Kumbh Mela Preview: 1. Self Exploration – Part I

(400 million people are expected to gather at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers near the city of Prayagraj for a holy dip from January 13 to February 26, 2025. I will be visiting the Kumbh Mela from February 1-5, 2025.)

Happy new year!

This will be a totally crazy travel! I will be one among 400 million people visiting the Maha-Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India at the end of January 2025 (Nope, there is no typo here!). This party without alcohol is bigger than the freaking entire population of the USA. I suspect that these will be the most exciting five days of my travelling life. (FYI, the previous Ardha-Kumbh in 2019 had 200-220 million people as per Government of India.)

I know! Most of my friends’ first concern is about hygiene, especially if I say that I plan to take a dip in the Ganga/Yamuna/Saraswati confluence EVERY day. But how can I resist myself in submerging (literally and otherwise) and surrendering in this experience! I will be staying in a luxury tent and will drink bottled water. My ass will lie comfortably on a proper mattress each night. But I cannot, will not and do not want to be away from 400 million people during the day. Period.

I know! The government administration will be thinking about safety and security to avoid mishaps. They have deployed thousands of AI equipped CCTVs, robots, boats, helicopters and underwater cameras. They have 30 new temporary bridges and nine new railway stations. But all of these fancy deployments are so inadequate for the scale of the gathering. How can they bring one third of national resources to just one city for the gathering of one third of the nation? Authorities will rely heavily on crowd to self-regulate. They will also rely on a history of extremely low crime, lack of endemic outbreak, major stampede or terrorism in Kumbh.

What will I do in Kumbh?

The one thing that I know! I will not hide my tears. Ganga represents me, my ancestors, my intellect, my consciousness, my culture, my homeland, my roots, my books, my biases, my frustrations, my struggles… everything! I know that I will cry when I take a dip. 

Why is such an emotional response? Let me explain. We are steeped in the symbolism. Lord Ganesh’ broken tusk, General Motor’s corporate logo, “Hail to the victor’s” song of the University of Michigan, national anthem while waving national flag – they are all symbols. There is no end to symbolism since ancient civilizations. I suspect that in most cases, we need symbols for non physical entities that we created or imagined, such as religions, corporations, nations, thoughts, principles, spirituality, values and many more (1).

So why would I be emotional when I touched Ganga? Because Indian civilization thrived on the banks of Ganga, and hence, Ganga is a symbol of me, my ancestors, my intellect and everything else that I mentioned above. Essentially Ganga is my symbol, your symbol, and if Ganga represents rivers and their civilizations all over the world, then it is a symbol of everybody in the world.

I know! I will meet as many sadhus (monks) as possible. This is a much-maligned community, thanks to the notoriety in social media of a few bad apples and inherent skepticism among “intellectuals”. But for every bad apple, there are literally thousands and thousands of remarkable, awesome sadhus, who possess profound wisdom and passion with dedicated purpose, pursuing knowledge and truth in solitude. I want to be inspired, awed by their siddhis, their history of giving lives for freedom struggle, their meager living, their philosophies, their stories of their gurus. Trust me, I am not claiming above understanding of sadhus from thin air. My perspective comes from personal encounters with few sadhus across India over the past two years. (Please refer to the photos and the messages of some of those Sadhus below.)

I already know! I will be moved by the faith of the masses, free of caste, gender and other biases. Oh yes, I will watch and “feel” million individual people. Their joy will be infectious. Their wisdom will humble my stupid ego. Hopefully, I will learn! I will surrender!

I know that I will go berserk! I will take 5,000 photos, try not to sleep as much as I can to soak in this crazy place! Wooohooo, I am incredibly excited!

Happy Christmas on the eve of a spiritual time here in the USA!

– Nitin Anturkar (24^th December, 2024)

(1) “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”, Yuval Noah Harari (2015)

Professor (?) Ma Bhaktipriya in the Gangotri temple. Her message was simple. “Find eternal happiness.” She stays a couple of miles up in the cave throughout the year including winter, when even Ganga deity from Gangotri temple moves to lower hills. She spoke to us in fluent English. Her face had a glow that blew our mind. (October, 2023)

Unknown sadhu in Pandav Cave near Gangotri. His desire was to have an empty mind for ten seconds and then he will be ready to take samadhi! But he himself said, “Any desire is not good. This one will prevent me to emptying my mind.” (October, 2023)

Swami Samanand Giri in Maheshwar, Central India on the banks of Narmada river, who is also an electrical engineer by academic background. He told us, “Go to the nature. Talk to the trees.. alone.” He hugged me for walking on the Appalachian Trail few years ago. (November, 2023)

We met this sadhu in a small ally of Varanasi at a street coffee stall. We invited her while she was walking by and she gladly agreed. She is from Austria and has spent last 25 years in Varanasi. She is associated with Juna Akhada (Old Tradition). (November, 2023)

Fireyogi swami Rambhau is a siddhyogi, known for his ability to stay in live fire for a long time. He is a descendent of a 16th century saint, Samartha Ramdas Swamy from Maharashtra. His ancestors reached Thanjavur from Maharashtra when Sardar Ekojirao Bhosale started managing this area for the regional sultanate. He is fluent in English, Tamil, Hindi and Marathi, worships Lord Ganapati, and follows Tantric tradition (not Vedic tradition). I told him that my father is also called Rambhau. Then he asked me about where I am from. When I said that I am from Maharashtra, he spoke in Marathi and told me that “There is no God who is above one’s parents. Just worship your parents. It is like worshipping Gods.”

Chaitanya is based in Krupalu Maharaj Ashram at Mangadh, North India, and is a brother of our close friend. He is from my college (IIT-Bombay) and PhD. in engineering. Even without saffron color robe, he is as much a sadhu as anybody else. He has dedicated his life to sadhana and Radha-Krishna bhakti (devotion). (October, 2023)

Please review the list of ten prominent sadhus from my college (Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay).

https://www.indiatoday.in/visualstories/education/iit-to-inner-peace-10-iitians-who-became-monks-83380-20-12-2023

For additional context, I recommend this one-hour documentary on Kumbh. While somewhat romanticized, it provides a good overview.