Sadhus

Sadhus
Sadhus are the “holy” men or women in Indian society, who have given up the first three goals of life— kama, artha, and dharma— or have already achieved them. The ultimate goal of the sadhus is to meditate in depth and free themselves from the worldly desires in order to reach moksha, liberation from samsara. As the Hindus wish to free themselves from samsara, becoming a sadhu might seem a desirable way to achieve moksha. However, in reality, living a life of a sadhu is not a practical way and therefore poses challenges such as poverty and no secure living environment.
Nevertheless, many Indians become sadhus for many reasons. Some decide to become one solely for the reason of religious experience, while others become sadhus to actually sustain their lives. As devout devotees of Shiva or Vishnu (or reincarnations of Vishnu), some dedicate rest of their lives to practice religion, meditate, or adopt extreme ascetic style of living to achieve moksha. Others, on the other hand, become sadhus to sustain their lives as they are unable to support themselves. The second reason more likely attracts people from the lower castes, those who are not able to make enough money from working in a strictly restricted caste society of India. This type of sadhus is the ones more dependent on the good-givings of the people than the religiously devout sadhus.
Although people equivalent to sadhus are seen as “beggars” or “homeless” in other societies, sadhus play an important role in the Indian society. As practitioners of devout religious activites, sadhus are often invited to wedding or ceremonies to bless the people. Helping sadhus by aiding them with food or necessary needs, Indian people believe to gain “good karma”, through practice of Karma marga –parth of works, dharma, and action. Such belief in gaining good karma by aiding sadhus is an efficient way of taking care of the poor and moreover, incorporating them into the society.
People who are similar to sadhus existed and still exist in a small number in the Korean society. During the Chosun dynasty, “tak bal seung”, people with grudge against the ruling class, bankrupt noble class, or monks would spread false rumors that would make people insecure. Consequently, people would pay tal bal seungs in order to prevent any form of disaster that might affect them. However, most tal bal seungs would visit different household and ask people for rice or necessary items and give blessings in return. These days, there are less tak bal seungs as people are more hostile to strangers visiting their house asking for good-givings.