Baba Kinaram — The Aghori Saint

Baba Keenaram is widely regarded as one of the most important Hindu saints in India, as a spiritual figure, and as someone who revived the Aghori sect in 17th century India, which had gone dormant from the 5th century onwards. Let’s meet the man that revived the infamous Aghora sect of India.

Baba Keenaram; Image Source: aghorpeeth.org

Baba Keenaram is a Varanasi-born Aghori ascetic. He is said to be the founder of the Aghori cult as well as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. His roots are largely unclear; he was born to a childless couple about 1601 CE and the community rejoiced upon his birth. But he didn't cry or nurse at his mother's teat for three days until three monks paid him a visit and whispered something cryptic into his ear. These monks were incarnations of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma.

The day they visited him became known as the Hindu festival Lolark Shashti, with the grace of the Aghori sect's kuladevta (chief goddess), Hinglaj Mata on the Baba. Surya, the sun deity, is celebrated at this festival. People bathe in the Lolask Kund (well) waters to be washed and purified, hoping that their wishes would be granted.

From childhood, he was of spiritual nature. In his spare time, he used to sing Ramdhun with his friends. It is said that he had a premonition once and asked his mother to eat milk and rice, it was considered inauspicious as it was eaten after funeral rites. Even after his mother's refusal, he stubbornly ate milk and rice. The next day the news came that his wife had died the previous evening. The whole village was surprised, how did Keenaram come to know about the death of his wife?

The Aghorpanth, or the Aghori path, is one of the most difficult but fundamental practices. Everything in the world must be identified as nature, and everything in the world must be accepted as Shiva by the seeker. The difficulty is in perfectly uniting with nature and embracing everything, both beautiful and bad, as Shiva's manifestation.

As a result, Aghori's every statement is completely truthful and powerful. Aghoreshwar Lord Shiva is the only one who has the ability to remove Aghori's curse or boon. Baba Keenaram had cursed the king of Kashi, who treated him with arrogance, saying that Kashi would suffer a series of tragedies and that his dynasty would be childless. When the British conquered India, Kashi's ruler, Maharaj Chet Sing, had to flee, and the city lost its majesty.

The curse lasted for 200 years until Baba's successor promised that the 11th heir of the Aghoris would ascend to the chief position at the age of 9, and would be an incarnation of Baba Keenaram himself. When that successor reached the age of 30, he would lift the curse, and verily the 11th successor did that.

His Guru, Baba Kaluram, reawakened the Aghor awareness inside him, and he moved to Varanasi with a message of global enlightenment. Because of his understanding, many of his teachings are being practiced today as the centerpiece of the Aghori sect.

When this yogi acquired mahasamadhi, he was almost 170 years old. His body is placed in a yantra at Varanasi's Baba Keenaram Sthal. The Aghoris designate this as their headquarters, in addition to gathering ritually at Hinglaj Mata Mandir in Baluchistan.