Rivers, Boats and Boatsmen

2019, Kumba Mela in Prayag Raj (formerly Alahabad) I took a boat ride on Mother Ganga. Just 1 mile away from Sangham - where over 6 weeks 150 million spiritual seekers took bath in holy Ganga and made their offerings to the river: flowers, candles, incense, packets with money and sweets, pieces of silk, colorful and sweet... Contained in ever  shifting sandy banks, Gangaji took their offerings, softly and steadily carrying them on...

Our boat struggled to navigate strong and shallow flow. The boatsmen, knee deep in water too shallow for oars, pushing the boat on. Until the current parked it on a sandbank for full stop.

I looked around: flowers, candles, packets on tiny boats... prayers, hopes, dreams - offerings floating in Mother Ganga, River of Life.   

Our boatsmen, no match for Her flow, got out and waded about. One fished out a coconut, smashed it open with what looked like machete, and distributed pieces among us - 'bout a dozen western pilgrims who chant his holy mantras and pay homage to his land. Another waded through the flow of offerings, picking up and uncovering $100 rupee bill from one, wrapped pieces of candy from another... Taking what is worth keeping and letting what is not float away.

Our Life is a River. The boat our Body. The offerings our intentions, thoughts and experiences. The boatsman? You. Me. The Navigator, Wader and Chooser. Keeping what is useful. Letting go what is not. Sometimes, there is a corpse that floats by (river burial). No use to the boatsman, but life to river dogs... This river. Wastes nothing, digests everything, nourishes every life.
Holy Gangaji.

​~ Aham Prema   

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