The green mists over Ganga
settle into timeless nooks and corners
Not being concerned with reminding
nor being the object of any remembrance,
Attaining dissolution effortlessly.
Into still waters deep with mystery
Millions queue to dip; joyful, longing
but who dares merge?
Love once wrote Its Name upon those ghats
Shining still; with its echoes
in the ringing bells, fire of lamps and always,
the stainless Silence:
Mahadev
~ Shruti Bakshi, 10th Jan '25
Bharat and Sanatana Dharma is marked by stories that are eternally true. And not only that, stories that relate intimately to our experience as conscious beings on this planet. Being woven into the fabric of the land, these stories are ever present both physically outside us, as well as within. The story behind the Kumbh mela is such a one.
Samudra Manthan – churning of the Ocean
We all know the story of the churning of the ocean of milk (Ksheera sagar) by the devas and asuras in order to obtain the nectar of immortality, the amrit, from deep inside the ocean. This relates to the experience of all sadhakas on the spiritual path, striving to rise above the duality of good and bad. On the one side are the tendencies that pull us into darker states – desires, dislikes, habits, attachments – and on the other side is the striving to rise beyond them and follow the call of the guru. The churning even applies more generally to life where the opposites of good-bad and right-wrong are always constantly being churned as Life seeks to naturally evolve.
In the process of churning, poisons are encountered – allegorically, Shiva offers to drink them out of compassion. Fortunately, Parvati holds his throat so that the poison does not go down deeper into his body; his neck turns blue, earning him the name Neelkanth. We constantly encounter poisons in our life in the form of challenges and unhelpful influences. What is important is not to ensure they never arise, but how we handle them – if we encounter them with awareness (as Shiva represents), i.e. if we are in yoga, we don’t allow them to infiltrate into our being and bring us suffering.
The trick of Maya
The last part of the story is perhaps most interesting. Until here, the story is one of good over evil and how we can use self-effort to rise above. This self-effort or sadhana itself is a great gift given to us by the sages – that we can strive for transcendence of duality. We get tested through the process as various tempting treasures emerge from the ocean as it is churned, such as the wish-fulfilling cow, Kamadhenu, the eternally blooming Parijat tree and various other riches and supernatural beings. But keeping the aim of mukti in mind, the true sadhaka doesn’t settle, but strives on.
Until the final test of Maya through Vishnu’s Mohini avatar, a ravishingly beautiful lady. When the pot of amrit finally emerges from the ocean, a fight between the devas and asuras ensues and Garuda, Vishnu’s mount, grabs the pot and flies away. A few drops fall on the Earth, at Prayajraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik where the Kumbh melas take place to this day. When the asuras somehow manage to get hold of the pot, the devas turn to Vishnu for help who enters the asura camp as the enchanting Mohini. The asuras, enamoured by her beauty, forget all about the pot of nectar, allowing Mohini to quietly steal it away from them and deliver it to the devas.
Mohini is the Maya shakti that brings us the most wonderful opportunities to re-engage with the material world, just as we are about to fully transcend. The temptation for money, fame, respect or a partner, friends, etc. are all very real and pull back many an aspiring sadhaka. One’s deep hidden motivations and desires come to the surface and if the spiritual path has secretly been used to further a personal goal, one cannot win against the power of Maya. But it is only the asuras that are so tricked, not the sincere devas. And since it turns out to be Vishnu who delivers the amrit to the devas, the story points out how it is not our own self-efforts that deliver us in the end, but Grace.
The Kumbh mela then, is an eternal symbol of the striving for mukti. It is where sages and sadhakas from the length and breadth of the country meet with only that one thing in common – the desire to realise the Self. They are joined by millions who may not have done any striving in their lives but will take the celestial and geographical help that is offered to them at this time to get a turbo boost on their own journey. As a symbol of the evolution of human consciousness, it is no wonder the Kumbh is the most extraordinary and captivating human phenomenon on the planet and why it must always remain so.
