Devi/Devta Sawari and its reality 

Devi/Devta Sawari and its reality:

A lot of people talk about Sawari of Devi/Devta or some Shakti possessing a person to carry out certain tasks, and many are confused regarding what really happens at Sawari, whether a real deity comes or a gana comes or something else comes. Is it even possible for a human to tolerate the powers of devata in their body?
Today’s discourse aims to clear all confusion regarding this system of Devi/Devta Sawari.

Concept of Devi/Devta Sawari

The concept of Savari is not entirely true or false; the reason is that the term and its implications mean different things for different groups of people. A Sawari is a case where a person possessed engages in certain actions, unlike in the case of a normal possession. In the case of Sawari, prophecies are made, and worship is accepted by the Shakti that inhabits the body of the vessel.

The concept of Savari, or “bhor otha,” as we say in Bengal, is majorly a part of bhagatwal concepts in its modern context, as it’s in the system of the bhagatwal where several local entities and not-so-high-level shaktis are often summoned inside the body of the vessel, who allow themselves to be possessed, and then the shakti taking possession performs the activities that it wants to do or those which it was summoned to do.

Which entity comes in the form of Savari

To understand the concept of Savari, it’s vital to understand what type of entities are capable of performing this feature and to answer the question: It can be any entity taking possession. In most cases, the kuladevatas who come under lokadevatas or vanadevatas or pitras are the ones who possess the body of the person during sawari.
In some cases, siddhas or ganas such as the Nav Nrisimhas of Uttarkhand, who were sadhaks, and some ganas or shaktis of devatas can also be the ones possessing the person.

However, it’s not always a beneficial Shakti; sometimes, pretas, pisachas, vetalas, and other itar yoni pranis of a higher capability compared to the vessel may come in the absence of the actual Shakti and pretend to be that Shakti possessed by the sadhak.

However, Devi herself doesn’t come for taking savari, nor does any devata. There is no sadhak who should claim that a mahavidya or a vidyeshvar or such higher shaktis or even the devatas of svarga are the ones who come in their body.

Lies on claiming devi/devta Sawari

One who claims that their such-and-such kuladevi or kuladevata who’s a lokadevata or daiva or pitradevata or vanadevata or such divya yoni or the yaksha or gandharv takes their Savari or possession is a lie; however, one who claims a devata of svarga or Shiv, Shakti, Vishnu, Ganesh, Surya Brahma, Skand and such devatas or any graha devata takes their possession—that is a blatant lie.

The reason for making this statement is simple. In multiple shastras, such as Shaktisangama Tantra Tara Khand, Tara Damar, and Chinnamastika Khand of Shaktisangama, along with a few other texts, there is a certain set of rules given for Shav Sadhana. While I shall not reveal the intricate details given in these shastras concerning Shav Sadhana, there’s a vital part regarding it that is relevant to our context.

According to the rules given with respect to shav sadhana in these shastras, it’s stated that after successfully completing shav sadhana, the sadhak must stay in absolute isolation for a period of at least 15 days, as during this period, the deity whose sadhana the sadhak did resides inside the body of the sadhak.

For this reason, the sadhak must stay in absolute isolation. If he hears music, he shall go deaf; if he sees a dance, he shall lose his eyesight; if he dances or sprints, he shall lose the ability to walk; and if he sings, he shall go mute. A sadhak who has sambhog during this time period gets all gupta rogas, and the sadhak who engages in any paapkarmas during this time gets their paapkarmas amplified. A drunkard shall become mad, and one who smokes excessively shall become unable to breathe and die.

Chinachara Sadhak

While in Chinachara, some of the rules and restrictions are different from what’s written here, the fact remains that the case of Chinachara is an exception, and none of the savari wale are Chinacharis. Thus, if a sawari person claims something about an actual devata yoni taking their Savari, it’s a simple bluff or a misunderstood statement.

The pranis of devata yoni or above can be given position in the body only by three vidhanas.

• The first is after the successful completion of Shav Sadhana through certain Paddhatis of kaula or China Marga.
• The second is the paddhati of giving sarir sthanam to the devata, where the deity is given sthan in sarir directly during sadhanas; however, the exact set of mantras and mudras to be used for a given devata must be known to the sadhak and done properly; otherwise, the ritual fails.
• The third paddhati is by means of obtaining shunyabodh or brahmbodh during sadhana, where the difference between the sadhak and the devata dissolves temporarily or permanently.

However, it’s seen that those who take sawari don’t perform any of these paddhatis. Moreover, savaris or gaddis where savari is taken are usually seen to have a lot of music and stuff going on during the performance of their savari, even in the summoning of the entities that take savari. It is usually seen that there are a lot of musical instruments being used during the summoning process. Sometimes the person taking savari also dances or gets drunk. According to the rules of shastras, when an entity of devta yoni or above gets into the body of a human, if they engage in such activities, they suffer consequences. We don’t see any of that happening in the case of Savari either.

Conclusion

This makes it clear that the entity that is in the vessel is from a yoni below devata yoni; sometimes yakshas, gandharvas, pitras, or vanadevata, lokadevata, daiva, or such divya yonis indeed come to take savari; however, the capacity is never beyond this line; they can never progress to taking in devatas and higher beings.

Most importantly, there is no mention of the devata possessing the vessel; the shastras are clear that the deity simply resides in the body of the sadhak and hence doesn’t like to be disturbed, which is why there are rules such as not partaking in music, dance, etc., during the period in which the devata stays inside the body. Neither shastras nor the accounts of sadhaks who do such sadhanas talk of the deity taking control of the vessel and doing its own thing or interfering with the life of the vessel.