India is a country of holy places. Most people consider it a privilege to go on pilgrimage to these places. It is a great pleasure to see people undertaking all sorts of troubles in order to visit these places, which are not always comfortable. In this respect they show tremendous faith and patience. I have great reverence for this aspect of our culture and consider it a source of strength of our nation. It is a different matter that the objective of undertaking a pilgrimage is not always the same that it should be. I have had the privilege of visiting many holy places belonging to different religions. While I have no craving for these places, I like to visit them. In fact, more than the places, I enjoy the pilgrims and their faith. Here I am going to share some of the thoughts which came to my mind during our recent visit to Ganga Sagar.
Ganga Sagar is one of the most revered places of the Hindus. This is located in West Bengal and here the Mother Ganges merges into the ocean. It is said that while other holy places should be visited several times, it is enough to visit the Ganga Sagar only once. This belief may be due to the difficult journey for the Ganga Sagar in the past. Now, of course, it is not so and the journey can be undertaken easily. But somehow the same belief continues.
After being posted to Calcutta, in July 1994, it had been our wish also to visit the Ganga Sagar and the opportunity came in December 1994. In November 1994, I got a letter from my former Director of National Academy of Administration, Shri Rajeshwar Prasad, expressing his wish to visit the Ganga Sagar and enquiring whether it would be possible to arrange the same. I was very happy to receive this letter for two reasons. Firstly, it gave me an opportunity to plan our visit also and, secondly, undertaking this pilgrimage with him was to be an added pleasure. So everything was planned in detail and we undertook this pilgrimage towards the end of December. The District Collector was of great help in making local arrangements and there was no difficulty of any kind.
During our stay at the Ganga Sagar, we had a good bath. While taking bath a thought came to my mind whether we were taking bath in Ganga or Sagar. The merger was so complete that it was difficult to differentiate one from the other. Some said it was Ganga and others felt it was Sagar. This made me think of the difference between the two. After all, Mother Ganga was a creation of the ocean only. Even when we see this holy river as a separate entity, is it not part of the same Creator, that is, the ocean? In our ignorance we see them as separate entities. The ultimate aim of Mother Ganga is the merger with its creator and that is what happens at Ganga Sagar. It is like the merger of ‘Jiva’ with the ‘Brahma’. Due to ignorance, we consider ‘Jiva’ as a separate entity from ‘Brahma’ while they are actually the same. Somehow the course of nature keeps drawing ‘Jiva’ towards ‘Brahma’ till they merge in the end. The ultimate aim of life is this merger and having attained it, there is nothing else to aim for.
This is what happens at Ganga Sagar also. Here the Mother Ganga, a creation of the ocean, merges with the Creator and thereafter it has to go nowhere. The cycle of creation and merger completes here and the process continues. The same is true of our lifecycle also. The created keeps merging into the creator and the cycle continues. This also explains the belief that while other holy places should be visited several times, it is enough to visit the Ganga Sagar only once. After all, having attained the supreme goal, what remains to be attained? Only a fortunate few reach this goal and it is no wonder that those who are able to undertake the pilgrimage to Ganga Sagar are considered fortunate.
What we experience in the depths of our souls is realisation.
When a man realises, he gives up everything.
