dosti karlo, gur sikha denge badshahi
08:29ke.
08:34The next one please.
08:38Now I have seen no active routine or practice of yoga in the akharas.
08:43However I saw many Naga sadhus perform complex yoga asanas such as this with utmost ease.
08:49You can see that there is no strain on the face and neither did I see any quickening
08:54of breath.
08:56The next one.
09:03As if consumed in a blaze of energy, a Naga sadhu douses himself with vibhuti.
09:09I see this image as an image of a galaxy and the Naga sadhu pervading it like a cosmic
09:15presence.
09:17It is an image of a sanyasi plunged in consummate anand, emblematic of the Naga saying, chade
09:24khaak, man hove paak, alak niranjan ape aap.
09:30But with bhasma, the mind becomes pure and the self becomes unsullied like the invisible
09:37divine itself.
09:41Next.
09:45This is Naga Baba Gangagiri drying his long jatas at the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar.
09:51The long matted hair are a symbol of the sadhu's vairagya, his detachment.
09:57The jatas are almost never trimmed as they are in some way a measure of the seniority
10:02of a Naga sadhu, the amount of time spent as a sanyasi.
10:07They also represent the kundalini energy flowing from the base of the spine to the crown of
10:13the head.
10:27The
10:48next one please.
10:53Newly initiated into the Naga fold, young Angadgiri looks disarmingly at the camera
10:59as he gets ready for the photo shoot by rubbing bhasma on his naked body.
11:04Now the Indic term for naked is digambar.
11:08This is very different from implying nudity.
11:12It means the one who wears the four directions as his garment.
11:17Therefore even without the clothes, the Naga sadhu is not naked.
11:23He is sky clad, he is wearing infinity.
11:31Next one.
11:36This is Naga sadhu Radhe Puri, he is a sadhu from Ujjain and he is an Urdu Bahu hath yogi.
11:45Now Urdu Bahus, hath yogis are the ones who are pledged to keep their hands raised for
11:49years and years in sadhana.
11:52He has not kept his hand down for the past seventeen years.
11:58Nagas perform these extreme feats to practice the power of mind over body and in that process
12:05gain specific siddhis or occult powers.
12:11I love this next image.
12:17Naga Baba Shaktigiri, the one who is standing and Rajpuri posed with their pets.
12:22They are four white mice and a pigeon named Haripuri.
12:27The former wears an outfit made of rudraksh beads that weighs seventy kilograms and the
12:33younger Baba wears a twenty-one kg rudraksh shiveling on his head which is often the perch
12:39for his pigeon Haripuri.
12:41Naga Baba Shaktigiri, the one who is standing and Rajpuri posed with their pets.
12:48They are four white mice and a pigeon named Haripuri.
12:53The former wears an outfit made of rudraksh beads that weighs seventy kilograms and the
12:58younger Baba wears a twenty-one kg rudraksh shiveling on his head which is often the perch
13:03for his pigeon Haripuri.
13:08The unflinching calm on the face of a Naga sadhu even as he is surrounded by a spiral
13:14of bhasma, it is a depiction of deep meditation, the state of samadhi.
13:20It also alludes to the divine presence, timeless and unchanging, surrounded by the cosmic dust
13:29of constant change.
13:34Next one.
13:39The ash-covered body of Naga Baba Sandeep Puri camouflaged by branches of a banyan tree
13:44coated with lime.
13:46This is a metaphorical image.
13:48It represents the Naga sadhu's nakedness as a return to the natural, a primordial state
13:55of being which is like a newborn child.
13:59The very choice to live like this with only what is basic and seeking only that which
14:06is essential, it is tap made visible.
14:14Next one.
14:17Despite the traditional swaroop or the appearance of a Naga sanyasi arriving from an ancient
14:23tradition, the Naga sadhus are also very much beings of the contemporary times, living a
14:29amid… amidst the material culture of our age.
14:32Motorbikes, mobile phones, social media are as much part of the lives of many of them
14:38as is being at ease without garments.
14:44Next one.
14:52This is the Naga Baba I met who has that amused look on his face, the dry smile on his face,
14:59this is decades of meditation have taught him to find humor in the ironies of bhakts
15:08coming and not seeking their blessing but straightaway taking a selfie.
15:13So this is…
15:14I was sitting next to him, photographing him and all of a sudden he saw… when he saw
15:21a bhakt not taking his blessing but taking selfie, he just looked at me and smiled,
15:25he said,
15:26aashirvaad bhi nahi le ka time nahi hai.
15:29Next image please.
15:37Informed by a childhood memory of Vikram and Vaital, I coaxed a performative image out
15:42of two Naga sadhus.
15:44The scraggy wizened old man sitting atop the young sanyasi wrapped in dhyan is a portrayal
15:50of how temptation tries to control our mind.
15:56And we now arrive at our last image, a lone Naga Baba standing on one of the pontoon bridges
16:04at the Kumbh Mela in the middle of the night.
16:08This is an image emblematic of our ancient sanyas and bhakti tradition on a bridge between
16:13present times and a timeless past.
16:16The next time, ladies and gentlemen, when you view a Naga sadhu, view him as a living
16:21symbol of the rich spiritual tradition of our country, we need to be proud of.
16:27And then fill yourself with pride and lift your hands and say, Har Har Mahadev.
16:36Thank you so much.
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