THE KUMBHA 2019

A SPIRITUAL QUEST

THE KUMBHA 2019 ALLAHABAD (PRAYAG)

– A prep for 2028 at Ujjain

 

You grow up with grown-ups who make you believe that there is a Heaven act good and a Hellfire for bad act (as adults see it). It is only when you yourself become a real adult, not just in age, a realization evolves defining the locations of these places is with-in, every moment of each day, as a part of your action plan called karma.

In Hindu mythology, now a belief accepted in the global spiritual quest, birth and rebirth is a continnum, and thus the journey of birth and death continues unless one goes beyond.

One of the very important decision for destination Kumbha.

As a filmmaker and creative writer, Kumbha Mela has resonated within me since the charm of hindi films entered the veins with early footsteps of teenage years. We are well aware of the lost and found generation of 60’s and 70’s “Seeta-Geeta’s” or “Ram aur Shyam” amidst varied others, that made our adrenalin rush to find the finale of bichdon ka milaap!

Kumbha or Kumbh Mela, that arrives in 12 year periodicals, by a celestial design (and some calculations!) has become a mass movement, attracting travellers from all joinres’ of worldwide settings – for reasonable and unreasonable quest and questioning. In India, it is a lifetime decision destination to go beyond re-birthing by washing away your sins in one dip (or two or many) in the sangam of Ganges and the Yamuna, with an invisible layer of river Saraswati floating with-in!

This year, my sins also decided to plunge-in to check these merging waters!

Allahabad or Prayag was where millions were heading to their calling. As my travel obsessed mind research through a faster pace of travel by air, I found none. Train travel was a passe’ since years of fastest mobility. But this time, the sins were leading my path (Ha! Ha!), and thus I booked myself with my best-ie in the best-est (Best friend in First AC) in Prayag Raj Express Train.

It was a transformational experience of its creative best! Beautiful painted exteriors, snow white sheets, spotless clean toilets – Swacch Bharat at its very best!

It was when we landed on the location – with a shocking disbelief, all of my visual eyes could see were heads of people on a spreadout earth matter!

 

It was a camerawoman’s voyeuristic delight, clicking whosoever and whatsoever crossed my lens of virtual eyes. While I, in midst of this human ocean, became somewhat unmoveable. I stood still, my eyes closed, ears strained – all on their own. I could hear was various forms of voices that were not human. And then, a call from an ancient past reverberated. I visualised my deceased grandmother sitting with priests around a massive havan kund – chanting; the chanting growing louder; and then a different musical instrument sieved through my ear buds like a bhajan; then as if saints of Darbar sahib were singing morning kirtan…the sounds surrounded me with crystal clear waves engulfing me with- in….till I was jostled out of this trance by our friends, realising that we were standing to take the holy dip!

 

The Human Se(e)a…

There lay a clear demarcation of the Ganges and the Yamuna – a sight that was mesmerising and deepening one’s quest for more. The boatride reverberating with sacred chats Har Har Gange was elevating human consciousness in it’s purest form. The boatman insisted that I must fill my bottle with the purest water on mother earth. Although my logic sense had refusal at it’s helm, what with hundreds bathing and sandy water, but something pulled me in to fill-up the bottle – which to my astonishment, I found not a grain of sand upon my arrival home!

In all my years, I have been unable to explain the time and journey travelled in-between till I reached on the banks of the Ganges. It reverberated of a deep silence within, where all external noises seemed to fade into an oblivion. It was later that I could relate to this silence while meditating on “Om” in years of my spiritual journey, where I moved from a verbal to a non-verbal chant, which I can now hear “Om” reverberating with-in. It was also a silence that you can feel between the sound of wind passing through mountains, when there is an absence of human foot-step. It is like the invisible love energy of Saraswati that flows between visible vibrancy of romance between the Ganga and Yamuna.

That is what you can hear at the Kumbha if you stand in stillness amidst the “shor” – it is called the sound of one hand clapping. That is Godliness.

I bathed and bathed; it was as if purity flowed with-in, washing away all my fears, sorrows and even happiness – making me serene and what I have later realised on my spiritual path – with the nectar of immortal bliss.

There is a lot more to my story with the journey into camps of unusual saints, women groups and others – but that would need to be experienced, and cannot be verbalized. That journey started the quest of another dream, which led me into reading of Kumbha, its mythological and spiritual significance. Kumbha, is much more and beyond what has been spoken and written “about it.” Kumbha, today has a greater significance than it ever did. It is this generation of youth that must be encouraged to understand its importance, linking it to the modern times globally.

When we ask the question “ Why go to the Kumbha?” The answers have all been “ to see what is;” Let us try and see “why and what there is beyond the perception of the naked eye.”

Kumbha calls me again now in 2028. I do not know if there will be survival of the body for another dip. It has changed my path into a spiritual quest. I wish the same for others. It is a life changing journey. I encourage the youth especially, to travel towards it.

Har Har Mahadev!

TRAVEL TIPS

• Book in advance. There are many variables, but for luxury tents, please check with a local to do a reccee. We were very disappointed with ours!
• Do not travel on the last days of Kumbha. Everything is dismantled, bidding goodbye, including arrangements at your place of stay.
• You will need to be a smart negotiator with Boat rides to go for a dip.
• There are many e-rickshaws available. But prepare yourself to walk a lot on sand, as the area around river is cordoned off

VIGNETTES of KUMBHA

Section:: Journey