Pilgrimage with Swami Narasiṅgha – Part 11: Prayāga-rāja

The topmost holy place is Vṛndāvana. We also find there are the cāra-dhāmas, or four dhāmas – Badarinātha in the north, Rāmeśvaram in the south, Jagannātha Purī to the east, and Dvārakā in the west. Then there are places like Prayāga-rāja, where the Yamunā, the Ganges, and the Sarasvatī River join together. In ancient times, Prayāga is where it is said that Lord Brahmā performed the first yajñā, or fire sacrifice, after creation. Therefore, in Vedic civilisation, the sages gave Prayāga a very high position.

Later, when the Muslims ruled India for a few hundred years, they changed the name of Prayāga to ‘Allahabad,’ then in 2018, it again became Prayāga-rāja.

Prayāga is known as Tīrtha-rāja, the king of holy places. There is a personality to every holy place, just as in Vṛndāvana there is the personality of Vṛndā Devī. Thus, every holy place has a personality behind it. Behind everything that exists is consciousness, and consciousness means a person. There’s a person behind the mountains, behind every river, behind the sky, behind the ocean – there’s personality, because ultimately, behind the universe, there is a Supreme Person. Yet now we live in the age of impersonalism. If people even believe in a God, they conceive of Him as being impersonal – just a light, or just some kind of energy, etc.  But in ancient times, cultures all over the world saw that, behind the universe and the very world we live in, there were personalities.

This position of Prayāga was given by Lord Visnu. He had received a benediction that his holy place would be the king of all tīrthas, and by visiting Prayāga, it is naturally the equivalent of visiting all holy places. Thus, all other holy places come and pay homage to Prayāga-rāja. Then, as the king of all tīrthas, Prayāga called for a durbār, a massive royal assembly for all the holy places to come in their personified forms and offer respects to him. All of them came – Vāraṇāsī, Haridvāra, Rṣikeśa, Gaṅgotrī, Yāmunotrī etc. Everyone came – all except Vṛndāvana. Vṛndā Devī didn’t come, and Prayāga complained to Kṛṣṇa – ““Where is Vṛndāvana? Vṛndāvana did not come! My position is such, and You said that all others would come and show me respect, is it not?”

But Kṛṣṇa said, “Yes, you are the king of all holy places, but you are not the king of My home.”

Vṛndāvana is transcendental to even Prayāga, the king of holy places. Therefore, when the Mahā Kumbha Melā is held in Prayāga every twelve years, people who live in all the other holy places in India, rush to go there. But if you go to Vṛndāvana and ask so many vraja-vāsīs, “Are you going to Prayāga for the Kumbha Melā?” they will say, “Oh, is it Kumbha Melā? Maybe I’ll go…it depends.” Vṛndāvana is apathetic.

Prayāga is famous for the Triveṇī Saṅgam – the place where three rivers meet. But when you go there, you will see that there are only two rivers – the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā. Some years ago, I asked some big sādhus at the Kumbha Melā, “Where is the third river, the Sarasvatī?”
They said, “The Sarasvatī appears here mystically; it cannot be seen by the physical eye.” However, at the Kumbha Melā in 1977, the Ganges split and entered the Saṅgam as two rivers, along with the Yamunā, so at that time, everyone proclaimed that the third river physically appeared as the Sarasvatī. This is how the Triveṇī was explained. Oral tradition always has some variation.

(The Triveni Sangam at Kumbha Mela)

We did some research and initially, it seemed that there were never three rivers running on ground-level at the Saṅgam. But later, satellite imagery revealed a channel connected to the Gaṅgā or Yamunā in Prayāga that had dried up thousands of years ago. This dry riverbed was recognised as the Sarasvatī River, but the actual Sarasvatī was near the Himalayas, and there’s no way that that the Sarasvatī used to curve and come all the way to Prayāga. The Sarasvatī was a real river, just like the Ganges and the Yamunā, with thousands and thousands of villages along its banks. It was fed by another river called the Sutlej, which today flows through China, India, and Pakistan, and empties into the Arabian Sea. Later, the Sarasvatī dried up, but it never came to Prayāga. Therefore, the Triveṇī, and how the Sarasvati is present in Prayāga, is a bit of a mystery.

The oldest story, however, is not the one about the Sarasvatī, but the story of Mohinī-mūrti and the pot of nectar, which was first captured by the Asuras, the ill-intended forces of the universe. Well, knowing that only mischief will happen when this pot of nectar is in the wrong hands – such as bringing the dead demons back to life –  Viṣṇu appeared as a very beautiful woman name Mohiṇi-mūrti, and entered the place where the Asuras had the pot of nectar. She picked it up and began to dance, and all the Asuras became intoxicated watching Her. Then basically, She just danced out the door and stole the pot of nectar! Some stories say that Mohiṇī spilt the nectar, and others say that Garuḍa snatched the pot, flew into the sky, and spilt it.

(Mohinī-mūrti with the nectar of immortality)

Whatever, the case, one drop of nectar fell in Prayāga, some drops in Haridvāra, some in Ujjain, and some in Nāsik. The Kumbha Melā is celebrated in all these four places. The biggest is held every twelve years at Prayāga and the other Melās are held in-between, but by far, the one in Prayāg is the biggest one – they don’t compare to even a fraction of the Prayāga Kumbha.

Every 144 years, there is a Mahā-Kumbha. But what I’ve seen is that they say the same thing every Kumbha Melā held in Prayāga – “This is the Mahā Kumbha Melā!” That’s what they said in 1977, that’s what they said in 1989, that’s what they said in 2001, and that’s what they said in 2013 . I think the astrologers have lost track of when the last Mahā-Kumbha actually was. Nobody really knows.

Kumbha Melā is a bit like Wall Street – there’s a lot of business going on there. There’s a big market selling lots of blankets and simple trinkets and souvenirs, as well as some trading of spiritual ideas. ‘Melā’ means festival, but the Kumbha Melā is more like a carnival or a circus.

It’s also like Wall Street because there’s a lot of cheating going on there. The bulk of the people come to the Melā with great faith in the Ganges and all the sādhus. But they know very little about what it actually means to be a sādhu, and they know absolutely nothing about the individual ‘sādhus’ that they visit from tent to tent, and from pāṇḍal to pāṇḍal.  Those who are in the know, are aware that some of these ‘sādhus’ are just absolute cheaters. Some of them rate no better than pimps, hustlers, and fraudsters! At the last Melā, there was a so-called ‘holy man’ who is one of the top three biggest so called ‘holy men’ in India – he’s involved in a triple murder case in South. Another one, much younger than him, was also there – he was paying people to come and shout his name and throw flowers on him when he passed down the road. He’s involved in rape cases, but the ordinary people think, “Oh, he’s such a great saint!”

But on the good side of things, Kumbha Melā represents many levels of transcendence, and even atheism takes part in this festival The fundamental meditation for Kumbha Melā is ahaṁ brahmāsmi – “I am conscious. I am spirit.” Yet after that, there are many levels of consciousness, and most of those are represented at the Melā by different bona fide sādhus and ācāryas in the line of Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Ontologically, the camps of bhakti are the most exalted. Bhakti-yoga is at the top of the yoga system – not at the bottom or in the middle. All other systems of yoga such as aṣṭāṅga-yoga, kuṇḍalinī-yoga, haṭha-yoga, kriyā-yoga etc. are inferior.  They’re making available some particular level of spiritual advancement. But all of those are categorised as being in the beginning section, and some of them are a little within the middle stage. Bhakti-yoga occupies the highest position in enlightenment and development of consciousness. That is partially represented by the Madhva sampradāya and the Rāmānuja sampradāya, but the completeness of bhakti and prema is only represented by the school of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Over a hundred million people come over the forty-five days of the Kumbha Melā, and while they are here, they are all vegetarian. They abstain from alcohol or any kind of sexual pursuit. There is also no music played here except for spiritual music – bhajanas and kirtanas. Now you can just contrast that to any festival held in the Western countries – even religious festivals. You couldn’t get people to participate in any festival this size in a western country unless there was intoxication, or rock and roll, heavy metal etc. There has to be some sort of mundane music to entertain everyone. There would have to be beer, wine, and of course, plenty of non-vegetarian food. So, Kumbha Melā is the biggest non-violent festival in the world. We see that when millions and millions of people go for a sacred bath in the Ganges and come back with little to no pushing and shoving – no egos, no fighting. All that is absent at the Kumbha Melā, but everyone is very happy here and in a joyful state of mind. That says something.

(Narasiṅgha Mahārāja at the Kumbha Melā, 1989)

Part of the belief of most of the people at the Melā is that by taking a sacred bath at the Saṅgam, your bad karma is cleansed. That’s something that even a beginner can experience. If you take bath in the Ganges, it’s very invigorating, although in one sense, you look at the water and looks silty or muddy. Normally, if you take a bath in muddy water, you do not feel fresh or clean. You feel like, “Oh, I need to go somewhere and take a bath to wash this grit off.” But you take a bath in the Ganges, you feel you feel lighter, you feel fresh, and you feel purified. Your consciousness is released. The tendency of consciousness is to rise up. The senses tend to bring consciousness down to the bodily level – that’s why diet and other physical practices are important for raising one’s consciousness. They actually don’t raise the consciousness – they just free the consciousness from the bondage of the senses.

But what usually happens to most people, is that after leaving the Kumbha Melā, they once again fall victim to their senses. They slowly enter back into their old way of life. By their impure habits of eating non-veg, drinking, smoking etc, they again contaminate themselves.

This is compared to an elephant who takes bath in the river, and after taking bath, he throws dirt all over himself again.

But those sādhus who are conscious continue with this pure standard of living, even after taking a sacred bath in the Ganges. By his practice, the consciousness of a sādhu is always being raised. This is the path of enlightenment.

For Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, Prayāga is also important because, after Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Vṛndāvana at the end of Kārttika-māsa, He stopped at Prayāga for the Māgha Melā, when everyone bathes at the Saṅgam in the month of Māgha (December/January). Just near the Saṅgam there is a place called Daśāśvamedha Ghāṭa, and behind that is the temple of Śrī Bindu Mādhava, a small Deity of Viṣṇu. Mahāprabhu went to that temple and performed saṅkīrtana, dancing, and chanting the Holy Name of Krsna in His usual ecstatic mood.

(Bindu Mādhava or Veṇu Mādhava)

A short time later, Rūpa Gosvāmī came to Prayāga and took darśana of Mahāprabhu.

They went to Daśāśvamedha Ghāṭa, and for ten days there, Mahāprabhu instructed Śrī Rūpa in rasa-tattva – the result being Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, a book which Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote later. These instructions are called Śrī Rūpa Śikṣā. At that time, Rūpa was also given the order to write books, to go to Vṛndāvana, and to excavate the places of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes there. Since that time, Prayāga has taken on a special flavour for the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.

Later, in the 1930s, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura established a Gauḍīya Maṭha at Prayāga named Śrī Rūpa Gauḍīya Maṭha and he gave this place much importance.

(The Building in Prayāga where Śrīla Prabhupāda’s pharmacy was located)

Our Śrīla Prabhupāda lived for many years in Prayāga and had his own pharmacy there which was called Prayag Pharmacy. Then, in 1927, Sarasvatī Ṭhākura sent his disciples there and they were going shop to shop and when they came to Prabhupāda’s pharmacy he recognised them – “Oh, these are the same people that I met five years ago in Calcutta.” From that point on, Prabhupāda became more engaged in the mission of his Guru Mahārāja in Prayāga.  Five years later, in 1933, Prabhupada was initiated at Śrī Rūpa Gauḍīya Maṭha where he received first and second initiation on the same day. Therefore, he took initiation at the place where Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī himself took instruction from Mahāprabhu.

(Śrī Rūpa Gauḍīya Maṭha)

What is also significant to us is that it was here that  Prabhupāda first met Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja in 1930. This was some months before Śrīdhara Mahārāja took sannyāsa, so at that time he was still wearing white cloth. So for those of us who follow in the footsteps of Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī, there is this yet more added importance to Prayāga.

(Śrī Śrī Gaura Rādhā-Govinda at at Śrī Rūpa Gauḍīya Maṭha)

In 1977, Śrīla Prabhupāda came to the Kumbha Melā and we had a camp, which was actually not very well organised. We had a nice tent for Prabhupāda called a ‘Swiss cottage,’ and he came and he spent a few nights. He had planned to spend two full weeks, but he left.

Everything was set up very nicely for him, but there was an electrical problem. We didn’t have electricity most of the time – each camp had to register with its own metre and it was very, very chaotic. Anyway, we couldn’t get electricity, so Śrīla Prabhupāda couldn’t work on his translations because he used a Dictaphone which was not battery powered; it needed electricity. Seeing his translation work starting to fall behind, then on the fifth day, he left.

(Śrīla Prabhupāda at the Kumbha Melā, 1977)

When he was at the Melā, there was a simple darśana arrangement made and a lot of respectable men and village people would come and have darśana of Prabhupāda.

Just before coming to the Kumbha Melā, Girirāja Mahārāja asked Prabhupāda, “Why are we going to the Kumbha Melā? What is the significance?”

Prabhupāda replied, “We’re going for association. There will be many saints there. There will be yogīs from the Himalayas who are a thousand years old.”
We never knew whether he was pulling our nose, so to speak, but everybody was saying that there – “Oh, Prabhupāda said there’ll be a thousand years old yogīs here!” So everybody was on the lookout for these yogīs.

Well, one day in the afternoon when everybody was out on saṅkīrtana, chanting and distributing books, I was back at the camp, and Prabhupāda was in his tent with his assistant, Hari Śauri. Suddenly, these three effulgent looking yogīs showed up at the gate. I say ‘yogīs’ because they had dreadlocks, very short saffron cloth, shining kamaṇḍalus and they wore blankets. They looked very sattvika. Then the guard went over to Prabhupāda’s tent and Hari Śauri came out. He went over to them, spoke something, and went back into the tent. The next thing I know, these three yogīs had entered Prabhupāda’s tent. They stayed in there for about a half an hour, had a conversation in Hindi with Prabhupāda, and then they left. Just as they were leaving, I stopped them at the gate and spoke to them just for a moment. I remember that they were very effulgent, and in my mind, if there had have been four of them, I’d probably would have thought it was the Four Kumāras, because they were definitely a notch above the other sādhus that are randomly here at the Kumbha Melā.

These are some of the glories of Prayāgarāja, the king of holy places.

• 📚Pilgrimage With Swami Narasiṅgha Series Index
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• 📖 In Search of the Ultimate Goal of Life by Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda
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• 📖 Prabhupāda Vijaya by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• The Ontological Position of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda by Śrīla B.R. Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī
• Śrī Govardhana Pūjā by Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī
• The Vṛndāvana Express and the Navadvīpa Special by Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī
• Vraja Bhāva by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• The Worship of Govardhana by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• Dāsa Gosvāmī and the Unique Position of Govardhana by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• Ācāryas at Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara Temple, Vṛndāvana by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
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• The Appearance of Rādhā-kuṇḍa by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja

• Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• Śrī Śrī Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
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