Kumbh: overflowing joy....

Kumbh: overflowing joy....

My first thoughts regarding Kumbh are certainly cinematic. Those from my generation would possibly never forget brothers and sisters separating nowhere else but at the "Kumbh" in all the Bollywood potboilers. Despite living in Mumbai and staying so close to Nashik, I have never been to the Kumbh there also.
Visit to any holy place as per Hindu legends happens only when the Gods desire or as they say, "bulaawaa aayaa".
This time probably , I was being called by the holy ganges. No wonder, my son and me decided to join my husband for a pilgrimage which he and his fellow bhaktas had planned along with Swami Anantapamanabhacharya , popularly known as APN Swamy.
And so began my wondrous experience at the Kumbh.
I could only be struck by the magnitude of the event even before we reached the road over bridge on the sacred Ganga and Yamuna at Prayaagraaj. A multitude of tents lined along the roads greeted us. And then below the bridge, both the banks of the rivers were dotted with tents.
Our visit was almost towards the end of the Kumbh therefore many of the tents were being dismantled still one could not fail to observe the enormity of the Kumbh.
Another aspect was that this was an Ardh Kumbh which comes once in six years and not the Kumbh which is held once every twelve years in one of the four sacred sites of Prayaagraaj, Nashik, Ujjain and Haridwar. Taking a holy dip and bathing here resulted in purification from all sins .
At night the lighted paths and tents gave the place an ethereal look.
In the morning one could see a surge of people all around with the earnest desire to take the holy dip. We also headed towards the spot we had been called. That we had to undergo quite a few hardships till we finally reached the exact location identified by our Guru hardly mattered. This included getting stuck in a melee of people thronging the pathways to and away from the sangam for over 2 hours, reaching there only to realise that we had to go back to the spot we had originally come from,  taking a boat ride back to the place and walking with the swelling crowds on the river banks to reach the spot where the idol of Swami Desikan waiting for the holy dip. Amidst chanting of mantra we also joined the idol of our revered Acharya in the holy dip and ate delicious prasadam after the nitya aaradhana rituals.
The place was extremely calm with a sense of peace. The arrangements at the Kumbh were so meticulous with no flaws. All aspects whether security and safety, cleaning, sanitation, drinking water, medical aid, announcements, transport were so perfect that one could only be awestruck. Great efforts had been made by the local administration to organise this event.  And then beyond all this was the unfaltering faith of the devotees in the holiness of the Ganga, Yamuna and the sangam. Men , women, children, sadhus steering towards the confluence indefatigably and emerging deep-dyed in spiritual fervour behoved the greatness of the Ganga.
I stood before it in all humility, a kaliedoscope of thoughts, thinking about the origin of the Ganga, its legend, its greatness, the bonds of faith and belief it creates. My own fortune of being part of this wonderful heritage and my probable deliverance and moksha and all I could feel was overflowing joy....