Birthday with Ganges

It was a decade back I last visited Haridwar, during a monsoon time in the south. The tremendous flow and unfathomable energy with which the Ganges was gushing down along the serene ghat of Vyas Ashram still grace my mind – so does that moment of that mystic motherly embrace of Gangama, which instantaneously disintegrated my ego into a million irrelevant particles – a heavenly moment for me on this earth! A lot has flowed through my life since then – scores of experiences enriched by moments of blessings, fortitude of failures, unending lessons, testing sessions – what not, life, no doubt, is in the process of refining me and as like any refinery, it is anything but simple!

This journey became unique as I lost all the pictures I took with my SLR :)

As the rickshaw took us through the narrow roads along Sadubela to Sri Vyas Ashram of Haridwar, I found no drastic changes to the surroundings. The road is as rugged as it was, the streets as crowded too with multitude of saffron souls, cows, vendors and more saffron souls, more cows and more vendors! It is an unvarying way of life in this part of world which has its existence entirely dependent on the ceaseless flow of Holy Ganges!

However, this time, things are different at the Ghat of Vyas Ashram. Gangama is flowing in a melancholy mode, the burst of energy I experienced during my first visit has now transformed into stream of solitude, the intensity of vigor has subdued into comfort of silence! As the sun set on the eve of Vishu, we walked along with the waters of Ganges to a distance just to feel her vibes. The shores which Ganges inundate during rains are now strewn with pebbles in the midst of thick layers of Himalayan soil. Green grass is richly spread along the banks and are drooping into the flowing waters. In the distant sand shores, we see few saints meditating looking at the glow of the twilight. But in this seemingly tranquil banks there are uncomfortable things too that prick our eyes – yes, the menace of pollution which is swallowing the sanctity of this holy river! We see plastic waste in various forms and dimensions, debris of human faith and then the scraps from the excesses of this world spread around everywhere. It is painful to find these pristine surroundings in this tainted form, then imagine how Gangama would be enduring this?!

We remember the words we heard earlier on that day – “Live your life like Ganges. People throw everything at Her. Yet, she stays true, she stays pure, unperturbed by what is happening around, she keeps floating to the destination destined by Her! Life should be taken in this spirit. Surrender your ego, stay undisturbed by anything in this world, and just flow on to your destined destination, which is nothing but the feet of the Lord!”

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15.Apr.2019, Vishu – As I wake up in this corner of India, at Haridwar, with Ganges, Kerala is celebrating its auspicious festival with early morning glimpse of Vishukani. This is a special day for me as well. Yes, this physical form of mine is entering into yet another decade of uncertainty wondering what more is planned by the refining furnace of my life! Theoretically surrendering to the wisdom of this Universe here I am in a vow to bring it to practice in this decade - nothing to gain, nothing to lose, irrespective of good or bad, right or wrong, it is just the flow of my Karma, neither getting attached, nor getting engrossed the ask to myself is to flow like the waters of this Ganges! On this special day morning, I felt blessed just with the mere sight of morning glow of Gangama. Floating in knee deep freezing waters, watching the serene sun rising far across, admiring the vastness of sapphire blue sky, touching the Himalayan pebbles embedded in thick sands below, it is a feeling of being one with Nature. There is nothing artificial about anything around – an unforgettable moment being etched in my mind!

Morning hours are spent on the Ghat itself watching the flow, the pilgrims, the birds, the cows. It is then Ramesh, the active young man of the Mutt, came there and went straight into the river with a can. He returned after a while with the can full of waste sediments. He repeated the same several times. When asked on this he said he do cleaning of the Ganges around the ghat whenever he have some spare time. Ha, what a great service for our Gangama. I felt, it as a direction to me for this special day and probably for my life ahead.

Waste sediments mainly plastic kits where lying scattered in Ganges. It is still much better than before is what locals say!

Thus that evening I also got the blessing to serve Gangama - an hour long time of cleaning by removing the possible waste sediments from river bed around the ghat. Almost five cans of waste is what I could manage in the time with my meagre hands and support of all around. Yet, that hour turned out to be the most fulfilling one for me in this journey. I know it is just a microscopic act where the need is for a gigantic one, Gangama too knows this, yet, it is this insignificant effort of mine which made me feel myself as a complete man!

Ganges in its natural form! The view of crystal clear, freezing water flowing down is a bliss in itself!

As we started to leave after the blissful hour, I took a handful of crystal water from the Ganges and poured it on my head. As the freezing cold water drifted through my hair and dripped on my searing forehead, I felt the blessings of Gangama seeping into me, touching my soul and telling me - “Just flow on my son, I will be always with you!”

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