Ardha Kumbh + Prayag & Triveni Sangam

·        The 2007 Ardha Kumbh Mela will begin on Makar Sankranti -January 14th 2007.  This is also the day of the 1^st holy dip at the Triveni Sangam.  The 2^nd and main holy dip will be on Mauni Amavasya day on 18^th January and the 3^rd Kumbh Snaan will be on Vasant Panchami – 23^rd January.  The Magh Poornima Snaan is on 2^nd Feb. The Vijaya Ekadasi day of 13^th Feb is the last day of our Mahasammelan. The whole Mela terminates on Maha Shiva Ratri February 15th, 2007

·        During the Kumbh period, the banks of the Triveni Sangam will transform into a vast city of tents laid out on 4,000 acres of open river banks housing millions of Sadhaks, Punyaarthis, Kalpavaasis, etc. You may know, a Kalpavaasi is one who is under either a 12-year, 24-year or 36-year vow to do Mantra Jap, Sadhana and Snaan, etc., at Prayagraj during the entire period of the annual Magh Mela coinciding also with the Purna and the Ardha Kumbha Melas

·        Allahabad/Prayag Raj is in the Uttar Pradesh State, Bharat. An old monument at Prayag is a pillar (242 BCE) with inscriptions from the reign of Asoka the Great. The Allahabad Fort is home to the ancient ‘Akshay Vat’ (enduring sacred banyan tree). The city was the scene of much fighting in the First War of Indian Independence (1857). Also Chandrasekhar Azad (Tiger Azad – Leader of Shahid Bhagat Singh) was martyred here for the cause of independence of the country. Allahabad was the capital of the United Provinces from 1901 to 1949 and the center of the Indian independence movement

·        As everybody knows, Prayag is an ancient Hindu holy city and sits at the Sangam (confluence) of three sacred rivers – the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati

·        The Kumbh Mela is referred to as a ‘Maha Mela’ because it gives people from all walks of life from all over the world the opportunity for ‘Maha Milan’ (meeting, sharing, caring and celebrating holistic and spiritual life). It is also called a ‘Maha Parva’ because it gravitates millions of kindred people, empowers and endows them with a sense of ‘togetherness’ and gives them the opportunity to witness and realise their ‘Parvataakaar Roop’ (mountainous volume of their immortal society in a gravitating harmony)

·        The Kumbh symbolizes ‘Amrit Kumbh’, i.e., the perfect container of nectar/panacea/cure all potion/beverage of immortality. It also inspires the Kumbh Mela pilgrims and people and society in general to become receptive to things great and contain like a Kumbh (perfect pitcher) those formulae of perfection and immortality instead of becoming like upside down pitchers or pitchers with cracks beneath that cannot either receive or contain anything worthwhile

·        In the Ramayana, the Kewat and his boat episode took place at the Ganga at Prayagraj when Sri Rama, Mata Sita and Lakshmana went from Bhardwaj Rishi’s Ashram to Chitrakoot. “…The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga…” wrote Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of modern independent India, born in Allahabad on the banks of the Triveni Sangam