Shiv Charcha

Abstract

Shiv Charcha is an emergent religio-spiritual movement centered around the idea that Śiva, the Hindu god, popularly known as Mahādeva, is a universal guru ("jagatguru"). Adherents of Shiv Charcha refer to Śiva as "Śivaguru". It was founded in the 1980s by Saheb Shri Harindranand and involves organisation of charchā (discussions) based on the revelations of Śiva's "jagatguru" form to the founder. During that period the founder was an official under Bihar administrative services and is known to have spent nearly eleven years on his search for "true" spirituality (ādhyātma). What began as a sharing of the mystical and spiritual experience, now manifests as mass gatherings, spiritual seminars (saṅgoṣṭhī) discussion (charchā) with performative aspects such as ritual song (bhajans and geet) and dance. The simplicity of the movement's ideology including the three "psycho-spiritual" techniques (Mercy, Discussion and Salutation), has found resonance with people such that it is spreading quite rapidly in regions of North, Central as well as South India. The three techniques/methods: seeking "jagatguru"/ "Śivaguru's" mercy in bestowing guidance, discussing Śiva's "jagatguru" form among fellow adherents/members/followers as well as non-member others, and offering mentally and emotionally charged spiritual salutations, constitute the essence of the ideology of Shiv Charcha. The movement's vision is the global dissemination of the message of "shiv-shishyata" (discipleship of Śiva) propounded in the founder's teachings. Some members claim that Shiv Charcha thrives on face-to-face communication more than digital/virtual means to achieve this, without discounting the significance of virtual mediums especially social media and its website. In its institutionalised form, Shiv Charcha is represented by the Shiv Shishya Haridranand foundation. The foundation claims to discourage donations and declines allegations of affinity of Shiv Charcha to the current regime in power with their explanation of primacy of "Śivaguru's spirituality" in social and individual motives. Additionally, the foundation is involved in social welfare programs related to environment protection, educational support to marginalised sections and health awareness. An interesting aspect of the movement is that Shiv Charcha means localised gatherings that take place in numerically small and large cohorts, with women as majority participants, in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand of eastern North-India (fieldwork nomenclature that is distinct from Northeast India). These gatherings display vibrant religious ethos where women participants lead and improvise religious contents about the supernatural Śiva's supremacy, benevolence, and most importantly possessor of absolute universal knowledge of "Śivaguru". The initiation of a member is fairly simple such that a non-member can make a spiritually realised announcement proclaiming the "Shiv sentence" or "guru-vakya" along the lines of: "Hey Shiva, you are my Guru, I am your disciple, take me in your refuge". The presence of other members, ideally five, during the proclamation is desirable, though not mandatory. The movement claims to be inclusive in the sense that it is welcoming of people of all faith and social backgrounds, however mixed-faith participation during gatherings was not observed. It has been academically reported too that the "devotional sect" of Shiv Charcha has followers from Adivasi, Dalit and Other Backward Classes background including men, women, children and elderly. Ethnographic information collected by the author of this entry extends Shiv Charcha's followers to belong to the so-called upper caste and middle class backgrounds as well. Lastly, the movement has no disciplinary documentation barring one article written in an anthropological vein.