Ganga

Ganga Mata Ji
The Divine Mother
as River

The house in Haridwar on the Ganga where many first met the Master in 1990

Question: I want to go on a yatra to some sacred places.

Papaji:

It is better to just sit where you are and ask yourself ãWho am I?ä Most of these sacred places are sacred because there your mind is focused on the saint who is related to it, like Buddha in Bodh Gaya. This focus benefits you by strengthening your decision, not the place itself. Most people who live in Bodh Gaya or Tiruvannamalai are not affected, but those who go there focused on the saints and teachings of these places are benefited.

Find where the ãIä rises. There is no better education for only this brings you to no past object, but to your Self. ãWho am I?ä finishes your
relationship with time and in this timelessness you know who you are. Go to the sacred places, but the main purpose must be to know who you are. After inquiry, the two places I usually recommend for a yatra are Arunachala who is Shiva and also my Guruâs Guru, and the Ganga, who is the Divine Mother. By drinking her water you will remove all your physical problems and diseases. She is a heavenly nectar, and therefore, Ganga is worshipped. If you keep her in your room it is quite enough to purify the atmosphere of the whole room. This is why we keep containers of Ganga in our houses and this water will stay unpolluted for one hundred years. Also, when people are dying a tablespoon of Ganga is place on their tongue and then they are not reborn if it is the last
sip of water that they have.

You can go to the source of the Ganga, Gangotri, and there you will see that there is no river! Like this, go to the source of your mind which has become a river of so much samsara and time. Donât forget that going to Gangotri is symbolic of something that few people will understand.

(Excerpt from "THE TRUTH IS," Bhakti Chapter)

The Ganga just north of Haridwar
:

The Ganga is Papaji's favorite manifestation of the Divine Mother. It is pretty safe to say that it is his favorite place on Earth, especially along her banks between Haridwar and Rishikesh. When he was just a year old his parents started the yearly tradition of bringing him to Haridwar from Gujranwala, a town that is now in Pakistan. I would aver to say that he never missed a year since and in fact would often spend months at a time in and around her.

When people asked him where in India they should visit he almost always pointed them to the Ganga or to Arunachala.

According to Papaji and the Veda, just one look at the Ganga will remove your sins. And if you bath in her or drink her, or even have a container of her in your house, your sins will be removed all the more. In my experience I found the removal of 'sins' as being the removal of mental and physical conditioning that distracted me from the Peace of Truth. I found bathing in her destroys the illusion that the world is other than Self. Spending a day walking her lively banks, listening to her eternal song, breathing her Prana, bathing in her purity, and just sitting quiet with her definitely and gently brings me into such sweet Peace.

The compassion you feel from the Ganga and the very presence of Ganga Mata Ji is incredibly tangible. She has even manifested to Papaji as a beautiful young woman during the Maha Kumbha Mela in Prayag.

If you have anything to add to this page or have any comment please send it to
prashanti at igc.org At the bottom of the page are the latest reports from the Ganga.

Papaji sitting with Devotees on the Ganga at Hari Ki Pari ghat in Haridwar.
Judging from the light it is evening and they are waiting for the awesome Ganga Arati to start.

Papaji was just getting in and kept feigning his submerging in the sweet cold Ganga. Finally he gets his face really close to the surface when his eyes cross and like a child says, 'a bug'! Maybe you'd have to be there, but it was so funny we were drowning in Joy.

Papaji showing us how to float in the Ganga. A few minutes later he floated in Padmasana, Full Lotus. This photo was taken in Swarg Ashram, just upstream of Rishikesh.

Ganga Arati on Hari ki Pauri Ganga Arati on Hari ki Pauri

Pujari with Tulsi in Varanasi on the Ganga The Ganga in Varansi looking North downstream

.
Question:
What is your favorite form of the Divine Mother? Will you please tell us a story about her in this form?
Papaji:
From the beginning my Mother has been Mother Ganga. She is not only a river, but she is the Mother. Because of her compassion she flows over this soil. I have tread her banks from the Bay of Bengal to Uttarkashi, from 1910 to the present. My family went on yearly visits to Haridwar. I will tell you a story of Ganga Ma which happened when I was at the Maha Kumbha Mela in Prayag, the Mela which comes only once in 144 years.
In the Mela there are so many traditions and centers each trying to promote their own propaganda 24 hours a day. One day it was too crowded for me so I went for a walk downstream to where the Yamuna, Saraswati, and the Ganga flow as one to the Bay of Bengal. After about five kilometers a girl ran up to me and fell at my feet. I looked around but her family was nowhere in sight, which was very strange because a young Indian woman never goes out alone.
'Where are your parents?' I asked.
She replied, 'I have no parents, I am alone.'
'Why are you here?' I continued, 'Why donât you go back to the Prayag where the Kumbha is being performed? Why are you alone out here?
Then she said, 'In this Mela everybody comes to remove their sins by having a bath in the confluence of the three Holy rivers. Everybody leaves their sins, but what can I do with them? I have vowed to take the sins away from these people, and I do, but I must leave these sins at the feet of a true Saint and be free of them. I have been searching the Mela for seven days, but I have not found anybody who could take these sins. But now I have found you who are the only person to whom I can release my sins. I am the Ganga!'
Then I looked at her beautiful eyes and knew that they were not human, and I noticed that her body was transparent and that I could look right through it. She stood up and walked out onto the river and slowly became one with the water. I stood there for many hours wondering what had happened and how I could have been so blessed to have seen her in her real form. She had been living in the heavens, but has compassionately come down to earth in response to Bhagirathâs penance. Now she blesses all those who see her, or taste her, or touch her. This is the experience of my Mother.
(Excerpt from "THE TRUTH IS," Bhakti Chapter)

.

Reports of the Ganga
Papaji always asks Sanga how she is doing when they returned to Lucknow from spending time with her. His eyes would get that look of Love and excitement, and then he knowingly nods and smiles and they describe her beauty. So here is a report for you!
July 6, 1998 Rishikesh
HI THERE! I just returned from the Beautiful Ganga. She is EXQUISITE! Full.....Brown.......Fast.......constantly washing away and away all who set their heart, mind, thoughts........all of it on her fast flowing water. A bath in her is Spotless! Pure! absolutely all of it! Not one speck of sand on my skin! Everything washed away...........all of it! She is constantly flowing thru and thru this form of emptiness......in emptiness! OM SHANTI SHANTI