The Largest Human Gathering on the Earth
Fr. Carl Chudy, SX
120,000,000 people will be gathering these months in an ancient Hindu festival called Kumbh Mela. The festival dates back the pre-Vedic period, as even in the Vedas Kumbh Mela is described as a tradition that is already well established.
The popularity of Kumbh Mela has only increased over the millennia, gathering millions together every twelve years at each of the four holy places in which the auspicious event occurs and making it the world’s largest gathering of people on Earth for one common purpose.
It is said that even those saints and sages who live in divine isolation, high in the Himalayas, engaged only in meditation and austerities, emerge from the mountains to attend the Kumbh. Kumbh is a world-renowned trademark of India’s proud antiquity, and is a matchlessly divine occasion, one of the largest festivals/fairs in the Hindu tradition.
Spanning from the 15th January to 4th March, 2019’s Kumbh Mela will take place in Prayag (the City of God), also known as Prayagraj, a divine location situated on the confluence of three sacred rivers – Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati.
The nectar that Kumbh Mela must disseminate today is a renewed respect for our Earth and her animals, a re-dedication to the laws of our scriptures, and a re-kindled fire of spiritual yearning in our souls. This year, as we celebrate Kumbh Mela just as our ancestors did, we should remember the way in which they lived and the values to which they held.
If Kumbh Mela can re-unite us with those sacred roots and with the messages of the scriptures, then it will veritably be giving us the “nectar of immortality.” Then, and only then, will we attain true peace and liberation.
Catholic and Hindus in Dialogue
Catholic and Hindu dialogue is important to the mission of the Church. One key point of intersection between the Christian mystical tradition and Vaishnava Hinduism identified by the group is precisely the shared belief that the mystery of God is hidden but, paradoxically, that hiddenness is perceivable in creation as a mysterious presence that instigates a yearning in the human knower, especially as one encounters, or rather is encountered by beauty in creation.
For both Hindus and Christians, creation holds a great secret—the presence of a passionate God, a God who is the hidden love poured forth into creaturely being and that, by means of creation, reaches out as it were to man who is both gifted to perceive this “presence” and beckoned to return this love to God.
Every year the Pontifical Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Holy See sends a letter of greetings to Hindus worldwide at the time of the great Hindu feast, Deepavali. In the last communication last November 2018, the Vatican wished to link arms with our Hindu brothers and sisters in our common concern for the poorest and most vulnerable in our world.
Attentiveness and cooperation are needed, not only to defend the legitimate place and rights of the vulnerable in society, but also to cultivate a culture of care and concern in their regard. In our families too, every effort should be made to ensure that no one feels unwanted, unloved, ignored or left out.
The Vatican shared this: “Every level of society – especially political and government leaders, and those best equipped to provide practical assistance – needs to display a human face and heart to the vulnerable of our society and to reach out to all those suffering marginalization and oppression. Such generosity should not appear as a token gesture, but as one divinely inspired and aimed at the true emancipation and welfare of the vulnerable and the defense of their cause.
As believers grounded in our own respective spiritual traditions, and as individuals with shared concerns for the well-being of all, may we join hands with the adherents of other religious traditions and all people of good will, and make collective and concerted efforts to secure a joyful present and a hopeful future for our vulnerable brothers and sisters!”
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