GANGES: The Destroyer Of All Sins?
River Ganga marks the most sacred river for Hindus and has multiple mythological and scientific stories attached to it.
FINDING ANSWERS (Chapter 1): GANGES
Gaṅgetinām Saṅsmr̥tya Yastu Kūpajale’pi Cha.
Karotimānavāḥ Snānaṁ Gaṅgāsnānafalaṁ Labhate.
Mother Ganga is the destroyer of all sins and bestows heaven. According to the Puranas, as long as the bones of a man. Lives in the Ganges, and for that many thousand years, she is worshiped in heaven.
Isn’t the first sense of feeling attached to the river Ganga “Purity” and the second thing that comes to our minds is the “Reversal of Sins” when the sounds of the Ganges echoes? From collecting Gangajal for use in rituals and offerings to putting drops in the mouth before the body gets cremated, the birth of Hindu rituals is as old as the GANGES.
From 50 million years to date, it is believed that the river Ganga is associated with a particular divine force. Mythologic tales narrate stories from the Kushan period, that the Ganga is linked to Lord Shiva. Of all the rivers India has, Ganga is the most important.
Belief
The water of this river is so spiritually charged that if consumed with faith, it can redeem one from one’s sins of several previous births. The origin locale “Gomukh” from where the river starts following, is set to be believed to receive specific radiations from heavenly bodies, particularly from the planet Jupiter.
Life Theory
I am going to answer this question with 2 short stories:
Story 1: The Tale of the Believer and the Skeptic
Two people who were living on the banks of the Holy Ganga were contemplating taking a bath in it. One was a believer and the other skeptic. Eventually, they both went ahead and did take a dip. While the skeptic came out with a clean body, the believer came out with a clean body and a clean mind!
Moral: These opportunities for redemption (including this one) are given to us, to give us a chance to start our life afresh. These are reset buttons that will stop us from going down a negative spiral. Just because I have sinned once I am not doomed, I still have a chance to wipe my slate clean.
So does it always have to be Ganga? Let the second story answer it.
Story 2: Man changa to kathoti me Ganga (if your heart is pure, Ganga is in your cup)
There was a cobbler on the banks of Ganga, who seldom bathed in it. A learned man who piously used to bathe in Ganga daily used to chide him. The cobbler would reply by saying that Ganga is everywhere, even in the pot of water which he uses to make leather supple (to stitch the shoes).
Once the learned man loses a golden ring in Ganga while bathing, he is dismayed and frustrated. He decides to take his frustration out on the poor cobbler. On his way back, he mocks the cobbler and says “you say that Ganga is in your pot of water, I have lost my ring in the river, can you retrieve it from your pot and prove that you are right?”. The cobbler prays to the goddess and she promptly throws the golden right out of the cobbler’s pot.
Moral: The redemption we spoke about in moral 1, need not be only in the waters of Ganga. It is in our hearts, while the Ganga like 1000 other instruments is just doing the job of triggering the inner cleansing.
Science
In 1896, M.E Hankin, a British bacteriologist who analyzed the waters of all the major rivers of the world, concluded that Ganga was unique. It was the purest in addition to being a disinfectant. Later, a French doctor, Hairal, asserted that the water of the Ganga was potent enough to destroy the germs of several diseases.
Hence, it is for these reasons that the Hindus immerse the ashes of their deceased in the Ganges, with a belief that a dip into this holy water will wash away their sins.
Bottom Line
Now that many of you would have understood a few facts about the Ganges and why is it a Holy river for India, it’s imperative to know the correct reasons before we practice any rituals and rites. Not just because it gives us the right narrative but also because it adds up so much contentment, and belief to the devotee's mind, that it becomes incomparable to any other feeling.
My vision is only to present facts for a better and more transparent understanding of Hindu Rituals, and I would continue to transpire the world with the beauty, and purity of an age-old religion called “HINDUISM” backing up all the religious doings with scientific reasoning.
Because sometimes it is important to maintain rationality even if our belief is larger than science.
