Excerpt #39 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
The 43-day Kumbh Mela festival in India takes place every 12 years.
At the last gathering, thousands of naked Hindu monks plunged into the freezing Ganges River.
They joined 32 million others in taking a holy dip on the most sacred day of the festival.
Millions of Hindu pilgrims want to fulfill lifelong dreamsof bathing in the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers to wash away sins and have prayers answered.
Awe-struck devotees of the Hindu monks, eager for a view of the holy men who were the first in the water at dawn, are crushed in the darkness against barricades made of tree trunks.
Monks from various Hindu orders, with matted hair and ash-smeared bodies, wave swords and tridents as they proceed to a slope about the river.
They are followed by tens of thousands of supporters, praying and chanting hymns.
Gurus, leaders of the various sects, are carried on palanquins with gold-tinted umbrellas and trappings.
Others arrive in chariots pulled by tractors after organizers of the festival banned the elephants and buses once used.
WE ARE AN INFANT SPECIES.
There is an abundance of beautiful religious structures, art, music, and rituals.
Why not take all the time and energy associated with these endeavors based on antiquated ideas and direct it into something real, i.e., reality-based joys found in life and the natural world that provide infinite opportunities for expression, celebration, and camaraderie?
BECAUSE IT HASN’T BEEN DONE DOESN’T MEAN IT CAN’T BE DONE.