[FairfieldLife] Re: Source of the Sacred Ganges by William Dalrymple
I thought I had read all of my favorite travel-writer William Dalrymple's books from India. From which book is this Rick ? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@... wrote: This was written by William Dalrymple, A British writer who lives in India and has written several award winning books about India. Source of the Sacred Ganges If you think it is cold now, said the holy man, you should see it in winter. Ram Sarandas and I were standing on the edge of the Ganges, not far from its source high in the Himalayas, near the Indian-Tibet border. It was May, but while in the plains the mercury was hitting close on 48 degrees, here at Cheerbasa a chill wind was blowing down from the snow peaks and I was shivering in my thermals. Ram Sarandas, however, was naked but for a saffron loincloth, and seemed completely immune to the icy winds. He stood in front of me smiling broadly, skin oiled and supple, his hair tangled in a mass of knotted dreadlocks. But even you can't live here in the winter, I said looking at the glacier glinting in the sun, only a mile down the valley. It must be completely cut off. It is, said Ram. From November to May the road is closed. Some years we get fourteen feet of snow here. So I stay in my hermitage, praying to Mother Ganga. Do you have electricity? Of course not. Just a petromax lamp. I eat dried fruit and in summer I dry green leaves and eat them as well. For sixteen years I have lived liked this. But what if you fall sick? In all these years I have never had any serious cold or fever. Don't you feel the cold? Yes! But I am used to it like the creatures and other wildlife here. I do my yoga for fourteen hours a day. But first, I take a dip in the Ganges, normally at 5 am. This sets me up for the day. A dip ? Even in winter? But isn't the Ganges frozen over? Yes, sometimes. But we cut a hole. The cold is good: it helps you concentrate more on what you want to achieve. It leads you more brightly into the path ahead. Ram paused and considered for a second. Only occasionally I have problems, he added. But then I am looked after. What do you mean? I asked. Once or twice I have taken a dip in the freezing waters, and I have stuck there, frozen to the ice. But something extraordinary happens: I have felt myself lifted by the waters. I was in the arms of the Mother Ganges, and it was Ganga herself who pulled me out, just like a mother. All the sadhus up here report the same thing. The River Goddess: she looks after us like a mother looks after her child. What Ram Das said was something I had heard again and again on my journey up the Ganges last summer to make a series, Indian Journeys, for the BBC. For Indians revere their rivers like no other nation, and of all river they revere the Ganges. According to Hindu theology, the Goddess Ganges - or Ganga as she is known in India - is the Mother Goddess of the whole Subcontinent. She is tangible, approachable and all accepting: distilled compassion in liquid form. As well as Ganga, Hindus have given the Goddess 107 other names: Daughter of the Himalaya, Cow Which Gives Much Milk, Having Beautiful Limbs, Eternally Pure, Light Amid the Darkness of Ignorance... Being brushed by a breeze containing even a drop of Ganges water is said to erase instantly all sins accumulated over a hundred lifetimes. According to the Agni Purana, written about 1,000 B.C, bathing in the waters of the Ganges is an experience similar to being in heaven. To die while being immersed in the Ganges results in moksha, final spiritual liberation. For this reason, Hindus from all over India try once in their lives to visit the Ganges and bathe in her waters. But the more hardy and devout make one more effort still. Although the entire river is held to be sacred, Hindus believe that its source is of an extra special sanctity. According to Hindu cosmography the source- the Cow's Mouth which lies hidden high in the Central Himalayas- is the most sacred place on earth. To visit it is the most auspicious act you can perform. So every summer, as the sun dries and desiccates the white-hot plains of India, a stream of pilgrims leave their farms and villages, pack their belongings into bound-up cloths, and plod their way up to Hardwar, where they bathe in the river. Most then return home. But a few, mainly sadhus (or wandering Holy Men), press on into the cool of the High Himalayas, taking the old pilgrim's route across the mountains to Gaumukh, the Cow's Mouth. The closer you get to the source, the more you find yourself surrounded by these sadhus. For years I had seen the holy men in my travels all over India and found them slightly menacing figures. But it was only seeing them in such numbers up in the wild Himalayas that made me realise
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Source of the Sacred Ganges by William Dalrymple
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of nablusoss1008 Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 12:11 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Source of the Sacred Ganges by William Dalrymple I thought I had read all of my favorite travel-writer William Dalrymple's books from India. From which book is this Rick ? Don't know. Someone sent it to me. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , Rick Archer rick@... mailto:rick@... wrote: This was written by William Dalrymple, A British writer who lives in India and has written several award winning books about India. Source of the Sacred Ganges If you think it is cold now, said the holy man, you should see it in winter. Ram Sarandas and I were standing on the edge of the Ganges, not far from its source high in the Himalayas, near the Indian-Tibet border. It was May, but while in the plains the mercury was hitting close on 48 degrees, here at Cheerbasa a chill wind was blowing down from the snow peaks and I was shivering in my thermals. Ram Sarandas, however, was naked but for a saffron loincloth, and seemed completely immune to the icy winds. He stood in front of me smiling broadly, skin oiled and supple, his hair tangled in a mass of knotted dreadlocks. But even you can't live here in the winter, I said looking at the glacier glinting in the sun, only a mile down the valley. It must be completely cut off. It is, said Ram. From November to May the road is closed. Some years we get fourteen feet of snow here. So I stay in my hermitage, praying to Mother Ganga. Do you have electricity? Of course not. Just a petromax lamp. I eat dried fruit and in summer I dry green leaves and eat them as well. For sixteen years I have lived liked this. But what if you fall sick? In all these years I have never had any serious cold or fever. Don't you feel the cold? Yes! But I am used to it like the creatures and other wildlife here. I do my yoga for fourteen hours a day. But first, I take a dip in the Ganges, normally at 5 am. This sets me up for the day. A dip ? Even in winter? But isn't the Ganges frozen over? Yes, sometimes. But we cut a hole. The cold is good: it helps you concentrate more on what you want to achieve. It leads you more brightly into the path ahead. Ram paused and considered for a second. Only occasionally I have problems, he added. But then I am looked after. What do you mean? I asked. Once or twice I have taken a dip in the freezing waters, and I have stuck there, frozen to the ice. But something extraordinary happens: I have felt myself lifted by the waters. I was in the arms of the Mother Ganges, and it was Ganga herself who pulled me out, just like a mother. All the sadhus up here report the same thing. The River Goddess: she looks after us like a mother looks after her child. What Ram Das said was something I had heard again and again on my journey up the Ganges last summer to make a series, Indian Journeys, for the BBC. For Indians revere their rivers like no other nation, and of all river they revere the Ganges. According to Hindu theology, the Goddess Ganges - or Ganga as she is known in India - is the Mother Goddess of the whole Subcontinent. She is tangible, approachable and all accepting: distilled compassion in liquid form. As well as Ganga, Hindus have given the Goddess 107 other names: Daughter of the Himalaya, Cow Which Gives Much Milk, Having Beautiful Limbs, Eternally Pure, Light Amid the Darkness of Ignorance... Being brushed by a breeze containing even a drop of Ganges water is said to erase instantly all sins accumulated over a hundred lifetimes. According to the Agni Purana, written about 1,000 B.C, bathing in the waters of the Ganges is an experience similar to being in heaven. To die while being immersed in the Ganges results in moksha, final spiritual liberation. For this reason, Hindus from all over India try once in their lives to visit the Ganges and bathe in her waters. But the more hardy and devout make one more effort still. Although the entire river is held to be sacred, Hindus believe that its source is of an extra special sanctity. According to Hindu cosmography the source- the Cow's Mouth which lies hidden high in the Central Himalayas- is the most sacred place on earth. To visit it is the most auspicious act you can perform. So every summer, as the sun dries and desiccates the white-hot plains of India, a stream of pilgrims leave their farms and villages, pack their belongings into bound-up cloths, and plod their way up to Hardwar, where they bathe in the river. Most then return home. But a few, mainly sadhus (or wandering Holy Men), press on into the cool of the High Himalayas, taking the old pilgrim's route across the mountains
