Jai Ganga Maiya Ki
You will find large numbers of people taking a holy dip in the sacred River Ganges every day. Hindus believe that Mother Ganga is a form of God possessing sanctifying virtues, and so by bathing in her waters we can absolve ourselves from all our sins. In other words, by submerging ourselves in her waters, all our sins are washed away. Our scriptures also support this truth. During special occasions such as Kumbha Mela, Purnima, Chatrumas and so on, hundreds of thousands of people throng the ghats of the sacred Ganges solely for this purpose. A question that naturally arises is that if this were true, why are people not absolved of sins yet? If it were simply a case of bathing in the Ganges, then everyone could be automatically freed from the consequences of committing sins.
Once, during a religious convention, a group of ill-intentioned youths challenged the learned scholars assembled in a very discourteous manner to answer this age-old riddle. Those who attempted to by quoting from the scriptures failed to satisfy them, while others remained silent. Feeling disappointed with what had transpired the convener of the conference humbly appealed to Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj to provide the answer.
The boys were first invited by Shri Maharaj Ji to sit near him. After they were all seated, he then requested that they listen attentively as he would now logically and very simply dispel their confusion. He said:
My dear ones! Take a bottle and fill it with urine. Seal it tightly and submerge it in the Ganges for a few hours and then take it out. If I ask you to drink the contents what would be your reaction? You would flatly refuse. Why? You would say — and rightly so — that there is pure urine inside the bottle. It has not merged with Ganga Ji so how can it be purified? Now tell me, where do your sins reside? You would say that our innumerable sins reside in the mind. Exactly! Just as the urine sealed tightly inside a bottle cannot merge with the holy Ganges and become pure, the sins that reside within the mind cannot be purified by just dipping your body in the Ganges. To absolve yourself of sins, the mind has to be submerged in devotion for the Supreme Lord and overwhelmed thinking that I am bathing in the holiest of holy waters that has come after washing the lotus feet of the Lord. It is the mind that must be purified, not the body. But what do people do? They merely bathe physically in the Ganges while their minds are miles away, or at best focused on their belongings on the riverbank. Not only this, but you will also find many people dipping in the name of their friends or relatives. All this will serve no purpose.
Thus, the next time you sing the glories, Jai Ganga Maiya Ki and take a dip in her waters, engage your mind uninterruptedly in God alone to derive benefit.
Spirituality in Daily Living, Vol. 1, p.15–18
Kripalu Bhaktiyoga Tattvadarshan, Vedic knowledge revealed by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj and presented in English by Dr Vishakha Tripathi, president of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat.
https://www.jkpliterature.org.in/
https://www.jkpliterature.org.in/spirituality-in-daily-living-vol-1-4
