I apologize for not keeping up with this blog, it has been a crazy month of traveling and what not. I start an internship connecting with NGOs and helping an Indian family start a bead business on Monday. India has been a whirl-wind of experiences that have been filled with great times as well as tough times. It has been the best learning experience as I have seen across the spectrum in terms of religion as well as people. India is one, if not the most diverse place in the world as there are over 1,300 dialects spoken here. Hindi actually is not as hard to pick up as we have been taking classes for a week now. We may even be able to write full sentences in script by the time we return home. Anyway, here is one of my very brief essays on Varanasi and what it means to Hindus to make the pilgrimage there.
My first impressions of
Varanasi dealt with the fact it was one of the most bizarre places I have ever
been. As religion revolves and fuels India, it was interesting to finally see a
hot spot for Hindus as Varanasi is known as one of the few pilgrimage spots. As
Eck introduces The Image of God, she
starts out the paragraph stating: “It is visibly apparent to anyone who visits
India or who sees something of India through the medium of film that this is a
culture in which the mythic imagination has been very generative (Eck, 42).
Around every single corner, one can find a temple or a deity in a small shrine
filled with incense. Outsiders such as Mark Twain back in the day described
places in India “a vast museum of idols—all of them crude, misshapen, and ugly.
They flock through one’s dreams at night, a wild move of nightmares” (Eck, 44).
At
first, it took a day to get used to the idea of pilgrimage and the fact that
people travel from all around India, as well as the world to witness what
happens there. However, for some reason, I could not get myself to really feel
what was going on around me. I could see it with my eyes, but it did not do
anything for me spirituality wise since it is not my religion. I am just an
outsider observing what is going on around me. However, the important thing is,
I can appreciate and understand the need for this for Hindus, even though I
will never find a true desire to do so myself. It was amazing to watch people
in the early morning doing their daily rituals such as praying then submersing
themselves into the river, or at night when the mantras were chanted while
making the sign of the “om” with fire. Something
that is also important note that Fuller describe is the idea of pilgrimage in
the modern day: “Today, the mass media and better education have improved
ordinary people’s knowledge about Hinduism’s sacred centers and how to reach
them” (Fuller, 205). This idea is incredible especially when looking at
centuries ago and how only the elite were able to do such things and now this
is being readily available for others. Even as an outsider, it is not hard to
tell how crucial this place is for Hindus as they submerse themselves into the
Ganges and drink the water that has been filled with ash from dead bodies. From
oral tradition, it is said that the Ganges River is flowing through Shiva’s
hair as she softens the impact as it touches the earth. This is why the water
from the Ganges is holy for Hindus since it flows through Shiva’s hair. The
idea of thirtha is an aspect of
Hinduism that is important to fulfill by all Hindus. Fuller defines thirtha as: “a ford or crossing place,
and many pilgrimage centers on riverside sites actually are crossing places”
(Fuller, 207). Fuller continues on
describing that thirtha also is “ a
reference to the fetid river Vaitarani, which flows between the earth and the
underworld ruled by Yama, god of death.” He continues on describing:
After death, people must cross Vaitarani with the help of
a salvatory cow. The
ritual to accomplish this, which is part of the morturary sequence, is conducted
at the side of a river, ideally the Ganges. By extension, the crossing after death is
positively understood as liberation from rebirth (moksha), and this is the
goal commonly proclaimed as attainable in pilgrimage centers, especially Benares and Gaya
(Fuller, 207).
The Ganges serves more so as a place
for ascetics to come and renounce their lives as they continue into the fourth
stage of Hinduism, which is known as Sannayasi.
This can look different in the modern day, as groups of Hindus are more common
to see rather than one Hindu making the journey alone. Many of those who are
dying as well make their way to the Ganges as it can be seen as a fulfilling
part as the soul leaves the body. Burning bodies are also common to see along
the Ganges River as the ashes of those who have died are spread across the river
as a proper burial. Death is seen as a fulfilling part of a lifetime as one can
be reincarnated into something greater if enough good karma in a sense is accumulated to go into the next
caste in a new life. The ultimate goal however is to be released from samsara through moksha; however, this is not thought to always happen, as it is
believed that because of karma, one can continue to be reincarnated.
