Why do we receive KAGO from a lama?

(His Holiness Kathk Sithu Rinpoche bestowing Kago to group of people) 

Kago is a Sacred Healing Ceremony bestow by a Lama to an individual or group of people. The ritual of kago is actually a terrifying mode of enlightened activity through which the lama commands a malevolent spirit to stop harming a particular person.

The lama bestowing Kago, mentally takes the form a wrathful Buddha such as Vajrapani or Hayagriva, chants the associated mantra to cultivate spiritual power and then invokes the power of the enlightened beings and power of truth. 

(Hayagriva)

 Wielding these powers, the lama will then orders the spirit to stop harming the person. If the spirit disobeys, the lama, using his spiritual power and enlightened wrath, threatens to destroy the spirit through violent force and make the spirit’s head splinter into a hundred pieces.

The lama will recite terrifying mantras ( ཨོཾ་བཛྲ་པཱ་ཎི་ཧ་ཡ་གྲཱྀ་བ་ག་རུ་ཌ་ཧཱུྂ་ཕཊ) and cast mustard seeds at the recipient to chase away the spirit. Then the lama visualises a circular fence around the kago recipient to protect the person from further harm.

The lama finally bestow blessing to each participant with a ritual implement, which symbolizes pure conscious Buddha-nature. 

In this sacred ceremony, Lama energetically clears and blesses the recipient in order to transmute obstacles specifically related to the recipients’ “lung” (wind, breath and prana). 

The Kago ceremony is beneficial in clearing obstacles, purifying sickness, promoting good karma, and achieving success. 

Thus, the ritual of kago is basically giving a threatening order to the spirits to stop causing any harm to the person that seeks Kago.

People receive KAGO without knowing the meaning. Next time when you receive KAGO think of this meaning.