Many people have often had certain pre-impressions in their mind regarding the Maha Kumbh Mela. Several of them have their own doubts and fears with respect to the crowd of the millions aggregating at one single place. Queries regarding the arrangements to handle such a large amount of crowd with people coming from across the globe remain unanswered in the minds of general public.
Recently, the world renowned author and Hindu activist, Rajiv Malhotra wrote a wonderful article about "Why Kumbh Mela is at risk". The article was well written, but what bother me are the threats he tried to portray which might be right according to some, but in my opinion I believe that they are not that big threats. I really appreciate and respect the concern he has shown about the Kumbh Mela in India, but what I think is that we should not be scared at all. Maha Kumbh Mela is such a divine and powerful festival, that no bad event could ever occur here.
Whether it is Maha Kumbh Mela or the Hindu culture, the world has respected the religion unconditionally. Hinduism is the oldest and the third most followed religion in the world. Kumbh Mela is the largest peaceful congregation of humanity on earth. It is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith where the saints, devotees, and spiritual leaders converge at a single place. It is a one-month long celebration and takes place periodically at; Haridwar, Allahabad, Nashik, and Ujjain; once in every twelve years at a given place.
Also Read: Celebrating Faith At The Maha Kumbh Mela
Mr. Rajiv Malhotra mentioned about the Harvard University Kumbh Mela Project, which undoubtedly is a subject of pride for the Hindu culture. However, he mentioned about his own doubts regarding the foreign intervention to study the Hindu project. I not at all support the skepticism he has shown towards the involvement of the world renowned university. There might be few cases of such interventions converting into a harmful issue, but clearly we cannot challenge every other foreign organization on this. The foreigners have respected, have been enlightened and have always shown eagerness to know about the rich Hindu culture. Whether it is their interest in ancient scriptures such as Vedas and Puranas, Hindu rituals or Yoga, people from different parts of the world have always been attracted to the land of origin of Hinduism; India to know more about it.
Regarding the feminist issues being discussed by him, I would like to highlight that in Hindu culture women are treated with due respect and even worshiped in the form of various goddesses. So, even if Harvard tries to intervene such issues at the Kumbh, they will be taken aback by the amount of respect the Hindu culture gives to women. The prosperous Hindu culture and its rituals at Kumbh have often left the foreigners awe-inspired, following which thousands of them have even started following Hinduism. Internationally renowned celebrities like George Harrison, Julia Roberts, Russell Brand and many more have been so much influenced by the cultural heritage of the religion that they ended up practicing Hinduism. This clearly denotes the degree to which Hinduism has inspired the western world. Coming onto Kumbh Mela, the largest human gathering on earth, this Hindu pilgrimage of faith witnesses about 120 million people (over the whole month) reaching out at the banks of holy rivers to perform various rituals. This Internationally acclaimed festival attracts thousands of foreigners to India. They are often left amazed by witnessing the huge gathering performing the holy rituals.
Also Read: Diving Into The Mythological History Behind Kumbh Mela
Every Kumbh witnesses the congregation comprising of various saints, priests, ash-covered naga sadhus, mahants, mahamandaleshwars, shankaracharyas, spiritual leaders and devotees from all over the world. With such a mass-attending the divine event of faith, the energy levels of that place increase to its peak, filling the whole environment with the positive aroma. Such a magnanimous cluster of positivity is powerful enough to destroy any negativity and protect the gathering. No negative power in the world can affect such a sacred festival in any manner. This can also be proved by the fact that except for stampede, no other major mishap has occurred during all of the Kumbh Melas that have been celebrated till date.
People often regard the holy Kumbh Mela Mahaparv as a research ground for the foreigners to perform various kinds of interdisciplinary investigations. This is often true pertaining to the recent Harvard Kumbh Mela Project. Their intention to study the Mela, is however very simple and acceptable, as all they want to know is about the wealthy Hindu culture and its rituals and why they are so powerful along with having a worldwide impact.
Undoubtedly, the studies will be conducted on the concerned environmental issue regarding the water pollution caused by the holy Hindu rituals. However, as the Government of India has already launched National Mission for Clean Ganga and other holy rivers with repetitive monitoring of the water; Harvard might want to study more about how India is taking such a huge project forward.
Owing to the issue concerning the infiltration by Christian missionaries, with the large amount of crowd being Hindu and people being so faithful about the celebration of the Mahaparv that they come from far off places just to take a dip in the holy river, the possibility of such missionaries affecting the mindsets of the crowd is negligible. However, they do visit to witness the grand celebration. The Mela is always open and will be open for any person irrespective of caste, creed, race, sex or religion. This is the unique quality of the festival which has further attracted even more foreigners. More the foreigners and world get involved in this festival, the more is the message of peace and prosperity unrolled to the world. This is the only festival that unites the world and as per the belief liberates every individual who takes a holy dip from the cycle of birth and death.
Also Read: The Significance Of The Holy Bath At The Maha Kumbh
It is totally acceptable that such researchers often involve the MLA or the minister of the particular state concerned as they are the ones who supervise the arrangements of the Maha Kumbh. They are treated with all due respect and often interviewed by the researchers about the preparation part of the mela. This is indeed a matter of pride for the Indians as they had been handling the largest human gathering with so much of planning and efforts, since many years.
Kumbh Mela is a tradition going on since hundreds of years. It has still maintained the rituals from the past and has attracted thousands of people from every part of the Globe only because of these ancient cultural rituals. The Naga sadhus come out in front of general public from their Himalayan caves only at the time of Kumbh. They don't even wear a single piece of cloth on their body even in chilling winters and are strict followers of Lord Shiva. Such a sacred practice in itself shows how strong the tradition is and is still maintained.
Read More About Naga Sadhus: The Nagas At The Maha Kumbh
We interviewed Professor Diana Eck from the Harvard Divinity School regarding her views on the article written by honorable Mr. Rajiv Malhotra. She told us that she definitely respects Mr. Rajiv Malhotra’s perspective, but surely does not agree with it. She also gave us an important piece of information that the Kumbh Mela project team mostly consists of people of Indian origin. In another interview with Mr. Peter Walker (Australian philanthropist and founder of Walking our world foundation), he mentioned that he compliments how well Mr. Malhotra has portrayed his views in the article but, at the same time he also strongly believes how the media is playing an important role in portraying the foreigners visiting to India in a wrong way. Mr. Walker is currently in India and is totally awe-inspired by the Indian traditions and culture. He is also planning on producing a documentary on the Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela at Ujjain in order to tell the world about the great Hindu culture and the rituals.
To sum it up, the whole environment at the event is filled with such strong positive vibes, that all the negative energies, whether imaginary or they do really exist, are just ephemeral and turn into positive eventually. It is indeed a golden opportunity to experience such a spectacular celebration with such great spiritual leaders assembled at one place. Such a grand festival, therefore, gives everyone a chance to get enlightened and move forward in their spiritual journey to find their true self. All that we take from this festival of faith is just perfect bliss.
To read Mr. Rajiv Malhotra's article; Please click here.