Picture of Pashupatinath Temple
Caption: encountering sadhus
framing moments
Caption: Traveling to Kathmandu, Nepal, take a chance to stop over at the holy shrine of Pasupatinath. Here we will meet with many ascetic holy men known as “sadhus.”
Caption: In Hinduism, sadhu is known as a good man, even a holy one. His life is solely dedicated to achieve “moksha,” the last stage of life through Brahman meditation and contemplation. All the attached materials and worldly life have to be detached, and he starts living in forest, caves and holy shrines in all over Nepal to find the ultimate truth.
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Caption: At Pasupatinath shrine, sadhus often wear orange clothes indicating Sannyasa or rejection/refusal. They appear diversely – shirtless, white and greypainted bodies, wearing a cloth to cover their genitals, and even dreadlock hair. They all do not shave either beard, mustache or hair. They leave their ambition behind, and live their life from alms and others’ sympathy by going around and giving blessing.
Caption: Nevertheless, we need to be careful since there are “false” sadhus, not real sadhus. They pretend to be sadhus only for looking for alms. Some live a life of holy men only for the sake of smoking marijuana when they meditate. Some others pretend to be sadhus and become models to be photographed by tourists. The price is USD 5 for one shot.
Caption: There is a dormitory for sadhus in the complex of Pasupatinath shrine; its name is Ashram. Some sadhus live in the dorm with condition that is far from decent. Cows as holy animals wander around the dorm.
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Caption: In Ashram, their routine activity in the afternoon is meditation and smoking marijuana solemnly with closing their eyes. Nepal government allows sadhus to use marijuana for meditation.
Caption: Dudh Dhari Baba, or known as Milk Baba, is one of respected sadhus at Pasupatinath shrine. He is skinny because he never eats; he only drinks cow’s milk. He has long dreadlock hair which its length is longer than his height. He usually rolls up his hair on top of his head resembling a bun or hat.
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Caption: Luckily in that afternoon I was dragged by Milk Baba to be photographed together with him. His hair was looped into my neck while giving a blessing on my forehead. After shooting, Milk Baba whispered something to me; jokingly he said to me that after being blessed and photographed, I should give him the bigger alms. I just chuckled
Caption: We can also find sadhus at other Hindu shrines like Patan Durbar and Dakshinkali outside the city of Kathmandu. Even at a Buddhist holy shrine in Swayambunath,
I saw several sadhus. Meeting with sadhus is really interesting. In addition to learn to understand their life, we can also capture their expression and gesture which sometimes look unique and photogenic.
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Caption: traveling #nepal #kathmandu
#sadhu #sadhus
#pasupatinath #patandurbar
#swayambunath #dakshinkali
#exposuremagz
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