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MAHA
KUMBHA: CARNIVAL
OF COLOR, FIESTA OF FAITH
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|   National
and internanational at this year's Maha Kumbha
Mela churned out a motley mix of images. Those of us who could
not or would not make it to the confluence of three sacred rivers (one
being unmanifest) at Prayag, sat cocooned within our mental/physical comfort
zones and passed judgments. On the techno-savvy sadhus, the ash-smeared
Nagas, the ecstatic westerners, the akhara rivalries, the short
cut to moksha offered by gurus big and small. We hungrily lapped up all
the exotica, scornfully saying: "There is no high like salvation. After
all, how can you be absolved of all your sins with one dip in a river
on a particular day?" |
  Perhaps
it is not really about dips in rivers or about 'auspicious' days. Perhaps
it is not even about moksha. Perhaps it has something to do with an urgent
need to know, know, know that triggers a desperate search for a fissure
somewhere in mundane reality that just might offer a glimpse of the great
white TRUTH. A search that is, for most, tragically time-bound by the
parameters of human existence. A search that denotes humanity's yearning
for permanence, continuity, connectedness, oneness. A search so deeply
intermeshed with the collective unconscious that it makes us flock like
bees to a pot of honey to faith fiestas like the Maha Kumbha. |
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A search
that has faith as its backbone, in evidence at the ghats of Allahabad
where million of limbs and bodies lower themselves into the swirling waters
and pay obeisance to the Divine. The rivers merge with one another, uniting
with the sun at the horizon as waves of cosmic laughter ripple all around.And mankind stands faced with itself. To view the photo gallery, click here. |
| Life Positive, Febuary 2001 |
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