The Story of Ganga
The river Ganga is to the Hindus what the river Nile was to ancient Egyptians. Ganga Mai (Mother Ganga as the sacred river is referred to) is still the mother to millions of Hindus: life-giving, life-sustaining, and bearing them in death.
The mystique of Ganga to a Hindu is difficult for people of other cultures to understand. Wherever one is from in Bharat, North or South, East or West, Ganga jal - water from river Ganges - is the ultimate symbol of purity and sanctity. It is this water which is offered to the dying to see them safely through their uncertain and unknown path to the beyond.
Ganga is not merely a river to the Hindus. She is life; she is energy; and she is the ultimate purifier. Hindus believe that anyone who dies near Ganga and is cremated on her banks, and has one's ashes dissolved in her waters, is guaranteed liberation from the cycle of life and death, which is called samsara.
We continued our journey, our next stop being Gangotri where mother Ganga begins her descent. We stopped at Uttarkashi, at the foothills where Ganga takes a U-turn. In a beautiful setting, on a crisp and clear morning, we sat facing the mountains, looking at the perennially snow clad Himalayas where the Gods reign. master spoke to us about how Ganga came to Earth.
'Ganga is a river from the higher world. She resides in the kamandalu (a small kettle-like vessel in which ascetics carry water) of Brahma as the primal water energy. She is gnana, wisdom. She is the energy of Existence. She is a form of Shakti, Siva's consort.
Brahma is the Lord of Creation. He holds in his four hands four objects: kamandalu, water energy in which the child of creation floats; palm leaves representing the Vedas, and the male energy or Vidya, knowledge; japamala, garland of prayer beads representing the vibration of creation and space; hamsa or swan representing continuous awareness.
King Sagara of the noble Ikshvaku lineage (an ancestor of Rama, hero of the great Hindu epic Ramayana and Vishnu's seventh incarnation), conducted the aswamedha yaga, the great horse sacrifice, to reinforce his position as the Emperor of the World. The legend is that the sacrificial horse was allowed to roam free and all the land that it traversed would automatically come under the control of the person performing the sacrifice. If anyone dared to stop the horse in its travels, a war would result to decide the stronger ruler. At the end of its travels the horse was killed in a sacrificial ritual.
Before going further into the legend, you must understand who the Devas are. They are minor deities, literally bright beings, who occupy the upper celestial world: the deva loka, as opposed to Asuras, evil doers who occupy the nether world. Sometimes these guys seem to get mixed up in what they should do; devas do naughty things and get cursed by sages, and some asura kings have been great Sages themselves!
The saga continues. In the case of King Sagara's horse, Indra, Lord of the Devas stole the sacrificial horse to impede the King's sacrifice. However not having the guts to fight Sagara, they left the horse in the nether world, near the ashram (forest home) of the great Sage Kapila.
Sagara's sixty thousand sons went looking for the horse, spoiling for a fight. Finding it near Kapila, they assumed him to be the thief and rushed at him with drawn weapons. Kapila with one cold look reduced all sixty thousand to ashes. Sagara's grandson Amshuman was dispatched to locate the lost horse and his missing uncles. Amshuman found the horse with Kapila, and saw the pile of ashes nearby. Amshuman prayed to Kapila recognizing him as an enlightened master. Kapila was pleased and released the horse to him and explained how his uncles turned into ashes.
Kapila advised Amshuman to bring the holy waters of the divine river Ganga from the heavens to purify and redeem the souls of his uncles, now reduced to ashes due to their ego and ignorance. Despite their best efforts, neither Amshuman nor his son Dilipa could move Ganga into descending to Earth. Amshuman's grandson Bhagiratha took it as his life's mission to redeem the souls of his ancestors and prayed hard and long to Ganga to descend.
Bhagiratha went deep into meditation and after a long time, Brahma appeared before him. Brahma agreed to release Ganga to the earth to cleanse Bhagiratha's forefathers. However, Brahma wanted Bhagiratha to ensure that Mother Earth would be able to sustain the force of Ganga's landing. Bhagiratha went into meditation again and this time Shiva appeared in front of him. Bhagiratha pleaded with him to protect Mother Earth from the force of Ganga's landing. Shiva agreed. Bhagiratha went back to meditating upon Brahma.
Brahma told Bhagiratha that the Devas, who had thus long benefited from the divine waters of Ganga as their life source, were not pleased that she was going away, and they needed to be pacified. Bhagiratha promised to provide facilities for the devas to bathe daily in the Ganga. He now prayed to Himavan, King of the Himalayan mountains, requesting him to be the host to Ganga as she flowed into Earth and to allow space for the Devas. Himavan was not pleased. He said, 'Ganga, as a consort of Shiva, is my daughter Parvati's competitor. Parvati is Shiva's wife and Ganga is Siva's lover. How can I support Ganga?' Bhagiratha prayed to Parvati herself, Mother of all beings, to resolve this dilemma.
Parvati said, 'How can Ganga be my competitor? I am She and She is I! Every woman has two aspects: the mother and the beloved. Once a woman realizes both these aspects, she is fulfilled. I am the Mother, and Ganga is the Beloved. We are two energies of the same being. When a man is enlightened he becomes man and woman both in one form, an ardhanariswara. When a woman becomes enlightened, she becomes Mother and Beloved, both in one form. That is why all Gods appear with two wives. It is not because they are polygamous, but the two forms merge into the energy of one. We complement each other, not compete with each other.' Bhagiratha was very happy.
When you are very deeply in love with your beloved, you will see her as your Mother. Vatsayana, the great sage who wrote Kamasutra, the manual of love, actually narrated it to his mother, when he returned home as a celibate, after he was enlightened. She refused to believe that he was enlightened, so he asked her to ask him any question on any topic. She then said, 'Tell me about love of which you know nothing, being a celibate.' What he narrated to her as his Mother and Beloved, was the treatise for the householder, called Kamasutra, which became the timeless classic.
During Hindu marriages, the couple takes seven vows called saptapati. One of the saptapati mantras says: in the eleventh year, may I become your child, may you be my mother. The beloved becomes the mother over a period of time. There is no difference between them as they are two aspects of the same female energy.
Himavan was satisfied with his daughter's response, and agreed to hold Ganga as she landed upon him on Earth. He allowed Bhagiratha to build seven cities upon the Himalayan mountains to host the Devas, so that they could always bathe in Ganga.
Bhagiratha now prayed to Kalabhairava, controller of Time. Kalabhairava appeared and expressed that Ganga should take a pradakshina, an about-turn at Varanasi. Bhagiratha nodded.
Having made all arrangements, Bhagiratha now prayed to Brahma to release Ganga. Brahma told him that he had not appeased Vishnu, the third member of the Holy Trinity, yet. So Bhagiratha prayed to Vishnu.
Vishnu was pleased and promised to release Ganga from his feet. Whoever has reached Vishnu Maya, the universal consciousness or Enlightenment, whatever water flows out from under their feet, is Ganga, the divine water energy. This is the truth behind pada puja (worship of feet) that is performed for enlightened masters.
Bhagiratha now prayed to Ganga, requesting her to descend. She came down with great force. Shiva held her in his matted locks and Ganga did not flow beyond that. Bhagiratha became desperate. He surrendered to Shiva, praying to him for help. Shiva relented and released Ganga by moving one hair of his locks. Ganga stormed into Mother Earth, upon the Himalayan mountains and flowed into the ocean filling Varuna, God of the Seas, who was her own son. On her way, she cleansed the ashes of Bhagiratha's forefathers releasing them from their karmas (past actions).
Ganga had one more condition before she descended; that the sins washed onto her by humans should be cleansed so that she always remained pure. Bhagiratha obtained the help of the Tirtharupas, enlightened sages, to keep Ganga pure from the sins washed into her. These enlightened masters energized Ganga simultaneously at three locations:
Gangotri, Hardwar, and Ganga Sagar, so that she forever remained pure and energized. All three groups meditated together, connected themselves through energy and brought down the cosmic energy in a big bolt of lightning-like energy into the river.
The rishis decided that Ganga was the mechanism to hold this energy, so three big groups of rishis sat in three places. They left the body at the same moment and they entered into the river with the tremendous force of this energy. Like lightning they entered planet Earth and the whole river became energized. That is the reason why even today scientists are astonished by how this river water can never be contaminated.
Ganga purifies everything. When masters enter Ganga, they purify Ganga!
In honor of Bhagiratha's efforts, Ganga is called Bhagirathi, daughter of Bhagiratha, and she continues to cleanse all who come in contact with her.
Bhagiratha's Herculean effort to bring Ganga to Earth is a metaphorical story of one man's effort towards enlightenment.
This effort is likened to the struggle that each one of us faces in working towards our own enlightenment.
Bhagiratha was tortured by his past memories. In the story, these memories are the sins of Bhagiratha's elders. Bhagiratha meditated upon Brahma. When Brahma finally appeared in front of Bhagiratha with his 4 heads, what Bhagiratha experienced was his first spiritual awakening. He experienced a satori and was able to see all around him; he had 360 degree vision (as the enlightenment experience is often described).
As we move towards the path of enlightenment through meditation, we too experience the first glimpse, the satori, in a similar fashion.
Brahma wanted to know how planet Earth would withstand the force of Ganga's landing. This is the question of how Bhagiratha's body would withstand the energy flow of enlightenment when it happened. Brahma wanted Bhagiratha to be prepared with all his energy centres awakened to absorb the energy input at the time of enlightenment. Bhagiratha's prayer to Shiva at this point is the prayer to one's master for enlightenment. He prayed to Shiva to help him awaken his chakras and give him the ability to experience enlightenment.
We all need the help and grace of the guru to be enlightened and to withstand the experience of enlightenment. This requires complete surrender to the guru.
Energy, in the form of Ganga, landed on Bhagiratha's Ananda Gandha, (the gateway to the cosmic energy) which is represented by the Himalayan Mountains. Meanwhile, the Devas complained to Brahma that they could not live without being able to bathe in Ganga everyday in their heavenly abode. Bhagiratha then built seven heavenly abodes, seven cities, to accommodate the Devas so that they could live and bathe in comfort in the Ganga on planet Earth. These seven cities, the heavenly abodes, are our seven chakras, where the Devas, the cosmic energy providers reside!
Finally with all this done and taken care of, Ganga landed and dissolved the sins of Bhagiratha's forefathers, their past memories. Likewise with enlightenment through the Grace of the guru, upon our unconditional surrender to him, our past memories dissolve; we are liberated; we get enlightened.
The process of enlightenment frightens us. We cannot dip one toe into the experience and hope to get used to it. We have to jump in without thinking.
Ramakrishna once asked Vivekananda, 'You ask for amrita, nectar. It is like the ocean. How will you drink it?'
Vivekananda said, 'Like a fly sipping it.'
Ramakrishna asked, 'You fool, why don't you fall into it?'
Vivekananda replied, 'I'm afraid I shall drown and die.'
Ramakrishna said, 'You fool! You will never die when you fall into amrita!'
Like the perceived conflict between the mother and the beloved, we have other conflicts in life; between life and death; between material and spiritual life. They are like a mountain range separated externally, with no separation below. You need to get a good depth of understanding to see that there is no contradiction.
When you are superficial, you see branches in a tree; and leaves in a branch. When viewed totally, all leaves are the same, all branches are the same, and all trees are the same. There is neither dvaita (duality) nor advaita (singularity). It is IS-ness. Dvaita advaita vivarjita advaita: IS only IS; all other things can be, was or will.
One side of the bridge is THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, Eternal Bliss. The other side is open for you to choose any path to reach me. Each of our meditation programs is a pathway. that opens to a larger pathway. This Himalayan trip is a highway!
The peak of gnana, knowledge, is still at the foot of bhakti or devotion. This is what is represented by Lord Vishnu allowing Ganga to flow from his feet. Ganga stands for Knowledge. Vishnu's feet represent Devotion. Ganga flowing from Vishnu's feet means that even when you are in the peak of knowledge, you are only at the feet of devotion!
Let me tell you a small story from Hindu mythology:
The great rishis from heaven were curious to see what it was that made the gopis in Brindavan as happy as they were. They seemed to be a happy lot who did not seem to meditate, who did not seem to chant any mantras, who did not pray or do any penance. They were ardent devotees of Krishna, that's all. The rishis decided to come down to see the child Krishna playing at Brindavan, a temple town in Uttar Pradesh. The gopis did not even acknowledge them. The rishis asked the gopis, 'Don't you know who we are?' The gopis replied, 'No'. The rishis said, 'We are great meditators.' The gopis asked them, 'What do you do?' The rishis replied, 'We meditate upon Krishna's feet and keep him in our hearts.' The gopis said to them, 'You meditate upon His feet? Come with us, we will show you; we play with Him!'
Another small story to explain the power of devotion:
Lord Vishnu had a migraine in his abode - heaven. Everyone was in a frenzy, not knowing what to do. They asked him what they should do to give him relief. Vishnu said, 'Get the dust from the feet of my true devotee and put it on my head; it will cure me.' All of them looked at Narada, Vishnu's greatest known devotee. Narada shied away saying, 'How can I put the dust of my feet on my master's head. I will incur great sins if I do it.' The then asked all the great rishis, deities and devas. Everyone refused to offer their feet dust to Vishnu saying that it was great disrespect. Someone then suggested, 'Let us ask the gopis, the girls and boys who play with Krishna everyday.'
They all agreed and Narada went down with a group of people to Brindavan. The gopis were there as usual bustling with joy. He approached them and told them about Vishnu's headache and how no one was willing to offer their feet dust. The gopis listened to them and cried out, 'We sent our dear Krishna to you thinking that you will take care of him well. But you have taken all your problems to our master and given him a headache, and now you ask us what to do!' Narada said, 'He wants the dust of a devotee's feet, but it will cause great sin to us if we do it. We don't know what to do.' The gopis said, 'You fools! How does it matter what sins we incur if we can cure our lord's illness? This is the problem with you intellectual fools.' One gopi immediately spread out her upper cloth and all the gopis danced upon it to collect all their feet dust and gave it to Narada. They said, 'Here, take this. We do not know who the most sincere devotee amongst us is; all our feet dust is here; go, give it to our master.'
It is said that Vishnu still carries the dust of the gopis on his head. Vishnu's mukuta (crown) is the feet dust of Radha, His beloved when he incarnated as Krishna. This mukuta is made of the clay of Brindavan where the gopis danced, not out of gold and diamond. Such was the power of the gopis' devotion.
All invocation mantras start with the feet, feet of devotees. The first entrance step in any temple has the image of two prostrate devotees. These devotees are actually the kings who built the temple. They are carved at the entrance steps so that devotees of the Lord who step in will step foot first on their heads before entering the temple. Such is the respect given to the feet dust of devotees. Such is the respect given to the dust that cured the migraine headache of Vishnu Himself!
In Brindavan, no one utters the name of Krishna. They all say radhe, radhe, in honor of Radha, His beloved gopi. She is the bridge; she is the energy.
Ramakrishna says the key to enlightenment is on the hip of Devi! Unless she takes out the key, nothing can be done.' That is why all importance is given to Radha, Krishna's beloved and the gopis, Krishna's ardent devotees.
In Shankara's famous Bhaja Govindam bhajan, he says: just by uttering the name 'Govinda' (Vishnu's name) all your sorrows can be destroyed.
There is nobody who is more intellectual or sharper in wisdom than Shankara. Any philosophy on planet Earth will either accept him or reject him; they can never go beyond him. He is the ultimate intellectual jewel. He is incomparable. He is the man who created the unabridged dictionary of world philosophies that have ever been created, being created or yet to be created. If you read the Brahmasutra Shankara Bhashya, (Shankara's Brahmasutra commentary) you will understand that no more philosophies can be created. To read the whole Bhashyam, you need 10 lives; He took 10 years to write it.
In the Bhaja Govindam bhajan, he says, 'Fool! Chant the name of Govinda 3 times and at the end of your life when Lord Yama, the Lord of Death approaches you, you will get enlightened. That is the only way to reach enlightenment and not by learning tukrunch, which is the grammar to learn Sanskrit and scriptures.
What he means is: by intellectually analyzing, you will make any problem only worse. If you surrender, then out of love and bliss, all that you feel needs to be analysed will simply be flooded away. When the flood of bliss happens, there will be no peak or valley. Everything will be level. You will not know problems or happiness or sorrow or anything. Everything will dissolve into Eternal Bliss or THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.
Ganga is energy. This energy can help to guide you to the higher world. Ganga is like a cell phone. You can contact the main relay center or hub through it, like '911' in USA! The hub will take immediate action. Whether the reason is medical need or any burglary or fire alarm, the same number will help.
Ganga is the '911' created by rishis! The message comes to Vaikunta, a VIP pass is given, and you reach the higher world. Ganga's energy has the capacity to liberate anyone fighting for life in their last few moments. It is mercy killing in a spiritual way, that's all!'
Q: If all of gnana, wisdom, is going to take you to bhakti, devotion, why not go straight to bhakti?
A: You see, you need to eat 7 idlis (South Hindu snack) to know that the eighth idli is enough for you. You cannot eat the eighth idli first and feel satisfied and happy! In the same way, you need to be intellectually beaten, for you to realize that bhakti is enough. The 7 idlis are gnana and the 8th idli is bhakti. Of course, there are some 7 idlis cases amongst you here and there and some 1 idlis cases also!
The moment I feel somebody has come close to me, I will laugh at their questions. The public's questions, I will answer politely, though I know they are fools. All questions are just a greed for more words. You are freed from the greed for money etc., but caught with greed for words. 'Brain candy' is the right word. I will be offering brain candy on a big tray in the initial stages. First I will laugh at your questions and then at the questioner itself! Ask my crewmembers. The more intimate I become with them, the less I will talk about spirituality to them.
Enlightened master Vivekananda, was once sitting and smoking a hookah pipe with a disciple sitting at his feet. A half-baked youngster came by and spoke to him. He spoke about modern day views, logic and scientific theories and said that the idea of a bath in the Ganges to cleanse one's sins was all sheer nonsense. He also said that he liked Vivekananda because he was a revolutionary and modern master. Vivekananda told him, 'Fool! Everyday I meditate upon the Gayatri mantra and take a bath in the Ganges. Like a donkey munching paper, you eat a few pages of philosophy, and without even digesting it, you think that you know everything. How dare you talk like this?' The boy ran away.
Next, a pundit (priest) came by and spoke to Vivekananda. He spoke about the Sastras, the sacred texts*. Vivekananda asked him how he called himself a pundit. He said that he took a bath in the Ganges everyday and chanted the Gayatri mantra* everyday. Vivekananda said, 'If taking bath in the Ganges everyday is enough, then surely the fish in the Ganges are the greatest enlightened souls. We must catch them and start worshipping them!' The pundit got very angry and asked what kind of a master Vivekananda was and went away.
The disciple who was sitting at Vivekananda's feet was very confused by this time. He asked him to explain and Vivekananda said, 'The teaching will vary according to the person. As for you, just press my feet and keep quiet, that's all!' He said 'OK' and continued pressing his feet.
When the distance between you and me is more, I will give you a lot of brain candy. The people in the inner circle tell me, 'master, we don't get to do any meditation etc.' I tell them, 'The rest are all reading menu cards, you are already eating! What more do you want?'
When I say 'I'll take care', stop worrying, and keep quiet.