A sublime unity

Today, there are some who use their intellect like the lamp in the study. Strictly for personal good. But there are the others. Like the l...

Today, there are some who use their intellect like the lamp in the study. Strictly for personal good. But there are the others. Like the lighthouse on the sea. Spreading their light far and wide. For the good of all. To guide every mariner on the rough sea. To help even a stranger find his way through the labyrinth of life. Recently, I came across a true intellectual. Acharya Yash Pal Sudhanshuji Maharaj. A living lighthouse. A simple and learned man. In his mid-forties. Seated on the stage. Alone. Just by himself. He delivered the discourse. In good and intelligible Hindi. In a rich and resonant voice. With a firm conviction. Straight from the heart. He gave a clear message. It has a lesson for all. May I share?

Holy Ganga! It springs from the Himalayas. Five streams, the Bhagirathi, the Mandakini, the Alaknanda, the Dhauli Ganga and the Pindar, arise in the Uttarakhand region. These merge and mingle to form the Ganga. With a length of 1156 miles, it is the "39th longest river in the world". And it carries a lesson — "We are strong when we get united."

Ganga is God’s golden gift to this nation. An inexhaustible source of wealth to the people. So pure. So powerful. A source of energy. A symbol of serenity. A permanent harbinger of prosperity. Irrigates the vast lands. Gives us water to drink. Food to eat. It is kind. Bountiful. No wonder it is called Ganga Mayya. "What would India be without you? Holy mother! Protector of all. I bow my head in absolute gratitude. For, you serve my motherland and its people."

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It is a great purifier. It washes all that comes its way. Even the sins of man. It cleans his body, mind and soul. Removes the stains of sin. That is why millions go to it. To bathe. To clean themselves. Despite the fact that all kinds of industrial and other wastes have been regularly washed into it. Yet, it is considered holy! Pure. Sacred.

But what does it do with all the sins that men like you and me wash into it?

It retains nothing. It just carries everything that it gathers into the Bay of Bengal. With all that comes its way. Pure white crystals of snow melt into it. Big and small stones move with it. On the way, man gives it the dead and the dirt. The sin and the sinner. It moves on. Leaves the sand and stones on its way. To fill the low-lying areas. Other things get washed with it. On the way various tributaries join it. Ultimately, the mighty Brahmaputra and Ganga become one. To get lost in the Bay of Bengal. To lose its own identity. To be a part of something bigger. It just merges with the vast Indian Ocean. And all that it carries gets submerged into the vast sea.

What does the sea do? Does it retain all that it gets? To become a stinking cesspool? All full of the callous and cruel crimes that man commits? To feed the fish? To ultimately serve as food for the sinner? Or to bring about the storms in the sea? Like the one in Orissa? To punish man for his sins?

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No! Like the Ganga, even the sea keeps nothing. It retains none of the evil that is poured into it. Just nothing. Not even a bit of it. It transforms everything. Into clouds. To fly freely over the fields, forests, gardens and meadows. Guided by the winds of time. Floating like the mantle of the angels.

What do the clouds do? Drop everything on the Himalayas? To ultimately form clear and clean crystals of snow? To quench the thirst of the parched plains and plants? No! The clouds are the "artillery of thunder and lightning". These guns aim at the place and person from where the evil had emanated. To create awe. To inflict punishment. To finally destroy sin. Also the sinner.

We suffer for our sins in this life. In this world. There is nothing like the life hereafter. Or the next world. Our deeds are the seeds. We reap what we sow. Before we shed the human cloak.