During the six day, annual Urs festival, commemorating the death of the Sufi saint, thousands of Sufi holy men make pilgrimages to attend the historic festival each year in Ajmer, a city in Rajasthan, India.
To show devotion to their faith, the holy men stick swords behind their eyeballs to make them pop out.
Celebrations also include Sufi poetry recitals and devotional songs, which can carry on through the night. Thousands of people take to the streets for processions, and flag raising ceremonies.
During the week-long festival, devotees offer prayers, flowers, food, money and other donations at the shrine where the tomb of Saint Moinuddin Chishti lies.
Reality Decoded 
That is just GROSS…😳🤢🤮
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Weird
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Sick!
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Oh man, that is beyond sick! Did you have to put those pictures in? (LOL) Their eyes “pop out” – does that mean completely come out, blinding them?
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I couldn’t do it justice in text so the pictures were a must lol.
If they do it right then all is good…. but one tiny slip and pop like a water balloon.
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Don’t want to know any more.
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Can’t a blind man be faithful?
…even if he wasn’t blind before
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It’s proof of their faith if no damage is done, so that complicates things a bit if it were to go south.
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That’s not something a devout man would do. Thats the action of a fanatic
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I agree.
Devotion? No way, is that devotion.
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Devotion is in the hand of the knife holder Oo
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That is horribly disgusting. Power to them if they believe it helps somehow.
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Gross!
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No worse than certain Christians that have themselves crucified over Easter.
Religion! Is there no end to the stupidity?
Apparently not!
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I forgot about that one, I must make a post about it, thanks.
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The stupidity of religion in general or Christians who allow themselves to be crucified?
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An article about extreme religious acts.
The same as I make for social, political, business, entertainment, cultural and science. I find the human condition fascinating and use the blog for extended memory.
You most likely don’t know about the original blog, but it didn’t have the ability for people to make comments. I didn’t see any value in feedback since I was just using it for research, but several people convinced me that human reaction is equally fascinating and that I was missing out by not interacting… they were correct. As long as it’s new information.
Example:
Cultural: “Adults Are Training 8 Year Old Children To Pole Dance”
https://realitydecoded.blog/2020/11/27/8-year-old-children-pole-dancing-is-a-real-thing/
Science: “399 Black Men Tortured By 7 US Surgeon Generals for 40 Years Without Rest Within The US AND Backed By The CDC Under “Free Healthcare””
https://realitydecoded.blog/2020/06/17/399-black-men-tortured-by-7-us-surgeon-generals-for-40-years-without-rest-within-the-us-and-backed-by-the-cdc/
Political: “Dead Bodies Of Children Found In Benjamin Franklin’s House”
https://realitydecoded.blog/2020/02/24/dead-bodies-found-in-benjamin-franklins-house/
Entertainment: “Remember That Popular Fiction Novel About Child Sex, Rape, And Incest That Became A Hollywood Blockbuster — Why Do People Love Such Sick Things”
https://realitydecoded.blog/2020/09/09/remember-that-story-about-child-sex-rape-and-incest-that-became-a-hollywood-blockbuster-that-everyone-seems-to-love/
Business: “Thousands Of Children Given HIV For The Sake Of Money”
https://realitydecoded.blog/2020/08/25/__trashed-58/
Social: “The Social Credit System In China Tells Everyone If You’re A Good Or Bad Person And Rewards Or Punishes You Based On Your Score — It Also Has Social Police Walking Around”
https://realitydecoded.blog/2020/03/04/the-social-credit-system-in-china-tells-everyone-if-youre-a-good-or-bad-person-and-rewards-or-punishes-you-based-on-your-score-it-also-has-social-police-walking-around/
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So you don’t consider such acts stupid?
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You Stated — “So you don’t consider such acts stupid?”
My Response — It doesn’t matter what I think nor would I waste my time trying to determine the intelligence level of such an act. Why should I care? If it makes them happy and it doesn’t get in my way, they can put swords behind their own eyes as much as they want.
My curiosity isn’t about judging, it’s about understanding.
What drives the human race?
How does mankind function?
Where is all of this leading?
I ponder the possibility of a “Sword Eye” mega church lol
Just saying
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Humans judge all the time. It’s part of our evolutionary biology.
Furthermore, you as a Christian, are obliged to judge , albeit tacitly , everyone who is not a Christian.
The stance on contraception from the Catholic Church has been indirectly linked to the deaths of many thousands from HIV/AIDS.
So not only would such behaviour -self mutilation etc – in the name of religion be considered ”stupid” but also irresponsible and along with other ”stupid” acts potentially life threatening.
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I’m not convinced you know what makes me curious more than I do or why it would be important.
I’m also still not convinced that I need to judge these people. As far as I’m concerned they can continue doing this if it makes them happy.
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So the Hindu practice of Sati is okay if it makes people “happy”?
How about circumcision of infants for religious reasons?
Both practices are barbaric and examples of extreme religious behaviour.
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You Stated — “So the Hindu practice of Sati is okay if it makes people “happy”?”
My Response — So your argument is that since I stated an individual can put themselves in harms way if it pleases them to do so and that’s equal to a group of people burning women alive in a cultural ceremony.
Your argument is that people can burn other people and it makes the burn victim happy so my position is invalidated.
I’m not convinced and I find it increasingly difficult to take you seriously.
You Stated — “How about circumcision of infants for religious reasons?”
My Response — I think parents and doctors can do what they think is best for their children and see no reason for me to oppose circumcision, abortion, etc. If America outlaws circumcision then I see no reason for people to continue the practice.
Side Note: That’s the second great post idea you’ve provided. I didn’t know about this Sati practice.
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Sati has been outlawed but the practice continues.
If religious motivation were not in play is it likely this barbaric practice would continue at all?
As for circumcision: You seemed to have hand waved away the fact that circumcision is done for religious purposes on children who have no say.
Do you think a child’s rights should be set aside merely to indulge a barbaric ridiculous, and wholly unnecessary practice merely to appease some people who consider it is a mark of a covenant for their god?
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You Stated — “If religious motivation were not in play is it likely this barbaric practice would continue at all?”
My Response — Of course it would, that’s common knowledge. Since there are virtually no Muslim or Jewish populations living in South Korea, all circumcisions have been cited as being performed for “medical” reasons. In the US most are for both medical and religious but the science is clear, circumcision has several benefits to penis health and can improve hygiene.
Such as a lower risk of:
Balanoposthitis (inflammation of the glans and foreskin)
Paraphimosis and phimosis, when the foreskin gets stuck out of place
Cervical cancer for partners: Female sex partners of circumcised men are less likely to get cervical cancer
Penile cancer: Men who had circumcisions are less likely to get cancer of the penis
Sexually transmitted infections: Men who had circumcision have a lower risk of certain STIs, including HIV.
Urinary tract infections: UTIs are more common in uncircumcised males.
It’s a parents choice. Some people request that their children are circumcised and others don’t. Some for religious reasons, others for medical and some both.
If you are saying that people sticking swords in their eyes is the same as a medical procedure then I am not convinced by your argument.
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Understood… you feel your point is made and don’t want to repeat yourself.
I can understand that position 😉
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‘We’ do?
As you have deleted my comment ( and I don’t generally take screen shots of everything I post) I am at a disadvantage when it comes to a rebuttal. You wouldn’t like to oblige and reinstate it would you?
Out of interest, is this going to be another of those ‘debates’ where you suggest I do a separate post and then you come across and announce you are ‘Here as requested?’
If this is the case then I must make absolutely certain I dot all my ‘i’s’ and cross my ‘T’s’.
😉
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You Stated — “As you have deleted my comment ( and I don’t generally take screen shots of everything I post) I am at a disadvantage when it comes to a rebuttal. You wouldn’t like to oblige and reinstate it would you?”
My Response — You position is still posted and is still in opposition to mine. The rest is a non sequitur. The rest is just you ignoring any response I provide and then adding your personal views of me directly which don’t provide me with any useful data on the topic. I have no interest in a conversation based on narcissistic views (argue just to argue). I’m looking for a challenge to my understanding.
I clearly stated to you that I have no position on circumcision and would support any law that was for or against it in society. Change the law and we are on the same side. I think it’s possible the law could be changed, and I think parents should lead that charge. I believe you as a parent should have the final say with your partner via what the law allows.
Your direct response to that was, “Furthermore, that you attempt to make any defense of circumcision”
You are having a debate but it’s not with me it’s with, a straw man of some type. It’s not a real conversation like what Tildeb or Ron provide (it’s possible they could change my viewpoint) What we are doing is just nonsensical. To be honest I feel that your position on this topic is not well read, or you are just using it as a stepping stone to get me to talk about god again.
You then went on and request that I. “If you feel you must remove any further comments, then go ahead, delete away.”
So, I did as you requested since we both agreed but now you are asking, “You wouldn’t like to oblige and reinstate it would you?”
This is not a real conversation, it’s just strange.
In the end you just resorted to the following comments, which I stated in the past seems to provide you with satisfaction:
“… disingenuous, unwilling, and a waste of ink. Not to mention suggesting that I support female circumcision even though it violates the law because I stated that parents should have a choice for what’s best for their children.
You Asked — “Out of interest, is this going to be another of those ‘debates’ where you suggest I do a separate post and then you come across and announce you are ‘Here as requested?”
My Response — If you want to make a post on this topic to have me answer questions without the ability to delete the chain because it’s a non sequitur then I would say that’s your option since I won’t refuse the request to join in. That’s really up to you, in this case I think the topics interesting so I would be more curious than the last you posted.
Note: I may still bow out once you make a personal comment about me since that’s your que (tell) that you don’t have anything else to say on the topic. That’s when I say I’ll get back to you. Just FYI: I have no interest in your personal thoughts of me and I have no emotional connection to these debates. My passion is unstructured information as it relates to Data Science. I tried to engage you once on that but it seemed to cause a visceral reaction since you have some resistance to technology and science.
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