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| Saint sitting on metal spicks over a hot open fire |
I was told by one of the swamis
at our international center in Bangalore that this Kumbh Mela, which happens once every 12 years in
Allahabad, when Jupiter is in Aries and the sun and moon are in Capricorn, is considered to be the largest and
holiest of all the four destinations where Kumbh Mela takes place and is
believed to be the most auspicious. And that the Maha Kumbh Mela happening this
year takes place every 144 years! More then 80 million people were expected to bathe in the Triveni Sangam, the place where the three most sacred
rivers of India — the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati — converge.
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| Naga Babas by the side of the road in their pavilion |
I was excited that in just a few days I would be joining the sadhus, the wandering monks who
mostly live in caves, and the naga babas
(long-haired ascetics who never wear any clothes and are always smeared in
ash), for a holy dip in the Sangam.
It’s believed that bathing here frees one from all past sins, liberating one
from the cycle of birth and death.
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| A sea of saffron-clad seers |
Staying at the Art of Living camp with Guruji was fairly tame. It
was like being at the ashram in Bangalore back in the early 1990s. A crew of
volunteers arrived at the Kumbh several weeks before to build a temporary camp
for Guruji and his guests. Five of us from the U.S. squeezed into a makeshift
room with no place to store our luggage or to hang our things. Fortunately, no
one got electrocuted using the king size emersion coil we were given to heat
our bucket of water to bathe. There was no end to the noise that surrounded us.
Every group blasted Vedic chants or sermons throughout the day and night from
their temporary pavilion or ashram. If it wasn’t for my super heavy-duty wax
earplugs, I don’t think I would have gotten any sleep.
Guruji’s accommodations were very basic as well. Fortunately, it
was slightly quieter where he was, and he was able to have meetings with
numerous visiting swamis and devotees who came to be with him.
After the first night’s satsang, a few of us gathered in his room.
As usual, Guruji was giving out prashad (blessed
sweets), to the devotees. Guruji is well aware that I’m very strict about what
I eat and that I’ve been on a wheat-free, sugar-free, taste-free diet for some
time. Nevertheless, he offered me a ladu
(a kind of sweet), and said, “At Kumbh, we’ll just celebrate and take a
vacation from being on our diet.” And with that, he placed half the ladu in my
hand and popped the other half in his mouth. I ate it without hesitation, which
was completely uncharacteristic of me. Whether sweet, fried, or spicy — puris,
jalebis, samosas, and more — for the next five days, I ate everything that was
served to me. And much to my amazement, I was fine, completely fine.
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| Guruji with the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Math, Puri |
More fantastic than the miraculous digestive enzymatic fluids in
my intestines, was driving around the Kumbh with Guruji, visiting swamis and
saints from various branches and traditions. Several times a day, we drove
through a sea of people, down bumpy roads, watching exotic saffron-clad
seers who looked like they were lured out of their forest hideouts and
caves for a dip in the holy river. Guruji introduced us to numerous renowned
saints, including Swami Sri Nischalananda Saraswati (the Shankaracharya
of Govardhan Math, Puri). The most blissful and endearing saint we visited was
Shri Rambhadracharya Ji, who lost his vision when he was 2 months old. He’s the
founder and chancellor of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped
University, and has written more than 100 books. He blessed
all of us, and held Guruji’s hand and lovingly said, “Sri Sri is my brother. No — we are one soul in two bodies.”
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| Shri Rambhadracharya & Guruji |
Besides visiting saints and taking our own dip in the river, we
had an opportunity to serve food to thousands who came to our camp for satsang
and darshan with Guruji. On the final day of our visit, we were forced to
abandon camp due to the unseasonal torrential downpour that flooded everything
at the Kumbh. Electricity went down and the Allahabad airport was closed. The only way to get back was to reroute
our flight through Varanasi.
I always wanted to visit
Varanasi (Benares), considered by many to be the spiritual capital of India, and the
India’s oldest continuously inhabited city . But I never expected that I would be going with Guruji to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, considered the
most holy Shiva temple in the world. Many famous Hindu saints (including
Shankara and Tulsidas) have visited this temple, and Hindus consider a visit to
this temple and a dip in the Ganges to be acts that will lead to liberation.
Standing near Guruji in the inner sanctum watching the pundits do abhishek to the ancient Shiva Lingam
felt familiar and ancient. A tremendous amount of emotion welled up inside, and
I felt privileged to be there.
Varanasi
and the Kumbh Mela were deeply moving experiences. Seeing multitudes of people
who journeyed to the Kumbh, spending their hard-earned money on train tickets,
walking endless miles with their improvised camping gear and meager possessions
on their back,s and sleeping under the stars just for an opportunity to dip in
the Sangam, put life in perspective for me. It was another lesson,
a reminder of how much I had, and how little I needed to be happy; how every
moment in life can be filled with the divine presence. Gratitude and devotion
are amazing gifts, and being at the Kumbh ignited that in me.
Perhaps
you were at this or another Kumbh Mela, or had a similar experience elsewhere.
I’d like to know how it was for you and what inspired you.
