River Ganga, ever flowing down from the Himalayas, is a symbol of Motherhood, nurturing and irrigating life of the land of our birth. Life flows with her, as it were; flowing, a natural movement of life, looking at her eternal flow. For us, Ma Ganga is not just water, nor even a River; she is the universe of our existence. She is the witness of human life story – a shimmering song of our glorious culture, traditional values, heritage, knowledge and life beyond.
Life beyond? Yes. A journey towards immortality? Truly, Ma Ganga the purpose of life in her flow – a flow towards expansion, only to dissolve like a salt doll into the ocean of eternity.
Gangā Yamunayor madhya vahatyesha Saraswathi |
Tāsā tu sangame snātvā dhanyo yāti parām gathim ||
Between the Ganga and the Jamuna, flows this Saraswathi; by bathing at their junction, the fortunate one obtains salvation. Speaking about the sacred Triveni at Prayaag, the ancient scripture on yoga, “The Siva Samhita” makes this declaration.
So, what is this flow of life, marching towards liberation? The Ganga, the Idā nādi, the moon energy vessel, in our body, the Jamuna, the Pingala nādi, the sun energy channel, and, in the middle, the Saraswathi, the Sushumna nādi, the place where all three join, the Triveni of Transcendence. In this sacred spot of our body, in the ājna chakra Ma Ganga unveils the Oxymoron of Immortality. She symbolises the Kundalini Shakti – the Divine Mother Supreme ! It is the reversal of the play of flow, as it were ! The Kundalini, the individual energy in the Mūlādhāra chakra, flows upward to evolve and expand towards eternity. Adepts call her as “Ulti Ganga”. As though to break the Eternal law of nature, yet a discipline in its own accord, ‘she’, the ‘Mother Ganga’, reverses her internal flow along with her twin sister Jamuna, accompanying Saraswathi, flows upward to Universal Mother Divine, the Supreme Shakthi, a confluence of the three !. Indeed, truly “Parām Gathim” – A Great State of Immortality, the highest purpose of human life.
* Oxymoron = a compressed paradox, comprised of just a few words;
Paradox = contrary to opinion or expectation. Incredible.
Smt. Jyothi Pattabhiram
18 April 2020
Namaste!!
This is such a beautiful and profound article to look internally and practice.
In addition, the inspiring picture made me to comprehend the depth and majesty of opening into divinity.
Thank you and bow down.
Pranaams,
Pranaams Guru ma!!
Thank you for triggering in me, quest about the esoteric import of the “oxymoron of immortality”.
With limited understanding, I could infer that one has to let go (ruthlessly crush if needed) the Ego, Mind and Intellect and completely surrender to the divinity, to overcome the compulsions that drive this life, to evolve to the state of Mrityunjay/ Immortality.
This is the “paradox”.
And it is as tough an uphill a task as “ulti ganga” which shall happen with nirantar efforts of karma and upasana under auspices of a Guru.
I am blessed to be a disciple of Guru Jyothi Pattabhiram at Swami Rama Sadhana Dhama which is a unique confluence of the Himalayan Guru parampara and The Srividya Parampara of the South.
Jai Guru dev n Amma
Yesterday went to Garh Ganga to immerse the ashes of my sister who left for her heavenly abode a few days back
Standing in. Front of Ganges realised how deep it is
I bowed down and spoke with MA Ganga that here I am returning my sister back to you
N knew one day I will also merge with her
My breathing was very smooth and I could feel a unity between Ganga Yamuna Saraswati ie my ida pingala n Shushila were flowing smoothly
I could see Ganges telling me something which I could not follow
I could feel the connection with Ganga
It is so serene n alive
When I was a little girl my father used to take us on the bank of Hooghly river in Kolkatta I would just stare at the river n be with it
One day my father asked me what did I see in the river
I just replied it talks to me that after this place it will merge with sea in its depth n again will appear from Himalayas
As a small girl I would wonder how will it reach Himalayas after merging with the sea
I have lots of queries about Ganga as I can feel it wants to tell me something
Ganga, as the flow of life… and Ganga as the symbol of journey towards immortality…
What a profound idea!
Mapping it to the individual, Ma Ganga symbolizes the ida nadi, and along with the Jamuna, the pingala nadi, unites with the Saraswathi, the Sushumna. Contrary to her nature, Ma Ganga makes this internal journey in a reverse and upward flow from the Muladhara as Kundalini Shakti…oxymoron indeed! The path traversed by her along with Jamuna and Saraswathi to unite in a confluence is so beautifully likened to the internal journey of an individual towards merging with the eternal Mother Divine through the upward flow of the Kundalini and confluence of the two nadis at the Sushumna in the Ajna chakra. Ulti Ganga finds a mention in the impactful song ‘Bhrukuti Mahal chadh dekh piyare’. Thank you for this insightful article Amma.
I got it Amma, thank you very much for giving the insight into the importance of Maa Ganga to Hindus, especially .
And also the symbolic representations of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi within our body.
Since ages humanity is in everyway including spiritually associated with Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswathi, Narmadhe, Sindhu and Kaveri….
My Pranams Amma.
Amma pranaams. Article gives clarity to people like me about the prana and nadis. Three things come to the mind
1)first is the River Ganga itself. It’s a source of true knowledge as you rightly pointed out. Guruji used to mention while discussing Bhajagovindam. One of the shloka mentions about the Importance of even a drop of Ganga.. It can take us beyond the fear of death. Here Shankara compares Ganga, Gita and Govind (murari)
2)secondly it reminded of Om Stavan… Ulti ganga bahave.. So divine feeling this bhajan gives
3)third Amma blog deals with triveni.. The point where three Great rivers meet.. Represented by the three most important Nadis.Triveni point is represented by Ajna chakra. Still remember the meditation you made us do in the Sakteshwara cave. There by focusing at the triveni point we used to get the feeling of sushumana getting activated. It’s Most easy and important sign being the feeling of free flow in the nostrils and deep down you get joyous. Ulti ganga bahave. Normally the flow is from higher to lower but here it is against the normal flow.. From muladhara to shashrara.. Great feeling Amma
Amma thanks for motivating all of us to contemplate . Keep blessings all of us
Namaste Jyothima, Your analogy of the 3 rivers with our spiritual sadhana is beautiful. Similar to the hardships faced by Maa Ganga in her journey to the ocean, we also face many difficulties to attain that perfect control over mind and senses (in our spiritual journey).
🙏🙏Namaskara amma
Beautifully written. When I read this article I was completely filled with emotions. Maa Ganga is purely divine. As I got chance to stay along bank of maa Ganga for near about 2 years. it tells and guides you for the ultimate reality. Sitting next to it is like sitting on mother’s lap it talks to you and guides for the true self.🙏
Gurumaa has simply shown us the way to liberation by citing the example of river Maa Ganga, be it flowing in the outer world or our inner world. On both the fronts, goal is same but technique is different (flowing in two different directions). Being the disciples of great Paramparas, we need to apply both the techniques in respective worlds to reach the ‘param gathim’, the ultimate goal. May we be guided by the Masters continuously. Jai Gurudev.
There are two major factors which adheres the unique quality of self-cleaning of River Ganga.1. Antimicrobial effect of Ganga water: 2. Excessive Oxygen content in water:
Namskara Guruma it’s really wanderfull massage to regular practice in yoga with bhava it’s related to yat bramande. tat pindandam is it correct Guruma?
Gurumaa, well explained the real meaning of the symbolisms used in our texts to make us understand the purpose. Thanx, I did not knew the meaning of Sangam with Yoga perspective.. Understanding these things will deepen our yoga practices.. Ma Gangs is pure at origin, slowly as it flows it adds impurities.. So are we, we accumulate impurities in our life.. We do not know how to clear these…
Beautiful article on the river of creation. The bhavna which is connected to maa ganga is just very special and different in its own way . It is said that the water carrier memories and is capable of transmitting it with whichever bhavana the receiver wants to receive . I feel that the spiritual practices and tapas done at the banks of river ganga by the great sages is stored by the mother and is passed on to the deserving candidate . By personally having the chance to stay on the banks of maa ganga for more than a year i have felt that purity and magical charisma being added up by the mother in my practices 🙏
Got it amma. Its all the Bhava with which we look at.
I bow 🙇🏻♀️ to you for your care and patience in helping me understand this Amma. Thank you 🙏🏻
In our glorious culture & in our tradition, no words are enough to explain Maa Ganga who is a LIFE GIVER. Why Maa Ganga is so important when compare to other sacred rivers, as every river depicts the same philosophy of relentless flow and its destiny in vast expansion of ocean as a salt doll- each and every drop becoming one with the infinity- which is the true path to attain liberation in any human life.
This is because, the story of Maa Ganga coming into earth which was made to this mankind by Bhagiratha is so great that we all know how Bhagiratha tried and tried to bring Maa Ganga from the heavens from the Sri Paduka of Lord MahaVishnu and later to control HER forcefull current, Lord Shiva made her way through HIS jata.
All these values make her great!
Now coming to Maa Ganga and Yamuna merging with Maa Sarawati at Prayagraj and make it sacred and it said that bathing at their junction the fortunate obtains salvation. It is symbolically mentioned Ganga- Idanadi, Yamuna- Pingalanadi, that is moon and sun energies respectively. And in the middle Saraswati- Sushumna nadia, the place where all 3 MEET- THE TRIVENISANGAMA. The TRANSCENDENCE. In fact, this Saraswati is Guptagamini, not visible.
So by a sadaka’s point of view- you have to practice the nadishodhana thru ida and pingala nadis with all your bhakthi and prayatna(like Bhagiratha) and then the sushumna nadi opens up which takes these two energies to Agnachakra and to the bliss, and to the liberation.
As Swami Rama puts it- only by through practice of nadishodhana the pranks energy starts flowing in the sushumna which leads to kundalini….. to the “paramagathi”.
Note:
Our sage scientists were great that they have observed this nature and acquired paramagyana thru their meditation and found that the almighty in the form of nature has depicted how one’s path to liberation,moksha etc should be, and nature teaches us the life science. That is why in our culture we pray and worship all forms in nature, the river, mountain,trees etc, which teaches us the art and science of living in harmony and at the end attaining the liberation leaving all our so called identities behind- to become one with the infinite.
JAI GURUDEV!!
It’s a great article about River Ganga in the perspective of inner journey.. As all we know generally that Ganga is a great river in our tradition but fails to understand its real implication. I always used to wonder sinner is a sinner ! whether he takes bath in Ganga or Yamuna..
It’s beautifully presented here by Amma that river Ganga represents kundalini shakthi and symbolises the expansion in the flow of life as a river with her sisters. It’s final destination is eternity …wash away our sins if we take up the beautiful journey with Mother as a supreme power…
Thank you Amma for making me to understand this beautiful journey of life flow with the context of River Ganga.
Secondly if u notice around u ,u find that there r people looking at Ganga as a river to be explored n exploited n never as sacred but to be sported over .So also holy Himalayas as adventure spots n wilderness ,as raw as their inner samsakara,vasana n karma .So it is all a matter of perception of truth .
Not Amy other sacred river?‼❓😊sacredness is a sublime feeling not outside in river .It flows the ur heart to the objects around u in the external world .We have assigned that sacredness to Ma Ganga ,we have invested our sublime emotions on her sacredness .Of course ,The Himalayan ranges ,snow peaks ,the eternal sages in tapasya over there from centuries and so on adds to her magical sacredness .Other rivers r also sacred to the Indian mind .Tunga, Bhadra , yamuna ,godavari ,kaveri .Name any .
But only thing is our mental association with Ma Ganga is deeper than other rivers to feel it as more sacred .🙏🏼
There is something called” the play of bhavana “tantra marga around which our whole life revolves .We may not be aware of this truth in ourselves which is described at great length in the tantric scripture ” Bhavanopanishath .
Ma Ganga has such a divine place in all our hearts as cultural n traditional values cultivated over centuries in our Bhaaratadesha .So asthi visarjan is also one such act which elevates the feeling n thought towards our loved n departed ones .(It has very subtle karmic implications too ).It is Dhanyosmi feeling ultimately ,sublimating out acts to divine state .
My inherent wish to write this article is to emphasise the importance of understanding the symbolic meaning of spiritual practices n not take it at the factual level .Prayag is a symbol to take the mind inward to that junction at ajna n do our Sadhana is what the wish is behind this article .
Amma, relating to the above in the WhatsApp group you said that it has very subtle karmic implications too…
Gurudev Swami Rama says that “I was instructed by my master not to drink from or bathe in the water of Ganges with any idea that by doing so my sins would be washed off. He taught me the philosophy of karma…. As you sow, so shall you reap “.
Will you please explain this Amma.
Thank you for explaining the importance of Maa Ganga in our lives and Life after amma 🙏. “Bathing at the Juncture of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi invokes kundalini” thank you for enlightening me with this very divine information.
I am also keen to know,
1. the importance of immersing the mortal remises (Asthi) in Ganga amma. How will it help a person to get Sadhgati after death ?
2. Why only river Ganga could give mukthi to Sagara Kumars and not any other sacred revers ?
Thank you Amma 🙏
Pranams Amma for this beautiful narration.
A serious article presented so beautifully. The need and importance of opening the sushumna channel for the ascent of Mother Kundalini is carefully explained by comparing the three great rivers of our land. All the techniques that our Masters impart like tantra, meditation, pranayama, are all definite practices that will lead us towards our goal – Liberation. Needless to say, self-discipline is a pre-requisite to begin any spiritual practice. Come, let us all bathe in the glorious flow of the Mother Divine and travel with her to our destination.
Self-cleaning and healing properties of Ganga River-Factors …