March 13, 2001
< IN_INDIA >
< IN_CREADIBLE >
< IN_SIGHT >
Having ventured another 8 weeks through Northern India, Transcendigital has deepened its interface into Indian culture. We bring you this next report on our experiences at the Maha Kumba Mela festival in Allahabad, in the ancient city of Varinassi, and in Bodhgaya--where we attended intensive meditation courses. We have now returned to Rishikesh to complete the creation of a multimedia fundraising presentation for the Indian Heritage Research Foundation.
While attending the massive Maha Kumba Mela (the world's oldest and largest spiritual gathering)--we saw extraordinary sights and met remarkable people. Along with an estimated 75 million other pilgrims, we dipped into the holy Ganges River to take advantage of the energized water created by the auspicious stellar alignments.
The Kumba Mela attracted spiritual seekers and masters from across the globe. Through the grace of being able to be a part of the Parmarth Niketan Camp, we were offered a magnificent place to interact with many unique and wise individuals. Saints and sages from Bombay to LA circulated through the arch way of Parmarth Niketan's temporary community. Here we gathered a multitude of insights to add to the "dharma data base" of the Transcendigital domain.
The Kumba Mela was a time for internationalizing energy, sharing visions, and combining intelligence. For thousands of years the Kumba Mela has been a convergence point for great teachers to exchange and collect wisdom to carry back to their respective villages. Every day there were rituals set forth for universal peace. Through the heavy presence of westerners like ourselves, the reality of the global village was clear. Many Indians delightfully expressed the fact that this was the most international Kumba Mela in history. The next step is to return to our respective villages and share the experience. We are now in the process of internalizing the knowledge and wisdom derived from our experience of the Kumba Mela into an interactive expression within the Transcendigital domain.
The colorful and fascinating imagery provided by the Kumba Mela was vast. Virtually every moment presented us with an opportunity to digitally capture another glimpse within a small world of unique faces and situations. People came to the Kumba Mela to express their spirituality in mass. Babbas with outrageous clothes and others with no clothes at all--were woven into the already beautiful and extreme tapestry that is the Indian atmosphere.
There was never a dull moment at the Kumba Mela. All around the clock there was music, chanting, ritual fire and smoke. The Mela was a temporary city erected in the middle of a dry riverbed. The miles of sand, tents, intriguing people, endless sights and blaring sounds dusted our entire stay with an extra-terrestrial-like quality.
While the Kumba Mela was in full manifestation in North India, a 7.5 earthquake devastated the state of Gujarait in West India. Although we were far away from the quake, the subtle vibrations could still be felt. After intensely deliberating on whether we should go directly to Gujarat and help, we decided we would be of best service supporting our affiliated organization, the Indian Heritage Research Foundation (IHRF) with their disaster relief efforts.
The Foundation has offered to adopt 1,000 of the children left orphaned by the quake. IHRF is currently investigating the situation with the local government. In the mean time, they are fundraising and preparing a welcoming space for the children within the town of Rishikesh.
After almost three weeks of continual stimulation from the Kumba Mela we migrated to Varinassi. There we spent two weeks decompressing and processing the multitude of information gathered at the Mela. Varinassi is the most ancient living city in the world. Its magnificent architecture and comfortable atmosphere helped us to restore normalcy to our overloaded senses.
From Varinassi we continued east to Bodhgaya. This village is the location of the Bodhi tree where the Buddha sat in meditation until he reached enlightenment. Bodhgaya is a predominately Buddhist town. It is filled with temples and monasteries representing all of the Buddhist countries of the world. Stemming form this, the intellectual and spiritual tone of Bodhgaya was very different from any of our other stops in India. In contrast to the loud, outward expression of religion that defined the Kumba Mela, Bodhgaya expressed a calling to the necessity of introspective, meditative contemplation.
We have now come full circle to our point of origin, the beautiful Himalayan town of Rishikesh. For the last several weeks we have been staying at Parmarth Niketan Ashram expanding our research into the depths of Indian culture. Though genuinely interfacing into a specific area, we have been able to cultivate relationships with brilliant individuals who have shared invaluable wisdom with us. These wise men and women have enlightened us with their knowledge of Yoga, Vedic Astrology, Ayurveda and Hindu Philosophy. Each of these are integral to the Transcendigital vision.
Rishikesh is the city where saints, sages and seers converge along the banks of the pristine Ganges River. It has been the home base of the Interfacing India project and an auspicious place to initiate the continually developing Transcendigital domain. Stay tuned to the Transcendigital web site as the lotus flower of the vision unfolds.
See the personal journals of Miquael and Samantha for more insight into our experiences. Also see more photos.