Mahakumbh – My Last Day

Last Day

What actually happens at the Kumbh mela?

I knew about the legend of the churning of the oceans – Sagar Manthan. The fight between the Devatas and the Asuras for the pot of amrut. And how drops of amrut were spillt at Prayagraj in the scuffle. And how sadhus, sants and millions of devout Hindus come to the Kumbh mela to attain immortality through the ganga snan when the celestial bodies align.

This was all I knew – the rest I imagined and most of it turned out to be wrong.

So what really happens here? What is the Mela for? Over 3 days of wandering and wondering and asking I now have a clearer but still vague idea about this mega-event.

First, the Sadhus and Sants arrive here and set up camp. They are allocated spaces according to the group they are allied to. Some spaces are about 100 sq m, others about 10000 sq m.

Some engage in discourses to large groups of people while others sit by themselves in solitary meditation and rituals.

Depending on the programme intended, appropriate spaces are booked in advance by the Sadhus

The Sadhus & Sants are here primarily to bathe in the Ganga daily for the whole period of 45 days. The presence of the Devi Devatas at the Sangam during this period attracts the Sadhus to the Sangam.

The general public is here not only for the snan but also to take darshan of the Sadhus and listen to them.

All Sadhus including the solitary babas with small huts have a few hundred visitors. So to help with all the tasks, babas usually have 2-3 helpers. These are regular people who may join for a few days to offer “shram daan” ( donate their service) – they offer themselves as workers – to cook, to serve or to look after the needs of the Sadhus.

The exchange works for all. The helper sees it as performance of service to what he sees as an enlightened soul, and the Sadhu benefits from the delegation of mundane tasks.

(A bit like my grandma performing all the seva for my grandfather – leaving him to attend to the higher task of earning for the family and saving his energy to make big decisions for the family.)

One aghori baba explained to me, they have no family to feed and they have no great material requirements. They only need a small trickle of funds to manage their sustenance requirements so that they can carry on the ideological work that they are doing. And for this they depend mainly on the donations from those that visit for ashirwad from the Sadhu.

He said, some of the visitors are lost spiritually and are seeking guidance and gurus. And the Sadhus are willing to recruit them as ‘chelas’ or disciples. Often the seekers also end up becoming the informal patrons of the Sadhus.

He asked questions about me and my life. Perhaps he was mistaking my curiosity for my readiness to be recruited.

Who is a Sadhu?

Is there reason to believe that the Sadhus are indeed wiser and enlightened? Or are they superb storytellers? Or just very good at psychology? Or people who know the religious books well? Or are they just on a pedestal because of the faith of the believers?

There is a saying
“maano to bhagwan
naa maano to pathhar”
and another
“maano to gangaa maiyaa
na maano to behta paani”

(If you have faith, a stone has the power to become God – otherwise it is just a stone.)

So it is partly the faith that elevates these austere men to the status of godmen.

But after spending a few hours with them, I believe that there is something innate about them that makes them special.

They have not only given up many many comforts, they’ve also challenged themselves in ways that Spartacus would be proud of.

It isn’t just their sound understanding of how the listener’s mind works. And it isn’t the simplicity or naivete of the listener that makes this work.

Sadhus exhibit some super strength. Wearing no clothes at even 8 degrees all the time is extraordinary. Not eating food for 6 years is extraordinary.

Now to a skeptic like myself, a feat like this isn’t sufficient to elicit worship.

Applause yes, but not worship.

But frame the same event as “he can control his mind and that’s how he does this” then I transform into a fan.

Mind Control is so attractive particularly because it is so elusive to me. I cannot control mine at all and my actions are slave to my desires.

As another Naga baba from Haridwar said to me today: the mind wanders here and there – it is the spirit that is important and must hold mind in place.

!!!

hearing this even the sceptic in me is swayed.

Henry Sugar and this Naga baba could have been good friends.

So take mind control, add to it lessons in psychology, lessons from the amazing legends of India and the science behind Hinduism and the Sadhu has a powerful arsenal with which to guide those who seek solutions

And it because of its symbiotic nature that the alliance between the Sadhu and the Seeker thrives.

And where do they find each other?

At the Kumbh Mela.