The Aghori (sadhus) are an ascetic group who live primarily in India - cremation sites, the desolate Thar desert in Gujarat, and freezing Himalayan caves. They take a monist (as opposed to dualist) approach to life, and thus believe that all things most people would consider evil or virtuous are, in fact, one.

To the Aghori, there are no Good or Bad things. They believe that they should deny themselves physical pleasures and embrace things humans normally avoid, like death, coprophagia, and cannibalism. They feel it is necessary to transcend typical human states such as shame or hatred in order to attain closeness with their Divine. As a result, they also smear their bodies with the ashes of the dead, eat putrefied corpse remains, engage in mandatory menstrual-only (though always consensual) sex with women and/or corpses during certain specialized rituals (otherwise chastity is their default sexual state). They eat alongside dogs, live in filth and squalor, and exist in areas where most human beings cannot comfortably enjoy life.

The idea that they must push through disgust and displeasure in such ways to reach a higher level of self-actualization is one that echoes through in Western culture in the form of certain fetishistic behaviors.

Coprophages (for the purpose of this article) are humans who ingest feces. There are only a few popular references to coprophagia: the video clip referred to as Two Girls One Cup (2G1C), the film Pink Flamingos (Directed by John Waters), the book 120 Days of Sodom, and the film "The Human Centipede."

The act of eating feces, even among most who self-identify as coprophages, is a difficult one. Those who have an arousal link may feel the disgust being overtaken by the sexual desire for the waste product, but most are still inherently repulsed by it. Because this is such an exceedingly difficult fetish to enact, submissives may experience a spiritual or transcendent state. As the Aghoris, they push through the difficult act in order to get closer to their true self and the feeling of their Domme being a Divinity. Such feelings are responsible for Dommes being called "Goddess." In a session where someone is begging for a "brown shower," there is always a primal stage that they reach during consumption that makes them look like a wild animal. They reach the core of their being and then come out the other side. Aghori sadhus often talk about taking a "left hand" path to Shiva/Kali - a "shortcut" compared to other sects of Hinduism. This experience of the Divine is very powerful and raw.

Having a "spiritual" experience in BDSM (I am a non-theist so I do not acknowledge any Divinity other than My own), is similar to entering the realm of "subspace" and may contribute to an overall self-actualized state. The more you engage in uncomfortable and disquieting fetishes, then "graduating" from them unharmed, the better you'll be, as a submissive. This underlying connection with people who engage in coprophagia as a form of worship might help you identify with an ancient order of people who engage in the same fringe behavior. Three cheers to you, Fetishists!

In My personal practice, I would love to engage in sessions that have such an intense component. In My personal life, I appreciate the submissives and slaves the most who are the most extreme: the most willing and able. My entire life, I've been trying to build toward a harem of those who worshipped Me with a cultlike reverence. Everyone who knows Me has always remarked that I'd be a great cult leader. So I'll continue reveling in studies of cargo cults (such as the Prince Philip cult of Vanuatu), fringe practitioners of Divinity (like the adorable Aghori sadhus), and other adherents with severe loyalty and endurance.