By: BK Shivani
Source: The Daily Guardian https://epaper.sundayguardianlive.com/19-january-2025/
Dated: January 21st, 2025

The Kumbh Mela celebrated at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, is a divine congregation where millions come seeking purification and spiritual renewal. It is a reminder of soul’s eternal journey, entangled in karma, and yearning for spiritual cleansing and liberation.

At the core of spirituality lies the truth: “I am an eternal soul, not this body.” The soul is the seat of our intentions, thoughts, feelings, actions and sanskars. 

Every moment, we souls engage in Karma which encompasses our intentions, thoughts, words and actions: 

• When we are soul conscious, our karmas are divine and reflect our original qualities: purity, peace, love, happiness, wisdom, power and bliss. 
• When we forget our identity as souls and identify with the body – its gender, relationships, roles – we fall into ego consciousness (body consciousness). This propels us to engage in impure karmas referred as sins or vices like lust, anger, greed, attachment, ego, jealousy, hatred, sorrow, deceit, laziness and carelessness. These sins distance us from our original qualities.

The journey of souls unfolds in a cyclical pattern through four ages: Golden Age (Satyug), Silver Age (Treta Yug), Copper Age (Dwapar Yug), and Iron Age (Kali Yug). In the Golden Age, we are naturally soul conscious and hence are completely pure. By the Iron Age, ego consciousness dominates and vices bind us in suffering. We carry these vices into subsequent lifetimes as karmic debts. Today at the peak of Iron Age, our vices and karmic debts have intensified. So we souls long for purification. 

Kumbh means pot, while Mela means fair. According to scriptures, Lord Vishnu spilled drops of immortality nectar (Amrit) from a kumbh at Nashik, Prayagraj, Ujjain and Haridwar. Pilgrims bathe in sacred rivers at these 4 sites during Kumbh Mela, intending for their sins and karmic debts to be washed away.

The desire is for soul cleansing, but due to body consciousness we engage in physically immersing our body in the sacred waters. While this intention is sincere, we need to do more – we need to cleanse the soul. Soul purification happens when we immerse in the Ocean of Purity, meaning when the soul connects with the Supreme Soul God who is the Ocean of Purity.

In the Golden Age, souls were 100% pure, but over lifetimes, body consciousness has eroded purity and left us now at our lowest spiritual state. This decline renders it impossible for us to achieve Mukti (liberation) and return to the Paramdham or Soul World. It has also stopped us from attaining Jeevan Mukti (liberation in life) and transition into the Golden Age.

Today we are in a period called Confluence Age, a brief transitional phase between Iron Age and Golden Age. During this time, the Supreme Soul God descends into this world to guide, energize and purify us. When we connect to God through daily meditation, immerse in His divine knowledge and inculcate His teachings, we shift from ego consciousness to soul consciousness. Such transformation dissolves vices and restores our purity. This completes purification of the soul.

Kumbh Mela offers valuable lessons: 

1. Collective Vibrations: Millions gathering with a shared intention of purity and generating powerful collective vibrations, inspires a shift towards soul consciousness. It encourages us to be a part of collective vibrations on a daily basis. At Rajyoga Centres worldwide, collective vibrations are created daily through meditation, fostering an atmosphere of purity.
2. Learning: Devotional practices at Kumbh Mela inspire introspection and renewal. At Rajyoga Centres, souls immerse every day in the Ocean of Knowledge flowing from the Supreme Soul and imbibe spiritual principles. This guides them to create elevated karma in the present and thereby liberate from past karmic baggage.
3. Oneness: Convergence of diverse pilgrims reiterates that all souls are equal. By practicing soul consciousness, we perceive the world as one family, transcending barriers of gender, religion and nationality. This nurtures universal brotherhood.
4. Eternal Pilgrimage: While Kumbh offers a physical pilgrimage for the body on a set schedule, we can embark on a pilgrimage for the soul on a daily, ongoing basis – a pilgrimage of God’s remembrance at each moment of the day. It means we can carry out responsibilities while our mind is constantly immersed in the Ocean of Purity (remain in God’s remembrance). We then embrace a meditative lifestyle as karma yogis where our every action becomes a source of purity.

Through the pilgrimage of remembrance, the soul purifies itself, attaining Mukti by returning to Paramdham (Soul World), followed by Jeevan Mukti to usher in the Golden Age.

BK Shivani is a well-known 
motivational speaker and Rajyoga teacher