The Ganges of Varanasi, India

Today I will return to sharing some of Steve's photos from N India.  After Josiah & Binu's wedding, Steve spent 4 more days in Varanasi with the students and staff from the DTS and the SOAP.

One of the things they did together was to take an evening boat tour of the Ganges river.  Varanasi is a holy city to Hindus.  One of the reasons is because it sits on the holy river, the Ganges.

Wikipedia says, "Many Hindus also believe life is incomplete without taking a bath in the Ganges at least once in their lives. Many Hindu families keep a vial of water from the Ganges in their house. This is done because it is auspicious to have water of the Holy Ganges in the house, and also so that if someone is dying, that person will be able to drink its water. Many Hindus believe that the water from the Ganges can cleanse a person's soul of all past sins, and that it can also cure the ill.

Here they are boarding the boat.  The tour was led by J, a long-time Varanasi YWAMer.  

That's Wesley and Isaac, the twins, and their parents, Joe and Carrie, on the left.  Carrie is holding baby Will.  You can barely see his face peeking out. 

 

One of the first things they saw were the famed burning ghats (ghat is the name for stair steps leading down to the river), where Hindus cremate their dead and throw the ashes into the river.  Remember, this is the same river that people bathe in and drink from.  Wikipedia again, "Also, people scatter ashes of loved ones here. George Harrison of The Beatles had his ashes scattered in the Ganges by his family in a private ceremony soon after his death... the city assumes special significance as the cremation ground for devout Hindus."

Next, they pulled up to watch a Hindu ceremony (performed for tourists) called The Ceremony of Light (Hindu - aarti), a public rendition of a Hindu religious ritual in which priests worship using symbols for the elements of earth, water, wind, fire and space.  And Wikipedia was helpful again: " In the traditional aarti ceremony, the flower represents the earth (solidity), the water and accompanying handkerchief correspond with the water element (liquidity), the lamp or candle represents the fire component (heat), the peacock fan conveys the precious quality of air (movement), and the yak-tail fan represents the subtle form of ether (space). The incense represents a purified state of mind, and one’s "intelligence" is offered through the adherence to rules of timing and order of offerings. Thus, one’s entire existence and all facets of material creation are symbolically offered to the Lord via the aarti ceremony."

I borrowed this one picture from the Wikipedia page to give a better close-up view.  The rest are all Steve's pictures.

I thought this statement from Wikipedia was interesting: "The idea here is that aarti represents our daily activities, which revolves around God, a center of our life. Looking at God while performing aarti reminds the performer (and the attendees of the aarti) to keep God at the center of all activities and reinforces the understanding that routine worldly activities are secondary in importance." 

Hopefully, God is THE center of our life, not just A center.  Nevertheless, we also need a reminder to keep God at the center of all our activities.

 

I hope you will forgive me for using Wikipedia for some of my information :).  I wasn't there to hear the tour firsthand and I wanted to help you (and myself) understand the photos a little better. I haven't had the privilege yet of hearing Steve's explanation of the photos he sent home on Carrie's computer.  Carrie helped explain a little bit, too.

More photos to come...