PrintFriendly- Yesterday was the festival of Magh Poornima. The month of Magh is regarded related especially to rivers, lakes and water sources.
- It has been mentioned in our scriptures: MAGHE NIMAGNAAHA SALILE SUSHITE, VIMUKTAPAAPAAHA TRIDIVAM PRAYAANTI – meaning, in the month of Magh, a bath in any holy water body is considered sacred.
- In every society of the world, invariably, there is one tradition or the other with respect to a river.
- Many civilizations have evolved along the banks of rivers. Since our culture is thousands of years old, the spread of this phenomenon is more evident here.
- There must not be a single day in India, when there is no festival connected with water in some corner of the country or the other.
- During the period of Magh, people even leave their homes, near and dear ones, comforts and amenities to perform KALPVAAS on the banks of rivers.
- This time, in Haridwar, KUMBH too is being held. For us, water is life; faith too and the flow of development as well.
- In a way, water is more important than PARAS, the philosopher’s stone. It is said that with the touch of a PARAS, iron gets turned into gold.
- Similarly, the touch of water is necessary for life; imperative for development. Friends, possibly there is another reason to associate the month of Magh with water – after this, winters come to an end and summers start knocking.
- Hence, for the conservation of water, we should begin efforts right away. A few days later, just on the 22nd of the month of March, it’s World Water Day.
- Aaradhya from U.P. has written to me that millions of people in the world spend a major part of their lives in overcoming water shortage.
- It has not been said without reason, ‘BIN PAANI SAB SOON’ – without water, everything comes to a naught!
- In order to solve the water crisis, Sujit ji of North Dinajpur has sent me a very nice message.
- Sujit ji has written that Nature has bestowed upon us a collective gift in the form of Water; hence the responsibility of saving it is also collective.
- It is correct that just as there is a collective gift, there is a collective accountability too. Sujit ji’s thought is absolutely correct. River, lake, pond or ground water – all of these are for everyone.
- Friends, there was a time when in villages, people would collectively look after wells and ponds.
- Now one such effort is underway at Thiruvannamalai, Tamilnadu. Here, local people have been running a campaign for the conservation of their wells.
- These people are rejuvenating public wells in their vicinity that had been lying unused for years.
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(The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the organisation)