Hindu Millions Flock To Purify Themselves In The Ganges – In One Of The World’s Filthiest Rivers

London Times ^ | January 15th 2010 | Jeremy Page

[Steelfish]

January 15, 2010 Hindu Millions Flock To Purify Themselves In The Ganges – In One Of The World’s Filthiest Rivers

The Kumbh Mela alternates between these four places and takes place every three years IMAGES

Jeremy Page in Delhi

Nearly a million Hindu pilgrims braved unseasonally cold weather to bathe in the holy River Ganges yesterday on the opening day of a three-month festival said to be the biggest religious gathering in the world.

More than 50 million people are expected to attend the Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival, in the northern city of Haridwar to cleanse their sins and break the cycle of life and rebirth.

The world’s next largest religious gathering is Islam’s Haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which attracts up to three million people annually.

Hindus from across India have been pouring into Haridwar — a temple town in the northern state of Uttarakhand — to take part in the festival, which alternates between four Indian cities.

Starting at sunrise yesterday, a vast crowd began chanting hymns and immersing themselves in the river’s sacred but highly polluted waters.

Many of them filled cans and bottles with water to take to relatives who were unable to attend. “Your soul will be cleansed and you will be free from disease if you take such a bath during this period,” Sushant Raj, an astrologist, said as he emerged from the river. “The water is cleaner and has more natural power in the early morning.”

Pilot Baba, a Hindu monk with thousands of followers in many countries, said that the festival showcased the best of Indian spiritualism. “Kumbh is the soul of Indian culture,” he said as many devotees bowed before him in respect. “Kumbh gives us an opportunity to connect with the world, to be a progressive nation.”

[tired1]

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

[Steelfish]

It is also one of the world’s filthiest types of offerings to pagan gods metaphorically symbolized in ways that include animal gods from monkeys to baboons.

[norraad]

......stronger, . .smelling!

[norraad]

..babooooons, yeah, really, it's getting real jump the shark with these looosers.

It's not cute and quaint, it's old and stupid, time to admit it and try to forge together a civilization and stop being a collective drag on human development, I mean really.

[Julia H.]

Monkeys and baboons are a lot less particular about your offerings.

[Gargantua]

Too bad the Muslims didn't think of this. Between cholera, dysentery, salmonella typhimurium, typhus and staphylococcus epidermis, we should have a few thousand less Hindus next month.

Not huge, but it's a start.

;-/

[Gargantua]

"Kumbh gives us an opportunity to connect with the world, to be a progressive nation."

Uhhh.... yeah.

Progress right back to the superstitious Stone Age, you slunkish numbskull.

ROFLMFWAO!

;-/

[chadwimc]

I saw a show where a white, westerner did that ceremony. You could see the turds floating around him. He deserved everything he got. Diarrhea, worms, puking...

[RnMomof7]

Somehow seems fitting

[max americana]

>>Many of them filled cans and bottles with water to take to relatives who were unable to attend.

No thanks dude. The reason those relatives did NOT attend in the 1st place is because it’s sh*t.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

These are the people the Liberal Globalists want to give American high-tech jobs to.....

[353FMG]

Shame on you. Remember that all cultures are of equal value.

[TortReformer]

small mind....

[dog breath]

The need to clean up the Ganges will become more apparent to India as they modernize. Prosperity will bring the resources needed to do this. If Cleveland could clean up the Cuyahoga River, India should be able to get some handle on this problem even if much of the population lives in third world conditions.

[tet68]

Wod you like a Slurpee with your order?
Now just reboot your modem and you should be fine.

[Talisker]

It is also one of the world’s filthiest types of offerings to pagan gods metaphorically symbolized in ways that include animal gods from monkeys to baboons.

Show a little class - like it or not, Hinduism is an ancient and profound religion with almost a billion adherents, going back thousands of years.

Unless of course you want to include comparisons, for reference purposes.

Like for example Catholicism's - how did you put it? "metaphorical symbolism"? - of drinking the blood and eating the flesh of a man tortured to death. Now, would that be similiar to your comment on Hinduism's Kumbh Mela as "one of the world's filthiest types of [pagan] offerings" - or not?

[Molon Labbie]

Not surprised about this in a country where thousands still die from cobra and tiger attacks.

[Steelfish]

This has nothing to do with classiness. The Sacrifice of the Mass was initiated by the Christ Himself and carried on by his apostles. Hinduism, ancient like paganism yes, but not profound.

[James C. Bennett]

Perhaps one letter from a reader in the main article clarifies things up:

"I wonder how you are so comfortable, Leon Frye, talking about things you know so little about.

Hinduism isn't even a religion. It is a philosophical system, that has allowed literally thousands of often opposing viewpoints to find voice, and respect. It's a lot like economics: you have socialists and capitalists who disagree vehemently on the interpretation of their subject, but who share a common reverence for their field of enquiry.

There have been Hindu pragmatists, spiritualists, atheists, agnostics, pantheists, epicureans, and ascetics. We have such diversity of thinking, precisely because Hinduism has evolved (and, yes, regressed) over the centuries. Hindu thinkers developed the horrible caste system - but other Hindu thinkers have led (and lead) the fight to tear it down.

There have been Hindu theoretical physicists (including the discoverer of the boson particle), and Hindu "illiterate peasants" - all of whom have found something in its richness (and a lot to criticise in its weaknesses).

All Hinduism asks of its adherents, is the ability to question our existence, and wonder at it. Both the theoretical physicist, and the "illiterate peasant", share that.

The humble, ordinary people who worship at the Ganges, have found a way to share this sense of wonder. They cannot afford an Internet connection as you can, Leon Frye (and cannot put it to the excellent use that you seem to) - so they find other ways to do it.

Yes, we need to clean up the Ganges. It is wrong that we Indians treat it so badly. That does not give you the right to speak so badly of people who have done nothing to you; and so dismissively of people you know nothing of.

You're welcome to your cramped ignorance, Leon Frye."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6988702.ece

As for Talisker's comments on Catholicism, it's not just metaphorical. The same tribe of ignorants also kiss vials of dried flesh and blood of supposed "saints".

[Darkwolf377]

They go in looking like Peppermint Patty, they come out looking like Pigpen.

[dog breath]

The main thing is that they need to clean the river up, no matter what anybodies opinion on anything else.