Indian ascetics

[Paul Kekai Manansala]

Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:
>
>
>
> Not really. It was more a statement of concern about the religious values of> Sannyasa and how what you see in photographs is not necessarily what is> central to Hindu tradition(s). If you still doubt it, go to India and talk> to Nathpanthi and Dasnami Mahants.
>

How old and widespread is the monastic tradition with regard to
ascetics. Isn't the tradition of mendicants, forest hermits, etc. much
older?  Note the story of the Buddha as an ascetic.


 If you really haven't seen the photographs
> of pot-smoking sadhus, walk into a bookstore and look at the "Art" or
> "Eastern Religions" sections. Or for that matter, at an issue of New Yorker
> magazine from not too long ago.

Pot smoking is also an old tradition, at least among some Saiva sadhus.
In Nepal, I had heard, but never confirmed, that sadhus around temples
like Pasupatinath have dispensation from Nepal's otherwise strict laws
regarding pot.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

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