Ganga arati

Ganga Arati- we are sitting in the charan of Ganga maa And suddenly the dry and dirty river starting flowing with gutso. 

So much so that a lady and a man sitting in one of the bottom steps had to climb to upper ones lest they flow away (and acquire eternal liberation).

In its gush, it has brought all kinds of garbage. My worry was, what if the water flow increases suddenly and we are unable to come out of water. 

Or there is a stampede and we become yet another religious stampede statistics. 

Luckily any of these didn’t happen- as there was no cloudburst or even a tiny bit of rain that day. The authorities must have released water for Arati or because it was a special day- a full moon day.

I must have been the only person holding such sinful thoughts - people were busy singing 'jai ganga ma'. Oh, we love to say jai - as we hardly ever get this jai - victory.  And the security is busy trying to collect 'daan' from gullible devotees. 

I have a tiny little question - why is the river Ganga presumed to be holy? Why do people flock to watch arati of this river, to bathe in this river, to carry the same water back home?

Could the reason be that water is an integral part of our life and essential for our survival? And as the rain water is not always reliable - water from the river was our life line. 

Then every river should be revered, arati-ied, and prayed. But not bathed, nor polluted by floating flowers, diyas etc. Not polluted by municipalities by dumping the sewage. Not polluted by industries by dumping their waste. 

Treat the every river like your ma - not like a dumpster.