Question about Kumbh Mela

[aGnani11 3]

Om Shanti,

 

Does anyone know the history and meaning of the Kumbh Mela? Has anyone attended a Kumbh Mela in either Ujjain, Haridwar, Allahabad, or Nasik? Can you share some of your experiences? The Kumbh Mela is probably the largest festival of Vedic Dharma with millions of pilgrims, monks, ascetics and gurus gathering to bathe in the holy waters of the great rivers. I am anxious to learn more about this remarkable festival.

[Guest guest]

 

Does anyone know the history and meaning of the Kumbh Mela? Has anyone attended a Kumbh Mela in either Ujjain, Haridwar, Allahabad, or Nasik? Can you share some of your experiences? The Kumbh Mela is probably the largest festival of Vedic Dharma with millions of pilgrims, monks, ascetics and gurus gathering to bathe in the holy waters of the great rivers. I am anxious to learn more about this remarkable festival.

It's usually seen as a gathering of differents Indian religions. It's not just Hindus but non-vedic sects and Buddhists such as Dalai Lama that attend to discuss and share ideas. And not all Hindu sects attend to bathe either e.g. the Arya Samaj. It's probably the only place you'd see so many contrasting sects of different Indian religions in one place, you'd even see some sects you would never come across in your entire life, such as the naked juna akhara saivite sadhus.

 

Kumbh mela is based on a puranic story about when the gods and demons had a tug of war over a pot containing the necar of immortality. The pot fell and some of the nectar fell on 4 places in India that you mentioned. During the period of kumbh mela it is believed that the nectar re-surfaces for that period of time. So the people who bathe at the kumbh mela believe that they can wash off all their sins. I personally don't believe this as it contradicts the law of karma.

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

The Origins of Kumbha Mela

http://www.indiadivine.org/hinduism/articles/237/1/The-Origins-of-Kumbha-Mela