Hallo my dear ones!
It's another Monday. In other words a day of vey mixed feelings for me. On one hand it is the most horrible day of the week beacuse it is another day of school. The first day in a week after a weekend of getting to sleep in a bit you have to wake up early. You probebly know, the works of high school. Anyhow the other side of the coin is that is my day of helping with the Barn Buddies program at the Stable. We did that today and it was very fun... I worked with just one girl today. An eleven year old. So that was nice. Beacuse I am feeling cold I am reminded of probebly the coldest excpirence I had in India. But one of the definetly more amazing. (When I had horrible chills due to a high fever, well that doesen't count.) Anyhow After living in the ashram during our many weeks of travel My mum and I found our selves at the Kumba Mela. It is the largest gathering of human beings on planet earth and they are all there (with the exception of say twenty tourests) to realize God. This event has been going on for thousands of years and the earlier ones, the dates where carved into a stone tabelet. By earlier I mean about you know how about 5 thousand years ago.
Anyhow we are going to go on a yatra (spiritual journey) with Swamiji himself, but things got complicated due to the scandle and the trip got canceld. So anyhow my mother and I found our selves there. The main thing to do at Kumba Mela is to take a dip in the holy water of the river Ganga. Now if you take a dip in the water at any point it is amazing, but in Haridwar (which means gate of the gods) Is ....... practically undescribable.
But here I am going to describe my excpirence to you. We went early in the morning, now if you American kids this 6:00 am is early... we woke up at three am to take our dip. We went to the main ghat (river bank) that is the most spiritual Hariki Puri ghat. And after much mental and physical resistence I got into the water fully dressed. At four in the morning (it had taken an hour to walk from hour hotel as the city was practically busting open with people.) Now that part of the river comes directly from the mountains and is really really REALLY cold. Then you add the factors that it is Februrary, oh yes and four in the morning. I can not even describe in words how cold that water is. Also it is fast flowing. So fast they built these chains about three feet out from the bank, so when you come to take the dip you can hold on to the chain and not get swept away. Now the water was cold, but as this is India we are talking about where EVERYTHING has a reason why. It immedietly jerks you awake. And I don't put that simply awake from not just your nightly sleep but it seems from lifetimes of sleep. It just jerks you awake. And then this energy flows through you. You can just feel Mother Ganga, the spirit of the river blessing you. It is the most amazing feeling..... You must dunk under the water three times as customary and then I rush out. On the bank you loose all scense of ego. hundreds of people are all around you getting in and out of the water. The men hurry away their clothes wet, which is not a totaly true statement as most simply bathed in a loin cloth, or underwear. The woman on the other hand make tents of their saris and quickly change. My mom and me try and shelter each other as we strip off our freezing wet clothes and put on lovely dry ones. Then we hurry back to our hotel as the streets already full are brimming with people. Today is the day of the Royal Bath. My dear Swamiji would have led it, but now someone has taken his place. Today it is estimated (and come true) that 50,000,000 people will be in the city at one time. One city!
Here is a picture of the exact place where I took my dip
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