Kumbh Mela and Roots

 heJtuuSely 2fhipoon0sor,eo 2mrso01ud9  · 

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Today a friend told me that if I hadn't been to Kumbh Mela even once then I didn't really know this country, nor did Il truly belong. I agreed, and said it was in my list. Simple.

I thought about the virtual outrage when I posted something similar about the Guru Purnima. And wondered why.

19 Comments

• Chitra Sharan

  These words are not the same as calling someone who didn't celebrate Guru Purnima, as westernised or colonised minds or some such. Written words don't have intonation and can leave a lot of space for assumption. For example the namaskaram that you tend to say sometimes makes it feel like, the Jai Shri Ram which people have twisted, for some other vile purpose. I have seen in my childhood when women would fight, they would slap their hands together in the form of namaskaram and say kodi namaskaram alai vidu, which actually is not namaskaram in its pure intention, but something else 

  I too wondered what Guru Purnima had to do with my Indianness and showed my "out rage".

  

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  Aparna Krishnan

  Ram ram. 

  

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• Rahul Banerjee

  The vedic seers, who are the original ones to look up to (Shankaracharya, despite all his brilliance, did not add anything to the high philosophy of the upanishads) were far above the kind of narrow sectarianism that you display.

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  Aparna Krishnan

  The dismissal of Shankaracharya. It says more about the dismisser than about the Shankaracharya. It needs no comment.

  The Kumbh Mela has little to do with the Upanishads. Is is part of the eternal culture of this land. Rooted in religiousness, as everything in this land it.

  Pity when that is not understood, and personal attacking is resorted to.

  

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• Chitra Sharan

  If you read a novelist of yesteryears named Thi Janakiraman, his one character refers to Shankaracharya as "that Malayali" "antha malayalathan" in the context of Shankaracharya refusing to see widows who had not tonsured and worn the saffron or white saris.

  Nothing is kosher and it's ok for people to express their view points and we can agree to disagree. How can healthy learning happen if we don't listen to other view points. Any binary is power centric and this "village" vs "city", "English vs native languages" binaries can only harm and not help.

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    Balasubramaniam Muthusamy

    Agree with you fully. There are millions of views and rituals. ln my family, we have no knowledge and understanding of any of the rituals in the traditional temples. Marriages in my caste are performed by a service subcaste in a language I understand. There are sub groups within the caste, which has no lineage with the Vedic guru parampara. Animal sacrifice is an important ritual even today. I can confidently say, that this holds good for 70% - 80% of Hindus in Tamilnadu. I will never in my life attend a kumbh (One should read Gandhi's experience on Haridwar Kumbh) - I believe we Indians do not have a sense of hygiene esp in using public spaces and as a mark of respect to fellow human beings, will never attend any such event. Does this make me one without roots or a western educated mind as per the binary propagated here? Grouping everyone in one ritual / language / tradition is against the traditions of this country. I would call that attitude rootless.

    

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  Aparna Krishnan

  Namaskaram.

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• Rahul Banerjee

  You have become sectarian so how is stating that fact a personal attack? After all stating that those who do not celebrate guru purnima or do not visit the kumbh or do not undertake the char dham yatra, the last two being massive environmental disasters, is nothing if not sectarian. I have not denigrated Shankaracharya but said that he is not of the same calibre as the Vedic Seers who are all anonymous as they did not engage in chest thumping about their beliefs.

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  Aparna Krishnan

  It is also called Roots. Namaste.

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  Aparna Krishnan

  Btw. A friend s message on this - He doesn't understand Shankaracharya. Or the concept of Guru. Or that the ancient teachings are more than letters. Or that Sanskrit is not just a combination of sounds. No point.

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• Rahul Banerjee

  Meaning in beliefs is always subjective.

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• Amulya Pandit

  Most of us haven't been to a Kumbh mela.

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  Aparna Krishnan

  A 'Kumbh Mela' refers to many things. The post is an idea. It is about Roots.

  

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  Aparna Krishnan

  Many people don't understand Roots any more. So they take everything literally. And also personally. I think that's the problem.

  

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• Rahul Banerjee

  You make derogatory sectarian statements about a substantial section of the indian population and then when people object to this blatant sectarianism, you accuse them of becoming rootless and personal. You could have let matters rest with that guru purnima post of yours but no you rake up the same accusations of rootlessness in post after post. You are free to wallow in your rituals and myths why do you want others to do so.

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  Aparna Krishnan

  When you have a complaints of even Sankaracharya, who are we.

  Namaste.

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• Rahul Banerjee

  I have not made any complaint regarding Sankaracharya.

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  Aparna Krishnan

  Please scroll up. That his contribution is non existent.

  Many of us differ.

  Anyway I'm done here. Ram ram.

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• Rahul Banerjee

  I just said he did not add anything to the Upanishads. That does not mean he did not contribute anything. His commentaries on the upanishads are indispensable.

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