The bliss of the kumbh

Time is a dimension that disappears in the Maha Kumbh mela on the sands of a flowing Ganga as it gushes and frolicks to a meet up with Yamuna and subterranean Saraswati in the Triveni of Allahabad in 2012 .
The cold sands in the banks of the holy river on that winter evening is filled with throngs the multitudes of India on thier spiritual quest .

Those sands are softly treaded by the rishis and saints whose normal abode are the lonely icy peaks of the Himalayas where they lose themselves to infinity .

The sparkling lights of the row boats twinkle at us from  the bobbing river .

Man in his most humbling smallness in the front of an enigmatic all pervading power  that enlivens his soul .

we march on the banks with the trillions on it men women children .

 Souls from varied paths united in thier seek for the supreme .

We get into a boat sent to us by providence which takes us into the lonely middle away from the gushing crowds who appear now as disappearing dots .

The waters of the sacred river are deep and we peer into its blackness and fathom the myraids of lives that have done so earlier .

The boat rocks as it hits a sandbank on the spot where the three rivers unite and merge

Like the melding of the soul to man to create consiousness and life itself .

As we dip into the freezing waters a moment comes when the cold hits us like a sledgehammer but in time we flow into a green world of bliss and joy unparalleled .

Its nirvana itself and we as individuals momentarily stop to exist

We are part of those sparkling waves those spraying drops Maa Ganga has enmeshed our souls and we wished it would never stop but for that state we need aeons of lifes ahead .

We turn back and Mahadev our boatman with the name of the very lord Shiva himself rows us back sedately and leaves us at the banks like a mother placing her children on the floor

 And we walk amongst the Akaras or spiritual tents with thier long haired ash strewn sanyasis ,naga sadhus , in different forms of penance some conversing or debating animatedly some giving speeches to thier followers .

They are deceptive in appearance
 some are unkempt some nude some dressed to kill some elegant some are silent with a benign kind smile some are agitated almost angry some are laughing some are gesticulating.
 Many are highly learned some are IIT graduates phds some are drop outs , some are cheats and charltans making a living out of selling God ,some are selfless true and sincere
A mini cosmos of the matireal world .

We walked and walked far into the nights to preserve memories of the greatest gathering on the face of the earth on the shores of the elixir of life and death .

As the river flowed so would we the day and dusk being buried deep in the subterranean subconscious of our grey matter .

At times they rise uncalled and bob up as nostalgia and stimulate such pieces