Of Maha Shivaratri and Maha Kumbh Mela

Thoughts & Reflections

By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee

For generations to come 2025 will be remembered as the year when the Maha Kumbh Mela will end on February 26, coinciding with the celebration of Maha Shivaratri. The Maha Kumbh Mela has come after 144 years in an unbroken cycle of Kumbh gatherings that go back to very ancient times, spanning countless centuries. In fact, the first written evidence of the Kumbh Mela can be found in the accounts of the Chinese traveller Huan Tsang or Xuanzang (602 – 664 AD) who visited India in 629-645 CE, during the reign of King Harshavardhana. However, similar observances date back to many centuries earlier still, when the river festivals first started getting organised.

“Taking a dip in the sacred waters of the river Ganga may help to put the traveller on the path of moksha if he is not already there, perhaps even ‘fast-track’ his attainment – but count in celestial, not human years!”

This ritual cleansing, a physical act accompanied by chanting of specific mantras, is of course symbolic of the inner mental purification that one must undergo throughout one’s life in order to attain liberation or moksha from our attachment to the world of matter, as presented to our psyche by our five senses.

En passant, I may mention that there is much debate going on in the world of science – fundamental physics in particular – about whether this ‘external reality’ perceived by our mind through our senses is the actual reality of the universe or is its true reality the intuitive one revealed to our sages of yore, the rishis? For the latter and the tradition they have spawned – Sanatana Dharma — this is a settled question, but for science it will ever be an unending quest for, as Einstein observed, a scientific theory is never final.

As Swami Tejomayananda, former Spiritual Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, put it once, whereas science asks what is the origin of consciousness, we say that consciousness is the origin of everything.

To come back to the Kumbh Mela, taking a dip in the sacred waters of the river Ganga may help to put the traveller on the path of moksha if he is not already there, perhaps even ‘fast-track’ his attainment – but count in celestial, not human years!

As far as Mauritius is concerned, Maha Shivaratri 2025 will also be remembered as the year when water from the Triveni Sangam – meeting of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh – was mixed with the water at Ganga Talao during a special ceremony that was held on Sunday February 16. The first mixing of Ganga water there was carried out in 1972, with water brought form Ganga at its origin in the Himalayas, Gomukh.

This time round, the water has come directly from the Sangam Triveni. It was collected there by Mrs Bimla Purmah, admin of a Sanskrit learning platform to which I also belong. She did the yatra to the Maha Kumbh Mela and stayed for a week earlier this month, and was able to send the water to the Mauritius Sanatana Dharma Temples Federation for the ceremonial mixing.

When she returned she gave us a first-hand account of her stay at the Mela and her participation in the 24/7 pujas, discussions, satsangs or spiritual discourses that were taking place. She had travelled alone, and confirmed the reports of the very efficient logistic and security arrangements that have been organized under the direct and rigorous supervision of the Chief Minister of the state, Yogi Adityanath. Worthy of note, for example, is that men and women were sleeping under the same roof (as she did too), and there has not been a single untoward incident. On the contrary, there was respect and dignity maintained in the pervasive spiritual atmosphere.

She was present when the ‘stampede’ occurred, as a result of unruly behaviour by a group that somehow barged in, and a special enquiry is under way to establish how and what exactly took place. The situation was rapidly brought under control in the limited area where this happened, but everywhere else the pilgrimage was going on without any break or hitch.

She also emphasised the discipline and orderliness observed by all the visitors, and the piety that they displaced, greeting each other by Jai Gange or Jai Sri Ram. We are indeed fortunate that she was able to carry the water and hand it over to be poured in the Ganga Talao.

To date almost 520 million visitors coming from all over the world have taken a dip at the Maha Kumbh Mela, far exceeding the initial expected crowd of 400 million, and way beyond the 75 million or so that visited in 2013 when the city was still called Allahabad.

A cruder, negative reason for which Maha Shivaratri 2025 in Mauritius will be remembered is the fact that for the first time the authorities have had to enact regulations regarding the dimensions of kanwars, in the wake of the unfortunate accident that marred the yatra last year. It will be recalled that several youngsters sadly lost their lives when their kanwar caught fire after its top touched electrical wiring. The conflagration spread so rapidly that they did not have time to get away.

The sadder thing is that there are some people who don’t seem to have learnt a lesson, insisting on exceeding the stipulated height of the kanwar and, rightly, have been charged by the police. Something that ought to be a matter of self-regulation has necessitated the intervention of the state. And yet, numerous are the examples of groups which are disciplined and so-well organized, such as the elegantly clad youngsters form Ecroignard who are admired and do all of us proud.

There are many lessons to be learnt from how the yatra has unfolded at the Maha Kumbh Mela that can be usefully adopted locally. All those who have had the occasion to participate at Prayagraj should make it their duty to share what they have observed and practised there that can guide future Maha Shivaratri pilgrimages locally.

Aum Namashaivaya.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 21 February 2025