I was born near Ganga. All our agricultural lands are irrigated with water from canals drawing water from Ganga. We used to swim and drink water from these village canals. As children and young boys we also often used to go to Haridwar mostly to see movies. On those occasions we also used to go to Har-ki-Paudi to have Chat and Kulfi in a good ambience of Ganga but never took a dip in it (water being very cold even in summer - we only used to put our feet in it that too for a little while). We heard about greatness of Ganga, but never believed that taking a dip in a river can help in washing of one’s sins. To us it appeared as a blind faith with no base. It continued that way till recently.
In the meantime, I continued meditating which I started in the year 1985. Meditations helped me in getting rid of anger and fear to a very large extent. But my experience of meditation in the presence of a Guru was the same as it was in my home. I thought that I need to work on the instructions and techniques given by the Gurus with all sincerity and that it is my effort alone which is going to sail me through. Though I read and heard that presence of Gurus helps a sadhaka in his journey, I had no experience of it and consequently did not believe in it. Similar was the position with regard to the role of places of pilgrimages, temples, Samadhis of saints and dip in holy rivers as I had never experienced any energy field or had some sublime experience in any of these places.
Later, it was in the year 2004 that for the first time I felt some sensation in my body while visiting two of the temples in Mumbai and stronger sensation while visiting one of the advanced Sadhaka. It made me realize the truth that there are powerful and transforming energy fields around the Gurus and Samadhis of saints like Raman Mahrishi, Shri Aurobindo, Osho and Shridi ke Saibaba.
A year later, I found that even living in the house of a sadhaka (even if sadhaka is not present) may affect physical preferences of a person like eating habits. If it can affect the gross body, inescapable inference would be that it has power of transformation at subtler levels of the mind and beyond.
I thus knew that the energy of saints can be absorbed and held by apparently by inanimate matters like earth, plants and house etc.
That opened me up to the grace of the Gurus and made me somewhat aware of their mysterious powers of transformation.
Now coming back to energy and vibrations of inanimate objects, it is well known that everything (like oxygen, water, potassium cyanide, plants, animals, human beings) is constituted of same energy (science calls it energy and religions call it God). Nothing but energy exists in everything we can perceive in this world (also those which we cannot perceive with our limited sense perceptions). Each mineral, plant or animal is manifested by particular arrangement of same energy. That is how planets and different kind of therapies like crystal therapy, flower remedies (collection of dew drops sitting on flowers), magnet therapy etc. work and affect our body, mind and even circumstances in life.
It is also well known that thousands of great saints inhabit Himalayas all the time. And this has been so for millions of years. If remains of a saint can make his Samadhi a powerful place capable of transforming lives of many, one can imagine what will be the effect of the presence, bathing and remains of thousands of saints over millions of years in the Himalayas.
Now, if the dew drops sitting on flowers (used in flower remedies) can absorb their vibrations and cure a person, the water (Ganga) flowing from and through Himalayas would definitely absorb mysterious and transforming energies of various kinds including the energies of Saints. These energies will obviously transform the lives of many who take a dip in it. This is my simplistic and extremely limited understanding of the significance of Ganga Snan. There may be several other dimensions to its mysterious transforming powers which, as of now, I am not aware of!
While on the issue I may mention an interesting story in Shrimadbhagwat about the effect of bathing of saints in Gangaji. English translation thereof is reproduced hereunder :
“When Bhagirath requested Gangaji to come to this earth, she asked him to think that when people will wash their sins in her, where will she wash those sins? (Shrimadbhagwat 9:9:5)
Bhagirath responds by saying that her sins will be destroyed by the touch of the bodies of those saints who have shed the desire for worldly and other worldly objects, wealth, women and son; who are no more interested in the world and have become restful; who are absorbed in Brahma, bring purity to all the worlds and work to help others. Because in their hearts reside God to kill demons (Aghasur)." (Shrimadbhagwat 9:9:6)
In the meantime, I continued meditating which I started in the year 1985. Meditations helped me in getting rid of anger and fear to a very large extent. But my experience of meditation in the presence of a Guru was the same as it was in my home. I thought that I need to work on the instructions and techniques given by the Gurus with all sincerity and that it is my effort alone which is going to sail me through. Though I read and heard that presence of Gurus helps a sadhaka in his journey, I had no experience of it and consequently did not believe in it. Similar was the position with regard to the role of places of pilgrimages, temples, Samadhis of saints and dip in holy rivers as I had never experienced any energy field or had some sublime experience in any of these places.
Later, it was in the year 2004 that for the first time I felt some sensation in my body while visiting two of the temples in Mumbai and stronger sensation while visiting one of the advanced Sadhaka. It made me realize the truth that there are powerful and transforming energy fields around the Gurus and Samadhis of saints like Raman Mahrishi, Shri Aurobindo, Osho and Shridi ke Saibaba.
A year later, I found that even living in the house of a sadhaka (even if sadhaka is not present) may affect physical preferences of a person like eating habits. If it can affect the gross body, inescapable inference would be that it has power of transformation at subtler levels of the mind and beyond.
I thus knew that the energy of saints can be absorbed and held by apparently by inanimate matters like earth, plants and house etc.
That opened me up to the grace of the Gurus and made me somewhat aware of their mysterious powers of transformation.
Now coming back to energy and vibrations of inanimate objects, it is well known that everything (like oxygen, water, potassium cyanide, plants, animals, human beings) is constituted of same energy (science calls it energy and religions call it God). Nothing but energy exists in everything we can perceive in this world (also those which we cannot perceive with our limited sense perceptions). Each mineral, plant or animal is manifested by particular arrangement of same energy. That is how planets and different kind of therapies like crystal therapy, flower remedies (collection of dew drops sitting on flowers), magnet therapy etc. work and affect our body, mind and even circumstances in life.
It is also well known that thousands of great saints inhabit Himalayas all the time. And this has been so for millions of years. If remains of a saint can make his Samadhi a powerful place capable of transforming lives of many, one can imagine what will be the effect of the presence, bathing and remains of thousands of saints over millions of years in the Himalayas.
Now, if the dew drops sitting on flowers (used in flower remedies) can absorb their vibrations and cure a person, the water (Ganga) flowing from and through Himalayas would definitely absorb mysterious and transforming energies of various kinds including the energies of Saints. These energies will obviously transform the lives of many who take a dip in it. This is my simplistic and extremely limited understanding of the significance of Ganga Snan. There may be several other dimensions to its mysterious transforming powers which, as of now, I am not aware of!
While on the issue I may mention an interesting story in Shrimadbhagwat about the effect of bathing of saints in Gangaji. English translation thereof is reproduced hereunder :
“When Bhagirath requested Gangaji to come to this earth, she asked him to think that when people will wash their sins in her, where will she wash those sins? (Shrimadbhagwat 9:9:5)
Bhagirath responds by saying that her sins will be destroyed by the touch of the bodies of those saints who have shed the desire for worldly and other worldly objects, wealth, women and son; who are no more interested in the world and have become restful; who are absorbed in Brahma, bring purity to all the worlds and work to help others. Because in their hearts reside God to kill demons (Aghasur)." (Shrimadbhagwat 9:9:6)
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