We arrived in Delhi at midnight and set of for the ISKCON temple guest house. Next morning we were up by 5am and later driven to Allahabad, site of the famous Kumba Mela where the Yamuna, Ganges and Sarasvati rivers form the most famous confluence of holy rivers in India.

Finally the signs came up welcoming us to Prayag and we saw the thousands of tents of the pilgrims, the sight was overwhelming, such a huge expanse of land, rivers and site of the Magh Mela festival. We were received by the head of the entire area and of the festival. As we got to the bank of the Ganges, Mahamantra das then greeted us and introduced us to whole host of VIPs and explained that for the whole day the mela festival loudspeakers were announcing that Gangotri’s ashes were arriving for ceremony and that the spiritual leaders would all join us.

When we got seated on one of the boats then the spiritual leaders began to appear. First came the famous Sankaracarya of Kashi, surrounded by other holy men from Naimisaranya and the Himalayas. I could feel that something historic was beginning to happen. The leading sadhu began lecturing strongly about the cow being the universal mother.

The priests chanted prayers and offered lamps, yoghurt, tumeric, Kum Kum and flowers. We bathed Gangotris ashes with all the items and then the assembly grabbed pot containing the ashes and along with shouts of “Gangotri Mata ki jaya” as we scattered them into the water.

I then asked the assembled spiritual leaders what Gangotri’s destination would be since her ashes were now submerged in the sacred waters and they said “she has attained Goloka (the spiritual world).

The next day, we drove from Allahabad to Varanasi, the world’s most ancient city and holy place. Today Varansi remains a place of immense spiritual importance and has been the chosen place of Hindus for their final rites and scattering the ashes of their dead for thousands of years.

On arriving at Dasasvamedha Ghat we were greeted by the City Mayor, the Chief Magistrate and spiritual leaders Swami Prajananda ji Maharaj and Pujya Mahamantra das, amidst crowds of city residents. They carrying Gangotri’s ashes by procession we boarded a large decorated boat .

Ancient prayers were sung and flowers incense and lamps were offered. The most important moment arrived, together we took the second container of ashes and scattered them from the side of the boat into the Ganges while the media crowded for photos. With the greatest reverence and sadness at the atrocity of Gangotri’s killing, the spiritual leaders committed her ashes, an act bring peace to her soul.

As the news of the Gangotri tragedy swept across India, great upset arose at how their faith tradition could have been undermined with no right to appeal. The spiritual leaders, feeling very strongly about the global impact of this act committed by the RSPCA at a Shrine in the name of animal welfare, have decided to fly the final pot of her ashes by helicopter to the Himalayan source of the river Ganges- the Gangotri.

Categories: Announcements