Chapter 6
The Kumbha-melä
go, because I will bring you to Orissa.” So, I went to the Kumbha-melä. Such biting cold! Yes, it was the winter season when I went there. All were sleeping on sand and straw, spreading straw mats to sleep on. It was so cold, biting cold!
The Kumbha-melā In Brief
The Kumbha-melä is the world’s largest gathering of people for a religious purpose. It is held every twelve years and is attended by millions of pilgrims from all over India and the West, seeking liberation from material bondage. They bathe in the holy waters at a particular time, in accordance with astrological calculations. So, millions of people gather for the Kumbha-melä at one of four locations: Allahabad, or Prayag, the original name, Hardwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. Kumbha is a Sanskrit word for ‘pitcher’. Sometimes it is referred to as Kailash. It is also the zodiac name in Indian astrology for Aquarius, the sign under which the festival is celebrated, while melä means a gathering or a fair. It is understood that the rivers turn into sanctity spots filled with primordial amåtä (the nectar of immortality) at the historic moment of the Kumbha-melä. The pilgrims obtain, for many, a once in a lifetime chance to bathe in the spirit of holiness, auspiciousness and salvation.
Then that Is the Paramparā Çréla Äcärya Öhäkura Gour Govinda Swami went to the Kumbha-melä at Allahabad to see Çréla Prabhupäda. Although Çréla Äcärya Öhäkura was a great scholar, he came before his spiritual master with great humility to submit the translation work he was doing, and to find out if it was acceptable. He 85
