Long, long ago, a demon named Shankhasura sent forth legions of mud-dwelling creatures from the bottom of the sea to capture the Vedas and thus destroy their content. And as the dark waters swallowed the knowledge of the mantras, the higher values of life also sank into the depths. People forgot the difference between good and bad and could no longer distinguish between right and wrong. As their power of discrimination faded, acts of charity and other forms of selfless service vanished. Fear, hunger, sleep, and sex became the motivating forces for all human activities.

Trust disappeared and with it any semblance of loving relationships between men and women. The population soared while the general state of health plummeted. Striving to appease their insatiable desires, humans plundered the natural world-laying waste to forests and valleys, polluting rivers and lakes, and robbing the soil of its vitality. Life was miserable for everyone but the demon Shankhasura (whose name literally means "one who dwells in a conch") and his bottom-dwelling minions.

Seeing how severely nature had been weakened, Shankhasura then decided to finish it off by attacking and conquering the forces of nurturance-the soil, vegetation, water, fire, air, and clouds. The Devas, the bright beings who are the presiding forces of nature, fled to Mount Kailas and hid themselves in the surrounding caves. And with the Devas gone, the conch demon demolished natural law and imposed his own rule, ushering in his reign with earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, typhoons, wildfires, droughts, floods, and all manner of epidemics.

Chaos stalked the Earth, and the Devas were in hiding, so the immortal sages resolved to intervene. Approaching Lord Vishnu, the supreme force of protection and nourishment, they meditated on him with love and faith, asking him to come to their aid. In response Lord Vishnu told them, "With a one-pointed and disciplined mind, join forces to gather the knowledge of the Vedas once again, and while you fulfill this task I will bring the benevolent forces of nature from their hiding place and dwell with them at Prayaga Raja. Come and join us there."

When the sages had departed, Lord Vishnu assumed the form of an enormous fish, and vanquished the conch demon, Shankhasura. He then summoned the Devas from their hiding place and brought them to Prayaga Raja, where they were joined by Brahma, the creator, and Shiva, the annihilator.

Meanwhile the sages had again gone into deep medi-tation, discovered where the Vedas were hidden, fished them out of the mud, and joined the assembly at Prayaga Raja. There they asked Lord Vishnu's permission to bring the knowledge of the Vedas into practice for the benefit of all creation. In granting their request, Vishnu said to them, "The secret of success lies in sacrifice, and the Vedas tell us how to walk this path. In every aspect of creation there is a continuous ceremony of sacrifice. Leaves decompose and nourish other organisms. It is the same with everything-nothing in creation is meant for itself. The greatest among all sacrifices is the ashvameda [literally, "the horse sacrifice"]. Those who perform this ritual sacrifice their personal desires for the sake of the larger welfare. They train and tame their "horses"-the mind and senses-and finally they share this harnessed energy with all living beings. This form of sacrifice nourishes humankind and every other form of life. Let us now perform this ashvameda." So at Vishnu's command all aspects of nature, the Devas, their presiding forces, and the sages (the seers of the Vedas), along with Brahma and Shiva, took part in this great sacrifice.

The ritual lasted twelve years, and by the time it was completed an astounding transformation was apparent everywhere. People had regained their interest in learning. They began to embrace the higher values in life and to take pleasure in performing acts of charity and selfless service. Their power of discrimination blossomed and the confusion between right and wrong vanished. Fear, hunger, sex, and sleep were no longer the motivating forces behind human activity. Relationships between men and women were now built on trust, and people once again understood the purpose of life. They remembered how to live in harmony with the natural world, and as they did, the ecosystem came back into balance. Even the bottom dwellers were transformed: instead of trying to capture the Vedas, they worked in concert with the Devas and other forces of nurturance. And with the natural world once again bursting with vitality, peace and prosperity reigned. Seeing this, the sages and Devas prostrated in gratitude at the feet of Lord Vishnu: "It is through your grace, O Lord, that we have been empowered and that all living beings have found their rightful place in this creation. The energy emanating from Prayaga Raja has brought harmony out of chaos. For this reason we ask you to bless this place so that it may always be the most auspicious and powerful on the Earth. May the energy emitting from Prayaga Raja guide humanity through all eternity. May all human endeavor undertaken here be auspicious. May acts of charity and self-sacrifice performed here bear fruit without limit."

Lord Vishnu readily granted their wish. "Be it so," he said. "From now on this place will also be known as Brahma Kshetra ["the field of pure consciousness"] and Tirtha Raja ["the lord of all holy places"]. The concentration of spiritual energy here will purify the way of the soul. By the simple act of coming here, even minds and hearts that are tainted by dreadful crimes over the course of many lifetimes will be purified. One day's practice done here properly will bear the fruit of a decade of continuous practice anywhere else. Every twelve years, during the month of Magha [which begins in January in the Gregorian calendar] when the Sun is in the house of Capricorn, all the benevolent forces of creation, the energies of all holy places, the sages, and the Devas will convene here. And just as darkness vanishes with the sunrise, obstacles to spiritual practices have no power to withstand the brilliance of this conjunction of time and place. Practices undertaken here at this time open the door to all possibilities."

According to the Padma Purana these events took place when the Himalayas were still in their infancy and the area around the town of Badrinath, now well above the timberline, was covered by a lush forest. From that time on Prayaga Raja, which covers a large area near the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, has been regarded as a spiritual center. (Today the city of Allahabad occupies that site.) Great sages, such as Markandeya, Chyavana, Pulastya, and Bharadvaja, have guided their students through prolonged, intense practices here, further intensifying the spiritual energy. Noble kings, such as Pururava and Bharata, whose dedication to spiritual practices, acts of charity, and selfless service earned them the status of Raja Rishi ("Royal Seers"), instituted a series of group practices here that went on, uninterrupted, for decades.

Inspired by the practices undertaken by these torchbearers of the human race, pilgrims have been gathering in January on this spot for untold ages. Most of them come for just a day or two, take a dip in the Ganga, visit a few specific spots of spiritual importance, and return home. The more serious ones stay for the entire month. In addition to bathing in the Ganga they observe silence, study scriptures, or attend the discourses of saints and scholars. For a few rare seekers, coming to this place is an integral part of their lifelong practice. Here they either begin a special practice or complete it.

Every January sees an influx of pilgrims. This influx swells to a flood every twelve years, when the spiritual energy emanating from Prayaga Raja becomes further concentrated. This is the time of the kumbha mela, when thousands of saints and sages and millions of faithful seekers and pilgrims converge on the bank of the Ganga to bask in this energy field. There is another story, told in several of the Puranas, that tells how the kumbha mela originated.

Once during a time of material prosperity the higher virtues fell into decline, and as a result the elixir of life almost vanished from this earthly realm. All living beings and all aspects of nature became weak and pale. The Devas pleaded with the Creator to recharge creation with fresh vitality, but were told that the elixir of life now lay buried in the depths of the ocean. The Devas reported this to all living beings, and so it was that gods, demons, and humans of all races and faiths joined forces to find and recover the elixir. They set out to churn the entire ocean (which would cause the elixir to rise to the surface), and churn they did, laboring night and day. But to their dismay the first fruit of their labor was not the elixir they were seeking but a vial of poison so deadly that if it were released from its container it would scorch all creation. The search could not go on until this menace was removed, yet no one had the capacity or the wisdom to dispose of it except Shiva-who came forward and drank it at great risk to himself.

The churning resumed. But when the vessel containing the elixir finally appeared, everyone rushed for it, and to prevent it from falling into the hands of those who would keep it for themselves Dhanwantari, the primordial physician, snatched the vessel and fled. In maneuvering to escape, however, he dropped three drops of the elixir: one fell on the town of Ujjain, one on Nasik, and a third on Haridwar. At Prayaga Raja the crowd caught and overwhelmed Dhanwantari, and in the melee all of the elixir spilled out and disappeared as soon as it touched the ground.

Yet all was not lost. Because Prayaga Raja is a holy place, the elixir manifests its life-giving properties every twelve years when the Sun is in the House of Capricorn. And because the elixir was originally contained in a kumbha (vessel), and the land itself now serves as the vessel, this twelve-year gathering at Prayaga Raja every twelve years is called kumbha mela, "the spiritual gathering around the vessel."

Poison and Elixir

Some dismiss these stories as folk tales, but I personally have great respect for them. Whether history or fiction, for centuries they have inspired people to find the sacred in the mundane. Ordinarily religions teach us that the spiritual and the worldly cannot coexist-they hold that we can find God only if we turn our back on the world, which most people find impossible. Consequently we are caught in a vortex of guilt and a sense of unworthiness. These two stories give us hope; they assure us that all the divine and benign forces of creation dwell in the sacred land of Prayaga Raja, and that there is a Divine Presence-a perfect counselor, spiritual preceptor, and benevolent friend-who attends the pilgrims that come to this place seeking redemption from guilt and self-denigration. These stories assure us that by performing even the simplest of spiritual practices here we will overcome the negative effects of all previous deeds.

What solace! These stories imply that there is no mediator between the aspirant and God, no rigid rules or laws. Simply listen to the voice of your heart, they say, and surrender the fruits of your deeds to the Almighty, who dwells in the space occupied by this sacred land. Before you return home internalize the Divinity, secure it in your heart, and walk away with a sense of purity, forgiveness, and freedom from the bondage of karma.

Another reason I have so much respect for these stories is that they remind us of the inherent characteristics of humanity and the cycle of human history. When the basic necessities of life are in short supply we have little time or energy to cultivate our spiritual life and to engender inner prosperity. Yet once our society is blessed with material prosperity we tend to drown in it and have no time for inner growth. We have neither the energy nor the inclination to search for everlasting fulfillment. These stories remind us that a materially successful society eventually ends up with a Shankhasura, a demon who systematically drowns the spiritual wisdom and higher values of life.

And as knowledge of the importance of spiritual values sinks into the mud of insecurity, fear, sensual cravings, sloth, self-gratification, and self-preservation, society loses its bearings. Selfishness reigns and the loving bond that holds relationships together is replaced by a set of conditions. The zeal for worldly success and self-gratification makes us self-destructive. Unable to distinguish between need and desire, we amass and hoard material possessions. The economy becomes life's guiding force, and its strength rests on how much we consume. To keep the economy vigorous we must continually increase our desires and teach ourselves to be wasteful. All of this takes a heavy toll on natural resources and on nature herself. And once nature is polluted and its vitality has declined, our bodies and minds also become toxic and weak. Then higher concerns pertaining to the real purpose of life sink to the bottom of day-to-day existence. This is how the great conch demon, Shankhasura, incarnates.

In times like these a handful of sages-enlightened beings concerned with the welfare of creation-come forward and invoke Vishnu (whose name literally means "the divine light that pervades everything"), and the combined effort of these enlightened ones creates a collective consciousness that is powerful enough to reverse the downward spiral. The group practice of ashvameda, the horse sacrifice which tames the mind and senses, is the key ingredient in the formation of collective consciousness. Its hallmarks are discipline, self-restraint, and selfless service; by nurturing these traits we can change our society and subdue the forces that impel us to create misery for ourselves and the planet.

The second story reminds us that when we attempt to procure elixir we must be ready to deal with poison; we can benefit from gathering around the vessel of elixir only when we realize that poison and elixir go hand in hand. Achieving even the noblest goal entails some degree of pain. And because our natural tendency is to avoid pain, the one who takes it on for the sake of others becomes Shiva, the most auspicious and benevolent of beings.

Anyone with a scientific mind will regard both of these stories as pure myth. Yet they are documented in the sacred literature and have been recited by the faithful down through the ages, inspiring pilgrims to pour into Allahabad every twelfth year when the spiritual energy there is believed to be especially intense. Whether these stories are literally true or not, they have created a collective consciousness that has transformed Prayaga Raja into a sacred site. Through intense practice, by both the adepts and the multitude, during kumbha mela the energy field is intensified to the point at which it has the power to transform individual consciousness.

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D., is Spiritual Head of the Himalayan International Institute and the author of numerous books, the most recent of which is Tantra Unveiled. He is a regular contributor to Yoga International.

Article provided by the Himalayan Institute's online newspaper, The Kumbha Mela Times. To get your free subscription to this online newspaper, see http://www.HimalayanInstitute.org.