Vibhuti is a constant reminder of the mortal nature of life – it is like you are always wearing mortality on your body. Normally, yogis always use the ash they pick up from cremation grounds. The next alternative, when they cannot get it from the cremation ground is to use cow dung.
You must translate it into the masculine gender, then you know what it is indicative of! Those who are trying to dodge their mortal nature are obviously full of bullshit. That is why we made vibhuti with cow dung. The next level of vibhuti is made of the chaff that comes from rice husk.
If you burn rice, it will not give out the kind of ash that you can use. It is only the husk which does that. This is indicative that the body is not the core substance, it is just the husk.
Profoundness will enter you if you realise the mortal nature of who you are. One who has not realised the eternal nature, he must at least realise the mortal nature. All spiritual process is just bad entertainment unless one realises one’s mortal nature and confronts it.
Only then the longing to go beyond becomes a genuine force. Because a large part of human societies have refused to address this one aspect, they have become so profane, so superficial, so much on the surface. If you are on the surface because of survival reasons, it works in one way.
But if you are on the surface after survival has been taken care of, you are heading towards mental degeneration. If you want to make the whole world go mad, just remove anyth.
