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- The Hindi/Sanskrit word sadhu, what does it mean?
Sadhu (Sanskrit: साधु, IAST: sādhu (male), ādhvī or sādhvīne (female)), also spelled saadhu, is a religious ascetic, mendicant or any holy person in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism who has renounced the worldly life.They are sometimes alternatively referred to as yogi, sannyasi or vairagi
The term sadhu (Sanskrit: साधु) appears in Rigveda and Atharvaveda where it means "straight, right, leading straight to goal"
2. Who is a sadhu?
Sadhu means one who practices a 'sadhana' or keenly follows a path of spiritual discipline. Although the vast majority of sādhus are yogīs, not all yogīs are sādhus. A sādhu's life is solely dedicated to achieving mokṣa (liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth), the fourth and final aśrama (stage of life), through meditation and contemplation of Brahman.
3. Are all the persons shown in the procession of men above sadhus?
May or may not be.
4. One way to look at this is if one sees a photo of a procession of people in China, what question would it be?
- Are all those persons Chinese?
- Then what does chinese mean?
- People with black hair, pajama pants and wooden shoes?
- And are all such people computer engineers?
I have heard lot of people who could not pay back loans ran away and hid in Kashi wearing saffron robes, such infiltration is also common.
Yes, appearances of holy ash all over the body and roaming naked gives a first instance that they could be ascetic but they need not be.
Just like a how a lay man can wear doctor's white coat and roam and it is very common to mistake that he is a doctor at first glance. He need not be doctor, he might be a chemist, pharmisicist or even the teenager wearing his dad's white coat and dry cleaner guy wearing it for fun.
So, judging based on appearances or robes can be deciving, agreed.
Even if it is naked and living a miserable life is still need not be ascetic life if it lacked ascetic or liberation motive or vairagya.
If that condition is motivated by misfortune or lethargy or disorientedness, like we see several folks sleeping under the bridge, it should not be taken as ascetic life. It is like saying someone who wears big glasses might be scientist and a doctor coat would be a doctor.
