Confluence of paths to the Divine converge in Kumbh

In 2022, Prime Minister Modi said that this was not an era of war but that of peace. There ought never to be a time of war, instead we need to ensure that peace inner and outer becomes our default option, our natural state.

No Prime Minister previous to Narendra Modi has paid as much attention to the culture of India from ancient to the contemporary. Through this cultural narrative, PM Modi has showcased a cultural tradition all the world can admire. Peace and harmony are central in such a narrative. He has frequently referred to the need for all to live in a state of harmony and mutual respect. The Kumbh Mela illustrates such a point in an unexcelled way. The Kumbh Mela is attended by believers in almost all the faiths of the world. Amidst the multitudes taking part, an inner peace pervades individuals who participate in the Mela. In a sea of humanity, each looks inward within oneself to discover and to express the spark of humanity that is within us, and yet has so after been buried by the layers upon layers of modern life. Abstemious sadhus stand beside those who have partaken of a life filled with luxury. The unlettered gaze skywards together with those having a string of academic degrees advertising their scholarship. There are those who have never missed a Mela, others who are newbies coming out of a sense of adventure, others out of mere curiosity. There are no barriers to entry and participation, all that is sought is that each of the millions taking part should fashion their behaviour to reflect the reality that each is entitled to his or her own chosen path in the search for the divine that is in each of us, and which is everywhere. Violence towards others that is bred from the intolerance that a sense of superiority brings needs to be abandoned, if possible even after leaving the Kumbh Mela and reaching home.

Pride needs to be centred on the points that unite humanity, not on those which divide. Just as a pauper and a billionaire are linked in birth and death, so are they in the immensity of the confluence of people participating in the Kumbh Mela. In the waters of the Ganga and the Yamuna, humanity stands together in a demonstration of unity. Perhaps the billionaire will return with the message from his or her inner self, finally making itself heard because of the experience of the Mela, that what makes an individual worthy of self-esteem is not what is earned but what gets deployed to help others navigate through life with less hardship than previously. And the pauper will learn not to despise himself and be lost in a forest of despondency but to break out into the sunlight of opportunity and change his or her own life. Every interval of time spent within the atmosphere of inner awakening fostered by the Mela differs from the previous lapse of time, just as each of us does. The passage of time changes our response to situations and to people, and to judge past responses in a different light. History can never be changed, but can perhaps avoid being repeated.

The more we realize the centrality of humanity in ourselves as human beings, the better will be our responses to the world, and repeated countless times by as many people, change the world. There are those whose apparent philanthropy is aimed at self-interest, as for example nourishing NGOs that advertise the importance of vaccines in a context where the donor has an equity stake in the very vaccine companies being touted by the NGOs. Or in the giving of loans that are tied to the purchase of substandard equipment made by the donor. The only reward sought out to be the knowledge that through such generosity, more and more of the inner humanity that is within oneself gets expressed in thought and deed. We are each a compound of impulses both societally beneficial and malevolent, and by the transformative experience of participating in the Kumbh Mela, slowly the former gains at the expense of the latter, rather than the other way about. An important lesson is the environment. A sense of opprobrium at the presence of abandoned plastic bottles by someone needs to generate a drive to not repeat the same offense. And to do what so many are doing, picking up the waste left behind so unfeelingly by others so that the environment is kept clean despite the multitudes. Those who as young adults have the foresight to plant the seeds of trees and tend the seedlings have the privilege of seeing them as leafy trees as they. Every such tree brings a benefit to the world. Every tile roof in place of concrete, every clay pot in place of a plastic substitute, benefits the world.
As income rises along with longevity, birth rates fall. In place of wars that in the past broke outt, a climate of peace and tolerance needs to emerge as the norm. In such a narrative, the environment is central. It is not a surprise that ashrams and meditation centres are located in leafy surroundings rather than abutting the din of traffic. The more we assist in the creation and sustenance of a better environment, the less ought to be the propensity for violence. In 2022, in an effort at ending the conflict that had broken out between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi said that this was not an era of war but that of peace. There ought never to be a time of war, instead we need to ensure that peace inner and outer becomes our default option, our natural state.

Were there to have been an atmosphere of violence and tension enveloping the Kumbh Mela, such a melding of people would never have taken place. Yet it has, again and again and again. Through being part of the celebration of the divine within each of us and within the whole of the universe that is Kumbh, let us discover what is in us, that ensures that generations to follow will regard us with gratitude and reverence. The tapestry of culture so carefully unfolded before the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will endure over millennia.