What Is Kumbh Mela Really About?

If you live a life of character, integrity, honesty and steadily work on bringing your senses and mind under your control, the Ganga, the spiritual river, will flow outwards from within you (that's the significance of Ganga flowing out from Lord Shiva's head) and will purify you and uplift those around you spiritually.

The Kumbh mela historically has been a spiritual conference that brought together people making a spiritual effort once every twelve years to discuss and share their realisations, discoveries, efforts and practices. And during the conference everyone took a dip in the Ganges every morning to affirm their commitment and start the day. Our immense spiritual literature, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Six Darshanas, is a testament to this culture and effort.

It has never been about just going to take a dip in the river to wash away your sins vagairah vagairah. If you're living a sinful life and believe that just taking a dip in the Ganges and paying some pandas and pujaris will save you, then you are not just sinful, you are also stupid.

The only way, absolutely the only way, to save yourself and progress spiritually is to change yourself.

There is no other way.

Righteousness Above All Else

Always remember: Your first and foremost commitment is towards what is righteous.

This commitment supersedes every other commitment: your country's political and administrative leadership, society, superiors at work, and if they are being unethical, then even your family, your parents, your relatives, your teachers or your Guru. Even when it comes to religious scriptures, if your conscience, your inner sense of right and wrong, makes you feel that something is wrong with what the scripture says, you have to respect your conscience and do what you feel is the right thing to do 

Read the Bhagawad Gita. Understand Arjuna's predicament.

He enters the battlefield to fight a righteous war and finds himself facing his elders, his teachers, his relatives, his fellow countrymen. He wants to quit.

Krishna says: Nothing doing! A just war has to be fought, no matter who is in the opposition.

You and I don't have to fight wars. But we must have the courage to call a spade a spade. If someone is being unethical, unrighteous, no matter who it is, we have to be able to speak our minds and oppose them.

If we can do this, we become the backbone of an ethically just and sound family, society and country.

If not, we only make things worse. We live what I call woogly woogly weak spirited lives ourselves and allow others to do the same.

Ultimately righteousness has to win. Whichever individual, family, society, country, aligns itself with righteousness, it enjoys the support of the divine. There is no "mine" and "others'" leeway allowed in this :).

In fact, righteousness is the correct translation of the word Dharma. The usage of the word Dharma for religion is completely flawed.

Living a Dharmic life means being ethically correct and righteous moment to moment, day to day. And this is our highest commitment. To live Dharmic lives ourselves, to support those who live Dharmic lives, and oppose those who don't.