When a festival happens once every 12 years you don’t want to miss it. The Maha Kumbh Mela festival is the world’s largest festival and took place this time in Allahabad, North India. The last time this festival took place I was a monk in a monastery in Hawaii and therefore could not leave to attend it. So, when it came around again this year in February I did what it took to go to it. That said, every 3 years a smaller version of the Kumbh Mela festival takes place in India. When I say smaller an estimated 5 to 6 million people only attend on the main bathing and the overall attendance over the course of the festival is 30 to 40 million usually.
The festival goes on for 55-days and an estimated 110 million pilgrims made the journey to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers to bathe at this scared site this year. I was determined, despite everyone I know telling me not to, to go on the main bathing day of this festival which took place on February 10th, 2013. “Why did they say not to go?” you ask. Well, because on this day over 30 million people turned up at this one area. I had 11 other brave souls accompany me on this journey as well, part of a spiritual adventure through North India that I had put together.
On February 10th, I waded in the cold Ganges river at 3:30am then walked for 11 hours straight with millions of pilgrims with no room to fit an ant between me and the next person. An experience that taught me so much about faith, patience, tolerance, letting go, humanity and the ability we have to live with one another when there is a need to. A life-changing experience for sure and one I’ll remember for a long time to come!
Additional photos of the Kumbha Mela festival at this link.
Well before dawn, hundreds of thousands of people make their way into the cold waters of the Ganges river.
3 women walk across some of the shallower parts of the river in the wee hours of the morning.
A few temporary pontoon bridges are created across the rivers to ferry millions of pilgrims from bank to bank.
Tens of thousands of monks also attended this sacred festival.
The awesome group of brave boys and girls that made the journey with me to the world’s largest human gathering. A profound experience for all of us.
