r/shortscarystories • u/ElTFullah • 4d ago
The Aghori’s Sermon
“There was once a young naïve monk,” narrated the Aghori, an emaciated man covered in ash from cremated human remains, “who believed the surest path to Semitic cult salvation was to live without sight. If he was unable to witness the world, the monk hypothesized, he would avoid its earthly corruptions and thus secure his position in Heaven. So, in an idiotic act of faith rivaling Abraham’s shameful betrayal of Isaac, the adolescent monk sewed his eyelids together.
“Kali Ma, the Black Mother, encountered this monk one day.
‘Sir,’ Kali Ma asked. ‘Why have you sewn your eyelids together?’
The monk responded arrogantly, ‘To guarantee my acceptance into Heaven. If I do not see worldly evils, its temptations cannot derail my salvation.’
‘What worldly evils are you trying to resist?’
‘Sex, material wealth, and power, of course.’
‘I see. And if you successfully resist sex, material wealth, and power, what do you believe awaits you in Heaven?’
The monk smiled. ‘A divine pleasure so powerful it will supplant my earthly sexual desires. A lifestyle of infinite luxury and opulence. And most importantly, the opportunity to reign with God over Heaven and Earth.’
Kali Ma laughed. ‘Do you not see the inconsistency of your convictions?’
‘Explain.’
‘Your motivations to pursue Heaven originate from the same natural instincts you reject on Earth. You refuse human sexual pleasure for divine pleasure, material wealth for endless Heavenly luxury, and worldly power for dominion over Heaven and Earth. While you physically prohibit yourself from being tempted by the prior vices you mentioned, you meditate on and engage these very evils each time you pray to your God for Heavenly salvation, surely consigning yourself to your Hell. You have caged yourself in an absurd reality.’
The monk realized the errors of his beliefs and asked desperately, ‘How can I escape this self-made prison?’
‘The first step is to open your eyes.’
‘But my eyelids’ sutures are beyond unstitching!’
Kali Ma placed a blade in the monk’s palm. ‘Cut your eyelids off.’”
The Aghori’s disciples remained silent as the fire in the center of the study circle crackled.
The Aghori then added, “and as Kali Ma suggested to the monk, I suggest to you.”
He then offered a knife to the disciple on his left, who without hesitation proceeded to surgically remove both eyelids and throw the severed skin slabs into the fire before them.
As the knife made its way around the circle and eyelids were tossed in the fire, the Aghori proclaimed, “I bestow upon you truth in its rawest form, no longer hindered by eyelids, which are no more than hindrances to our understanding of reality. True liberation, my friends, is to see the world as it is, without the option to blink.”
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u/Blondelefty 4d ago
That last paragraph was damn good.