Light Of Life

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

Page 54

Once Guru Nanak was staying in Haridwar on the banks of the Ganga. A certain brahmin who had just then come there after having bathed in the Ganga felt thirsty and wanted to go back to the river to drink water. Guru Nanak said to him, "Dear sir! I have a vessel with me which has been cleaned three times and it contains the fresh water of the Ganga. You drink this water".
Tne Brahmin said, "your vessel is polluted".
What a strange thing! How can this vessel be impure? It does not commit any sin. It does not act ignobly against Dharma. It does not hate anyone. Moreover, I have washed it three times in the Ganga water and if the water of the Ganga has not purified this vessel, how can it purify you?"
What reply could the brahmin give? The purport of the story is that we do not realise the true significance of taking a bath in the Ganga. A bath in the Ganga will be meaningful only when we realise its significance. A mere bath in the Ganga cannot wash away our sins. We should realise that we cannot wash away our sins by just diving into the Ganga. Punya cannot be earned so easily. Our sins have to be washed away by means of spiritual austerities. Otherwise, we have to experience the bitter fruits of our sins. A bath in the Ganga has been considered beneficial because it has some medicinal powers. The water of the Ganga flows down the heights of the Himalayas. It flows over countless medicinal plants. Many minerals get dissolved into it. It flows over various kinds of soils. So, it has the power of destroying all harmful germs and bacteria. This is the reason why the water of the Ganga has been considered sacred.
In our Dharma, we use the sacred water of the Ganga in all auspicious and holy activities such as the Anjan Shalaka (applying collirium to the eyes of the image of
43