Search for:
Cart 0
perm_identity Sign In
  • Home
  • Jungian
  • Dreams
  • Healing
  • Soulful Living
  • Courses
  • Lectures
  • Summit
  • Articles
  • Gift Card
  • About Us
  • FAQ
  • Faculty
  • Contact

Sign In

Registered Users

If you have a Jung Platform account, sign in below to access your orders and purchased content.

Lost your password?

Not a member yet? Sign Up
  • phone +1-801-656-8806
  • email [email protected]
  • Articles
  • Gift Card
  • About Us
  • Faculty
  • FAQ
  • Contact
0
Jung Platform
  • Jungian
  • Dreams
  • Healing
  • Soulful Living
  • Courses
  • Lectures
  • Summit
perm_identity Sign In

The Grey Global Nomad – Part 2.1: Ghost-Riders

HomeArticlesDreamsThe Grey Global Nomad – Part 2.1: Ghost-Riders
Robert Bosnak
Author
Robert Bosnak
Category
Dreams, Soulful Living
Read Time
4 min
The Grey Global Nomad - Part 2.1: Ghost-Riders

This article is the first instalment of Part 2 in The Grey Global Nomad series

The first I heard about them was that they were cannibals. I was told that they lived in Varanasi (also known as Benares,) where they fished corpses from the Ganges and ate them.

Jodie wanted to photograph them because they looked unusual. She had hired the famous Varanasi photography fixer (a person who gets interesting locals to sit for portraits by travel photographers), Manoj Yadav to arrange a meeting so they could model for her. Cannibals, I thought to myself, corpse eaters, what could be more interesting than that? I had never met a cannibal in my life and thought of them as people who eat others to absorb their life force and thus gain greater power. They would certainly put my life in perspective.

We were walking down the riverfront steps called ‘ghat’ leading to the banks of the river Ganges near the burning ghat where corpses have been lit for 6,000 years for Holy River deposit. Colorful sadhus in orange garb sit meditatively staring out at themselves – compliments of ganja – ready to be photographed by eager tourists willing to spend rupees. They are old men who have left their wives and family in order to seek more light. Most of them are a lot younger than me and I’m minimally impressed, remembering the illusions of wisdom I’d seen in these figures when I was young and believed that True Wisdom was actually somewhere out there; in the days when I believed C.G. Jung to have been a wise man. Wisdom is for the birds; we’re all chasing rainbows. Sparks of glorious visceral insight is all mere mortals are granted.

The smell of the wood fires covers all untoward odors as cows shit at their pleasure whenever they feel the urge. I have to protect Jodie from the sight of fakirs with their little cobras in round bamboo-woven boxes playing seductive flutes for their dancing wards. She is terrified of snakes. Manoj walks over to some dreadlocked Rasta and Jodie chases women in gorgeously lush-colored saris bathing in the ice-cold winter river. There is a boat strike going on so you can’t get a river view of Varanasi’s resplendent patch quilt skyline, which is a photographer’s dream.

To me the boat free river gives rise to free flowing thoughts. And then I forget them. I’m sorry about that because some must have been pretty good. But they drift by as the flotsam of my mind savored like a joy ride during a stolen moment. I wander over to Manoj and Dreadlocks who turns out to be a rivetingly handsome man with lively eyes. He is an Aghori, Manoj explains. The Aghori have their camp with their guru across the river and because of the boat strike he swims across daily with food. I’m a swimmer myself and think it must be quite a winter trek. Manoj is arranging that we will drive by tuk-tuk to his camp. He will already go over with the Aghori man tonight to set up the shoot for tomorrow by adequately socializing. Manoj is a master at his craft. I give him $40 to bring the stranded Aghori some food. What do flesh eaters have for dinner anyway, I wonder. But that’s Manoj’s problem.

Photo credit: Jodie Taylor-Bosnak
Photo credit: Jodie Taylor-Bosnak

The tuk-tuk, a three wheeler device that says put-put-put and seems to be in permanent symbiosis with its horn rides us through overcrowded streets where Google Maps would get seasick and end up mental. We reach the other side of the Ganges, a sandy wasteland for monsoon overflow riddled with thin kite strings that stick to your shoes. Everyone flies a kite here. Two Aghori have come in another tuk-tuk; one of them I recognize as the Rasta man from last night who turns out to be called Butha Nath which has some kind of demonic connotation in the sense of one who fights demons, chasing them off into Nowhere where they belong. The other Aghori carries logs for the campfire and appears unapproachable; I can’t figure out whether he is private, shy or arrogant so I postpone judgment.

At the camp the guru is asleep inside in the way I have appeared after too much partying and ingesting. He wakes up bleary eyed as would I. As a matter of course the first order of business is to crush the ganja to dust so there may be an early morning smoke for the photographer: Aghori through clouds of haze. I’m thinking that no one had wanted to to take my picture when I did a chillum in the Sixties with hashish a trekker friend smuggled to Amsterdam from a Nepalese temple by way of Afghanistan in her fake pregnant belly. But then again I was just any old Dutch hippy and not an exotic Indian flesh eater from the Holy River. I realize I’m not very open-minded today. Maybe I’m just jealous.

Share
Robert Bosnak
Robert Bosnak

Robert Bosnak, PsyA, is a Jungian psychoanalyst who graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich in 1977. He pioneered the Embodied Imagination method, and his current interest is focused on exploring Embodied Intelligence (MQ). Robert Bosnak is a Core Faculty Member at Jung Platform.

More Posts by Robert Bosnak
Newer The Grey Global Nomad - Part 1: Mystic Mountain
Older The Grey Global Nomad - Part 2.2: Ghost-Riders

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Article Topics
  • Jungian (43)
  • Dreams (15)
  • Healing (19)
  • Soulful Living (36)
  • Updates (2)
Our Authors
  • Dennis P. Slattery Dennis P. Slattery (12)
  • Robert Bosnak Robert Bosnak (12)
  • Robert Romanyshyn Robert Romanyshyn (11)
  • Susan Mann Susan Mann (10)
  • Lans Smith Lans Smith (8)
  • Robert Moradi Robert Moradi (3)
  • Machiel Klerk Machiel Klerk (2)
  • Leslie Ellis Leslie Ellis (2)
  • Susan Schwartz Susan Schwartz (2)
  • Robert Wagonner Robert Waggoner (2)
  • Tina Stromsted Tina Stromsted (2)
  • Amanda Butler Amanda Butler (1)
  • Malidoma Somé Malidoma Somé (1)
  • Michael Meade Michael Meade (1)
  • Deirdre Barrett Deirdre Barrett (1)
  • Erica Lorentz (1)
  • Clare Johnson Clare Johnson (1)
  • Melanie Starr Costello Melanie Starr Costello (1)
  • Susan Tiberghien Susan M. Tiberghien (1)
  • Michael Conforti Michael Conforti (1)
Featured Courses & Lectures
  • Catching Fire: Imagination, Creativity, Activism Catching Fire: Imagination, Creativity, Activism $20.00
  • Introduction to Individuation: Individuation Introduction to Individuation $17.50
  • Jungian Psychology For Daily Life Introduction to Jungian Psychology $167.00
  • Longing to Belong Longing to Belong $14.75
  • Coming Home to the Body Coming Home to the Body $147.00
  • Gift and Purpose: An African Shamanic Perspective - Jung Platform Gift and Purpose: An African Shamanic Perspective $167.00
  • An Apprenticeship with Sorrow An Apprenticeship with Sorrow $17.50
  • Why the world doesn't end - Jung Platform Why the world doesn't end $18.75

Jung Platform - Psychological and Spiritual Perspectives

Jung Platform is an online education space that offers multiple depth psychological and spiritual perspectives. Our courses and lectures explore the journey of life with the help of highly regarded teachers. We’re passionate about providing practical life-enhancing tools and the opportunity to connect with others on this path. So you can live your life colorfully.

  • location_on
    29 Layton Ave, Salt Lake City. UT. 84115
  • phone_android
    +1-801-656-8806
  • email
    [email protected]
Store
  • Jungian
  • Dreams
  • Healing
  • Soulful Living
  • Lectures
  • Courses
Account
  • My Account
  • Orders
  • Downloads
  • Cart
Company
  • About Us
  • Articles
  • Faculty
  • Contact
  • Jungian Terms
Customer Service
  • Contact
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

    Stay inspired.
    Get our magical updates.


    Secure Payment
    Pay by PayPalPay by Visa Credit Card Pay by Mastercard
    Join our Community
    © 2021 Jung Platform. All rights reserved.
    keyboard_arrow_up
    FREE DREAMS SUMMIT
    Your first name
    Your email address
    This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled

    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

    Non-necessary

    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.