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Sadhu-Sanga

Hare Krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

In Srimad Bhagavatam we read about the fight between the demigods and demons for the nectar. During the fight the nectar dropped on four places on earth ie:- Prayag (Allahabad), Nasik, Ujjain, Haridwar. It is believed that the same nectar still comes to these places once every 12 years during certain planetary configurations and it is celebrated as Kumbha mela. This year the Kumbha mela was celebrated in Allahabad and millions of people crowd here to take bath at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. The Vishnu Purana mentions that one will get a great benefit from bathing during Kumbh Mela than performing 1,000 Ashwamedha Yajnas (horse sacrifices) or circumambulating the earth 100,000 times. It is said that by bathing at Kumbh Mela all sins committed by the person is washed away and that 88 generations of ancestors are benefited. 

However in Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.10 we see that Parikshit Maharaj refused to accept the process of repeated sinning and atonement. He compares this process to elephant bath. An elephant immediately pours mud on itself after taking a bath. So what is the use of its bath. Similarly if one does some atonement process like bathing in a holy river, but then again commits sin, then what is the use of the atonement. Also Sukadeva Goswami confirms in the next verse that such persons are not intelligent and they are in the mode of darkness. The real atonement is to understand the Supreme Absolute truth. Srila Prabhupada mentions that the Kumbha Mela is for sat-sanga and the purpose of going to Kumbha mela is to find out a man of knowledge. Otherwise, yad-buddhih salile sa eva go-kharah
 [SB 10.84.13]. If one thinks that this salila, the water, to take bath in the water, is Kumbha Mela, he is a go-kharah (cow or ass). But the intelligent person takes advantage and associates with the saintly persons.


yasyaatma buddhih kunaape tri-dhaatuke 
sva-dhih kalatraadishu bhaumaijya-dhih 
yat-teertha-buddhih salile na karhicij 
janeshv abhijneshu sa eva go-kharah

"One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass." (SB 10.84.13)

In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.19.8 Suta Goswami says 'svayam hi tirthaani punanti santah' - which means sages could verily sanctify a place of pilgrimage just by their presence. Srila Prabhupada very nicely explains in the purport to the above verse the importance of taking association of such saints. He says, "Common men go to pilgrimage sites to get themselves purified of all sins. Thus the places of pilgrimage become overburdened with the sins of others. But when such sages visit overburdened places of pilgrimage, they sanctify the places by their presence."

Narottama das Thakur sings 

gangaara parasha hoile pashcate paavan 
darshane pavitra koro-ei tomaara gun

"After bathing in the waters of the sacred Ganges many times, one becomes purified, but just by the sight of you (Vaishnava Goswami), the fallen souls are purified. This is your great power." 

Actually the Ganga river has got this tremendous potency of relieving a persons sins because she touches the lotus feet of Krishna on her way to earth. But the Vaishnavas have more potency than Ganga because they repeatedly offer obeisance to Krishna. Hence we should be intelligent and take opportunity to associate with the saintly persons and engage in devotional service instead of worrying for trying to get rid of our sins. 

 

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