As I was getting nearer to the end of my journey, I thought I have seen it all until I reached Varanasi. Where else can you see dead people burning around the clock on a river bank and human cleaning themselves in the same river. Dead bodies aside, the sacred Ganga is indeed a very spiritual place for the Hindu. Life and death seem to revolves around the river. The river sustain the life of people living around it and when they die, their body is return to the river. Even though I dare not touch the water, but millions of people believe that bathing in the river will cleansed their body and wash away all their sins or something like that. The river bank is always full of life and activities. The best way to witness it is to take an early morning or late evening stroll along the river bank or by human powered boat ride. Before I left, I did a quick excursion to Sarnath via a local bus. This is where Buddha gave his famous first sermon to a handful of followers in a deer park.
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I have a good pair of legs to climb up mountains, a good pair of eyes to see unfamiliar sceneries, a good pair of lungs to dive deep into the ocean, a good pair of ears to listen to musics of faraway land, a good stomach to get adventurous with foreign foods, a good pair of arms to hug those who meant a lot to me and a good back to carry my backpack across countries...
[...] here at all. I had no choice because New Delhi is the most convenient place to get another train to Varanasi. Without wasting any time, I left my backpack in the cloak room at the train station and began my [...]
Dear Sir,
No religious books of Hindus says that goddess river Ganga meant for cleansing “the body”.
Ganga means for cleansing the soul by washing away the sins who take holy dip in this sacred water.
It is simply the matter of FAITH! We can’t judge faith in any science laboratory.
Because science doesn’t believe in the existence of “Life-Force” or the Soul inside the human body!
Hi Rajesh. Thanks for your opinion.