Kumbha Mela & the Reestablishment of India's Truth & Power in the World ⁓ Part 1
Triveni Sangam during Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, c. 2013, Wiki-Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
'For many centuries the devotional energies of millions of Hindus have been usurped to consolidate disunity, disharmony, disintegration. The Kumbha Mela has therefore been reduced to one more grand manner to fortify the un-Vedic goal of otherworldliness.' ‒ Thea, The Partition of India, Postscript,I have been seeing many articles this week about the Arhda Kumbha Mela celebration that began on the 14-15th of January 2019 in Prayagraj (Allahabad), India. The Guardian has described this Mela as the world's 'largest-ever human gathering', wherein some 120 million Hindus are expected to bathe in the sacred waters of the Ganges river between the opening of the festival and its close on 4 March 2019. The opening of the Ardha Kumbha Mela was set in conjunction with the Indian/Nirayana calculation of the Sun's entrance into the sign of Capricorn, an event known in India as Makar Sankranti (Makar signifying Capricorn and Sankranti indicating passage or entrance into an astrological sign). As discussed in my last post and throughout Thea's writings, the entrance into Capricorn (Makar Sankranti) and all four of the Cardinal Points of the Zodiac cannot, in truth, be separated from the four defining points of the Earth's Year, as established by her Equinoxes and Solstices. Due to India's adoption of the Sidereal (Nirayana) measure of the Zodiac many hundreds of years ago [1], Makar Sankranti is collectively celebrated in India approximately 24 days late, 24 days after the actual Capricorn Cardinal Point of the Earth's Year. This divergence from the actual Makar Sankranti and the celebration of Makar Sankranti increases every year [2]. Below, I will share some of Thea's thoughts on the consequences of India's chronic un-Vedic miscalculation of the Vedic Year [3] in relation to the Kumbha Mela; but first I will share some basic information about this Hindu festival for those who are unfamiliar with it. In Part Three of this series I will discuss the importance of understanding the equivalence between the Kumbha (Water Jar), the sacred rivers of the Vedas, the amrita of Vishnu and the Vesica Piscis of the Circle/Zodiac.
Some Basic Information about the Kumbha Mela
- Ardha means half. Mela means fair or festival and Kumbha means Pot or Jar and is also a name of the astrological sign of Aquarius which is associated with the figure of the Water-Bearer who pours his cleansing waters of heaven onto the Earth from his Water Jar (Kumbha).
- 'An annual fair, known as Magh Mela [celebrating the month of Capricorn/Makar, aka Magha], has been held in Allahabad [Prayagraj] since ancient times (early centuries CE), and is mentioned in the Puranas. ... [E]very 12 years, the Magh Mela turns into a Kumbh Mela, and six years after a Kumbh Mela, it turns into an Ardh Kumbh ("Half Kumbh") Mela.' ‒ Wikipedia
- 'The background of the Kumbha Mela is as follows: Puranic tradition states that Jayanta, son of Indra the Lord of Heaven (equivalent to Zeus of Greek tradition), took the coveted Amrita Kumbha, or jar containing the nectar of immortality that had come from the churning of the milk ocean, in order to prevent the asuras from imbibing the amrita. His journey is said to have taken twelve divine days, which tradition equates with twelve earth years. During the journey he set the jar down at four different places, Hardwar, Allahabad, Ujjain, and Nasik. At each of these some drops of the nectar were spilled when the asuras tried to snatch the Kumbha from Jayanta. Therefore during the twelve-year cycle the festival is celebrated at these places, at intervals of three years; but the important interval is the one of twelve, and this occurs in Allahabad ....
'[T]he Mela ... is an event that cannot be truly understood unless it is placed within the framework of the twelve zodiacal signs. This should be obvious, considering that it is a twelve-yearly occurrence and, moreover, that its timing is established according to astrological specifications. The festival commences in the zodiacal month of Capricorn and terminates in the zodiacal month of Aquarius, the sign of the Water-Carrier. ...[T]he condensed power of Ganga, or Jahnavi, [is] released in the subsequent month, February, or the zodiacal sign of the Kumbha, as its Sanskrit name reveals.' ‒ Thea, The New Way, Vol. 2, The Ganges and the 'River of January', pp. 340-43
- 'Hindu tradition corroborates in that the most important festival in honour of the sacred river, the Kumbha Mela, is celebrated every twelve years precisely in [the month of Capricorn]. The time is determined by Jupiter's revolution around the Sun, which is completed once every twelve years. The point of reference is the great planet's return to the zodiacal sign Taurus (Constellation Aries), or the position of the Pleiades in the heavens. ...Thus, every twelve years Hindus from throughout India gather at Allahabad-the ancient Prayaga ... where the three sacred rivers converge: the golden Ganga, the blue Yamuna, and the invisible third, the white Saraswati.' ‒ Thea, Ibid., pp. 337 [bold emphasis added]
- 'The exact age of the festival is uncertain. According to medieval Hinduism, Lord Vishnu spilled drops of Amrita (the drink of immortality) at four places, while transporting it in a kumbha (pot). These four places are identified as the present-day sites of the Kumbh Mela. The name "Kumbh Mela" literally means "kumbha fair".' ‒ Wikipedia
- In The New Way Vol. 2 (pp. 337-342) Thea discussed much of the occult significance of the Kumbha Mela including the correspondences between the 12-year cycle of the Mela with the 12-year cycle of Jupiter, the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the 12 degrees of longitude which the Ganges crosses from its source (79° 4' E Longitude) to its mouth (91° E Longitude), and the first 12 degrees of Capricorn in the Earth's calendar [4]. Thea also discussed the sacred significance of the Ganges river and the Kumbha Mela in terms of Hindu mythology which portrays Ganges as the carrier and deliverer of Shiva's victorious Son.
'[Ganga carries Shiva's] most precious seed, the one by which he returns to the world and leads the divine hosts, ‒ himself in the form of his son. In this context therefore the Kumbha Mela takes on an even greater importance in the life of the nation, for apart from its deep mystical meaning, the Festival also hails the great event, the transformation of Shiva and the birth of the Son.' ‒ Thea, The New Way, Vol. 2, p. 338
Thea on reestablishing the True Measure of the Kumbha Mela
and India's Truth and Power along with it
India is caught in a bind. Witness the extraordinary potential of the Kumbha Mela, a festival of a collective fervour unparalleled anywhere on Earth. Dilip Kumar Roy in the Introduction to his book notes that the year 1954, when he and his disciple Indira Devi attended, was considered especially auspicious. He writes, ‘According to the Indian Calendar the combination of the signs of the Zodiac happened this year to be remarkably auspicious. It is said that such a combination can only recur one hundred and eight years from now. This may have accounted for the record crowd that gathered at Prayag…in the [sic] January and February of this year.’
To begin, the above reveals just how central a role cosmic harmonies play in the life of Hindus even into the present, though now bereft of the higher knowledge that had formerly sustained the tradition. To be precise, we know that the Calendar Reform Committee held in 1953 cemented the current Nirayana-based ‘Hindu Calendar’ for all times to come. Thus, to one who sees, to a person knowledgeable of the Cosmic Truth and its harmonies, to a true initiate of the Vedic sacrifice on the backdrop of the Year, the ‘auspicious dates’ Roy presents in his book for the faithful to take dips in the sacred river as determined by the pundits, are all based on the wrong circle for this purpose. The list begins of course with the Makar Sankranti on 15 January, for indeed the Kumbha Mela should begin in Capricorn, the sign of Ganga’s geo-cosmological measure (see Part Six) but correctly measured. This ‘wrong circle’ is the sphere of the constellations rather than the ecliptic, not that ‘one circle’ extolled in the Veda which ‘does not shake’ because it is perfectly balanced on the four Cardinal Poles, the pillars of our Earth year. It is then divided into 12 parts, each of which is given a name and hieroglyph, thereby preserving the wisdom of the Veda for future generations when that same Knowledge would again descend to replace the Cosmic Ignorance prevalent today. For many centuries the devotional energies of millions of Hindus have been usurped to consolidate disunity, disharmony, disintegration. The Kumbha Mela has therefore been reduced to one more grand manner to fortify the un-Vedic goal of otherworldliness: pilgrims bathe in the sacred waters to expiate their sins, to remove bad karmas and to seek moksha, which centrally means never more to be reborn on Earth.
The Earth is rejected in the very land that embodies her soul. Ganga is, in a sense, reversed to flow against herself, against the destiny her mighty waters carry to fulfilment, from her source at 12º Capricorn to her mouths at 0º. Cosmic harmonies reveal the truth that IS; for those ‘mouths’ are now in the possession of another.
Time and again the Earth is rejected by this refusal to respect her Dharma as explained by her position in the solar system and which reveals the cosmic note she adds to the symphony of the spheres. No other nation and civilisation on Earth, from ancient times to the present, offers such a clarity of destiny. This clarity is precisely a result of the initiatory pathway or journey (along the ecliptic) that the Aryan Warrior completes successfully, to enjoy victory in the tenth month, Capricorn/Makar. But this Vedic Correspondence is lost when entry into that sign/month is ignored and replaced by a non-Vedic ‘correction process’ as we find in today’s celebration of Makar Sankranti. More importantly, when the cosmic connection is purported to be maintained but is, in effect, distorted and not eliminated entirely, the situation is worse than it would be with a total disconnect.
On the other hand, just imagine what would happen if India would recognise the Vedic Soul of her civilisation and if the Kumbha Mela would be held in exact accord with that Cosmic Truth (as described in Part 6), with Ganga ‘measured’ in the heavens and transposed onto the Earth through India? That is the meaning of the ‘descent of Ganga’ as told and retold via the mythic tradition. The cosmic harmonies as revealed in this 9th Manifestation of Vishnu leave nothing to chance and to the speculation of pundits and their misinterpretations. Sri Aurobindo understood the problem well. He wrote,
On the other hand, just imagine what would happen if India would recognise the Vedic Soul of her civilisation and if the Kumbha Mela would be held in exact accord with that Cosmic Truth (as described in Part 6), with Ganga ‘measured’ in the heavens and transposed onto the Earth through India? That is the meaning of the ‘descent of Ganga’ as told and retold via the mythic tradition. The cosmic harmonies as revealed in this 9th Manifestation of Vishnu leave nothing to chance and to the speculation of pundits and their misinterpretations. Sri Aurobindo understood the problem well. He wrote,
‘…It is because we do not understand the Vedas that three-fourths of the Upanishads are a sealed book to us. Even of the little we think we can understand, much has been insecurely grasped and superficially comprehended.... For want of this key profound scholars have fumbled and for want of this guidance great thinkers gone astray…’
‘Religious movements and revolutions have come and gone or left their mark but after all and through all the Veda remains to us our Rock of the Ages, our eternal foundation.... The Upanishads, mighty as they are, only aspire to bring out, arrange philosophically in the language of later thinking and crown with the supreme name of Brahman the eternal knowledge enshrined in the Vedas. Yet for some two thousand years at least no Indian has really understood the Vedas.’ Sri Aurobindo, India’s Rebirth (emphasis added).
Clearly there is a problem.
How would the Hostiles contend with the unparalleled consolidated energies of ten million Hindus gathered at the sacred confluence not only for their personal salvation but knowingly there to save the Earth and her embodied soul that is India? How would the falsehood of Partition contend with an influx of unified energies from a Kumbha Mela accurately joined to the heavenly Harmony? Who could withstand the power of the celestial Ganga drawn down to meet her Earthly counterpart through precise measurements of Time and Destiny as encapsulated in the Vedic Cosmic Truth of old and eternally valid, the true sanatana dharma? What paltry divisive powers could withstand the force of unity that such a harmonisation would bring?
This is the way for India to conquer – by just being true to her Dharma as written in the cosmic harmonies. This is the definition of super power for her, a unique destiny unlike any other on Earth.
Lamentably, if we are to go by conditions on the subcontinent today, we must admit that Sri Aurobindo’s warning of a ‘fissured unity’ is an accurate description of the prevailing state of affairs. It would seem that diversity has been exalted above all else without a unifying canvas on which those expressions of language and ideology, caste and class can be brought together under a single umbrella, each occupying its rightful place within the whole. The effort since Independence has been to make minorities of all sorts ‘feel comfortable’ in the new India. But this has been at the cost of a weakened cultural fabric that had always provided an indestructible sense of unity from time immemorial. Without a unifying fabric allowed to play its destined role as it has always done, uncontaminated by a biased interpretation of secularism, how can a society as diverse as the Indian present anything but a fissured unity?
And the fissures, the fault lines grow stronger and wider with each passing day. This is inevitable because vested interests of all shapes and sizes take full advantage of the weak points. China is an example. Appeasement seems to have influenced policy toward China since the 1950s – Tibet is an example. That friendly policy did nothing to prevent invasion of India by the neighbouring colossus in 1962. The latest example of the failure of such an approach is a recent warning put out on the question of the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, ‘Remember 1962!’
Alas, India can only help herself by restoring self-confidence in both her majority and minority populations which a unifying canvas had provided to the subcontinent throughout history. Today that canvas is ‘fissured’. Therefore, how can it support the unfolding of a destiny that is meant to be the cosmic sustenance of the whole Earth? However, it is as if the Rishis in their immense wisdom understood what would befall the civilisation millennia down the line. They therefore left explicit instructions on how to both unify energies and to recognise the falsehood introduced that would result in a fissure of that unity, just as Aurobindavatar stated at Independence. The hymn that preserves this wisdom is simple. Almost simplistic it would seem; yet that simplicity holds the answer and it can be implemented immediately. But, will India take heed?
Twelve spokes, one wheel, navels three.
Who can comprehend this?
On it are placed together
Three hundred and sixty like pegs.
They shake not in the least.
(Rig Veda 1.154.48)
One is the wheel; the bands are twelve;
three are the hubs – who can understand it?
Three hundred spokes and sixty in addition
have been hammered therein and firmly riveted…
(Atharva Veda X, 8)
The simple clue is the Rishis’ emphasis on ‘one wheel’. And further, that its 360 ‘spokes’ are firmly riveted…They shake not in the least. These lines confirm that the Nirayana calendar for Hindus is a great misinterpretation and un-Vedic to the core because it is not a measure in that ’one wheel’ that ‘shakes not’. Rather the exhortation of these post-Vedic pundits is that there must be a constantly shifting (shaking) ayanamsha because the constellations themselves are constantly shifting, so they claim, and with Mahavishuva and Makar Sankranti ‘shifting’ as well. They alone in their ‘wisdom’ are in a position to make the necessary ‘correction’. Hence their vested interests are protected because they have knowledge which laypersons ignore. But with the descent of the Supramental Avatar and his Line, connection to the Vedic Way is restored. Balance on the four Cardinal Poles is formulated scientifically; no latter-day pundit is required to ‘correct’ anything. Mahavishuva and Makar Sankranti timings are firm and unshakable, year in and year out. This is how the Dharma is maintained eternally, for as long as our solar system lives.
12 November 2009
[All bold emphasis added]
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Endnotes:
[1] Thea wrote that India became essentially corrupted by the Sidereal/Nirayana measure of the Zodiac (Vedic Year) circa the 11th century of our common era. See 'The Origins and Nature of Hindu Decline, Part 2'.
[2] This divergence grows approximately 1° each 72 years, due to the 25,920-year Precessional Cycle wherein 1° of Precession of the Equinoxes corresponds to 72 years (360° x 72 years = 25,920 yrs).
[3] A collection of Thea's articles about the mis-measure of Makar Sankranti (and the corresponding mis-measure of the entire Zodiac) and its grave importance for India and the world, can be found at www.AeonCentre.com.
[4] On p. 346 of TNW, Vol. 2, Thea discussed the 12 degree stretch of the Ganges from 79°-91° E Longitude [which correspond to 29° Sagittarius to 11° Capricorn in the Zodiac]. She wrote: '[Ganga] starts at 79° and ends at approximately 91°'. A few pages later she wrote, '[12/13 Capricorn] on the Gnostic Circle, is the point of the source of the Ganges. From here the river moves across 12 degrees of longitude, and carries us to its mouth at exactly 0° Capricorn. Thus, to sum up, Ganga's measure on the Gnostic Circle, corresponding to her actual physical position on the globe, is from 0° (mouth) to 12° (source) Capricorn. Once more we are shown [Ganga] is indeed the River of January. In the calendar this 12-degree portion of the circle goes from 22 December, the solstice, to approximately 3 January. ' [p.349] Added Note: The source of the Ganges (Gaumukh) is 79° 4' E Longitude. As far as I can see the 1° of longitudinal space between 79°-80° E longitude corresponds to the 1° between 10°-11° Capricorn on Thea's Geo-Cosmological (Zodiacal) Map of the Earth. This map is shown below with Ganga's descent from 79°-91° E (11° Capricorn - 29° Sagittarius) highlighted in yellow.
It is still unclear to me as to why Thea identified 12° Capricorn as the source of the Ganges [TNW2, pp. 349-359]. From what I can see, 78° E Longitude marks 12° Capricorn on the Globe, and 79° E Longitude (the source of the Ganges) marks 11° Capricorn. Regardless, the correspondence between the Mouth of the Ganges and Makar Sankranti (passage into 0° Capricorn) and the Source of the Ganges and the first days of January still applies. To add to this amazing cosmological harmony, Thea noted that the Mother received the vision of the Inner Chamber of her Vedic Temple 'precisely on the first or second day of January [1970]. This was the time when she reached the source and deed of the new world and saw the core of its being'. [TNW, Vol. 2, p. 349] [See pp. 217-27, Chronicles of the Inner Chamber, 'The Matrimandir Dialogues']
Thea also noted that Pondicherry, the seat of Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's Supramental Yoga, falls at 79°50' E Longitude, in the same degree wherein the Ganges emerges from its source (Gaumukh, 79°4' E Longitude]. Many have noted that many Shiva temples fall along this same longitudinal line throughout India (often misrepresented as a latitudinal alignment) corresponding to 10° Capricorn in the Zodiac and the first day of the New Year of the Gregorian Year. In Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom (Part 2, Ch. 1), I discussed how Thea's passing demonstrated an astounding equivalence with this longitudinal axis, the 79°-90° E longitudinal span of the Ganges river, and the 2016 Navratri/Vijaya Dashami celebration).[5] Due to the Earth's Precessional movement, the Constellations appear to slip backwards along the Earth's ecliptic. Sidereal/Nirayana astronomers attach the zero point of the Zodiac (0° Aries) to a fixed point, position or star in the Constellations of the Ecliptic. This point slips backward through the Tropical Zodiac at a rate of approximately 1° per 72 years, creating a constant need for correction. The glaring problem is that there are many varying opinions regarding where to fix this zero point of Aries in the Constellations and it has to be agreed upon by calendar committees whose members have collectively disregarded the Earth's actual yearly entrance into Aries upon the March Equinox, disregarding along with this Earth-established zero point or Sankranti, the true sense and measure of the Zodiac.
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