Even aesthetics like their picture taken!

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Seven millennium ago Shiva, the Divine Creator, the Omnipotent Hindu God, created the mysterious City of Light. Kashi "The Luminous", the now-ancient Varanasi beguiles us all. Never incarnate, he is often depicted with four or five faces, holding a trident, draped with serpents, and bearing a third eye in his forehead.

Regarded as ‘The Creator of the Universe,’ he is identified with the lingam, a phallic symbol. He is often accompanied by a consort, a ‘Great Divine Mother,’ who assumes various forms including Parvati and Shakti, the vital primordial feminine energy that empowers Shiva.

In their quest for divine communion, devotees must demonstrate selfless love. Some ascetics choose to enter the Tantric realm, confronting life’s impurities of alcohol, sex, and death, merging the profane with the sacred to achieve the profound realization that Shiva is omnipresent. Others, like this Shaivite sadhu, a Hindu holy man, dedicate their lives to Shiva. They renounce family and caste ties, spending their lives performing extreme meditative and yogic practices.

I encountered this sadhu seated in the heart of the Old City, Vishwanatha Khanda, somewhere along the maze of meandering alleys overarched by ramshackle buildings, so decrepit that an earthquake will annihilate the inhabitants. To capture his image, he requested only a few rupees (about 0.25 cents). The biggest smile ever crossed his face when shown his image.

http://lola-photography.com

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Photos

Sadhu
Varanasi, City of Light

Laughing Sadhu
A nearby vendor intimated that this sadhu made his money from tourists wanting his photo. Perhaps, but when shown his image on my camera his whole face transformed, radiant, thrilled to see himself smiling back.