A Wonderful Inter-Religious Experience

Since my childhood I have heard a lot of stories about the great city of Varanasi especially from the Tamil movies. Varanasi is an ancient city in India, a centre of the Hindu world. Its history can be traced back 3,000 years. It is also known as Kashi and Banaras. The name Varanasi comes from the two rivers - Varana and Asi which meet at the River Ganges. Varanasi is situated on the banks of the River Ganges in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (North of India or below Nepal).

The beauty of the River Ganges

From 17th to 22rd October, my classmates and I were sent to this city for an exposure programme on Inter-religious Dialogue. It took us 36 hours to reach our destination (approximately 1681 kms) by train. We stayed at the Maitri Bahvan Institute, Bhelupur, Varanasi. It is an Inter-religious centre and institute for study of religious owned by the Diocese of Varanasi. Rev Fr Chandrakant is the director and person in-charge of the centre. During our one week programme, Fr Chandrakant was our official guide for the visits to the various religious institutions, temples and sight-seeing.

We visited some of the most famous Hindu shrines of the city – Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, Tulsi Manas Temple and Bharat Mata Temple. One early morning we had a meditation at the river bank of Ganges and we also had a sun rise experience. It was my second experience of seeing the sun rise after experiencing an earlier one on Mt Sinai, Egypt during my pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The sun rise was so beautiful and the rays made the water very colourful.

Then we had a boat ride and sailed on the River Ganges. In the early morning I noticed many Hindu priests, pilgrims and tourists taking a ritual bath, washing clothes and performing “puja” (worship) to the rising sun and to the Lord Shiva (see pic below).

A normal day at the river

Every evening an “arti” ceremony takes place at the river bank. I had the opportunity to observe this “arti” ceremony on my first evening there. It was interesting to observe this ceremony and see how they swung the “arti” with the rhythm. A lot of people joined the chanting of mantra, clapping and praising their Lord Shiva.

The 'Arti' ceremony

The Hindu people believe that one who dies in this city is sure to attain salvation and be free from the cycle of birth and rebirth. They also burn the dead bodies at the river banks and throw the ashes into the River Ganges. One of the shocking things that I witnessed during my stay at Varanasi was seeing at least 3 dead bodies a day carried to the river bank. The bodies are carried to the river bank for cremation and then the ashes are thrown into the river. That is why the Hindus believe that those who die and are cremated here get gateway to salvation at once from the cycle of births and rebirths. Since centuries the Hindus say it is a city of “Moksha” (liberation) for them. We had brief explanations about Hinduism by Prof. Dr D.N. Tiwari at the famous Banaras Hindu University.

Fr Chandrakant (left) and Dr Tawari

Varanasi is also a city where Buddhism was founded. Siddhartha Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon about the basic principles of Buddhism to his disciples. The place is called Sarnath which is about 15 kms from where we stayed.

The Buddhist Temple

With the Buddhist Monks

Besides the Buddhist temple we also visited Vajravidhya Institute. It is a seminary for the youngsters who intend to become monks. We had the opportunity to see closely the original “Dhammapada”, the collection of Buddha’s teaching and how they do the translation as well produce audio-visuals.

In the Library

Sermon of Buddha

Dhammapada

Reprinted Dhammapada

Actually, they are working hard to bring back Buddhism to India from Tibet. I realised the environment of Sarnath town is so much different compared to the other parts of the city of Varanasi. For me it was a haven of peace and tranquillity.

Besides Hindus and Buddhists, Varanasi is also a holy city for Jains. It is a birth place of Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankar. Jain religion was born in the 9th century BCE. His birthplace is situated at Bhelupur, Varanasi (just behind where we were staying). We visited the International School for Jain Studies.

Jain Temple

Sikhism is also practised in Varanasi. Guru Nanak Dev at the age of 30 founded the Sikh religion. He visited Varanasi in the 16th century and he had an encounter there.

We also visited the Bahai centre. Ms Kaur and her mother welcomed us with prayers and songs and provided us with an Iranian lunch. The Bahai faith was founded in 1863 by Bahaullah; in Arabic it means “the Glory of God”.

Being entertained by the wonderful mother and daughter at the Bahai Centre

Islam and its culture have also had an influence on Varanasi. The Muslims have almost 384 mosques in the whole over city. We had a chance to have dialogues with the Ustazs and Principal of Jamaiah Salafiah (Madrasah).

Jamaiah

The Ustazs and Principal of the Jamaiah

This Jamaiah Salafiah has almost 800 students forming them to become “Imams”. When the “azan” (the call to prayer) started at 6 pm, they stopped the dialogues with us. They invited us to their mosque for prayer. We were fortunate enough to join them for prayer. We stood right behind them. We can see temples, mosques, churches in every corner of the city. Varanasi is rich with religious practitioners as well as local and foreign pilgrims who all live peacefully and in harmony.

Prayer time

Besides visiting religious centres, we did some sight-seeing, visited churches and the Pastoral Institute of Diocese of Varanasi. One evening we visited a Home for Blind Children home which is run by the Catholic Institution. The Home has 182 children. During our visit, the children sang a Hindi song entitled “Sathagam” (peace) for us. The first few lines of the lyrics captured my heart and it goes like this, “We are flower of this country (India), our message is a message of peace and we pray to God that peace be melted in our hearts.”

The blind children

One the first day, Fr Chandrakant explained about the function of Maitri Bahvan Centre, the city of Varanasi and River Ganges. I was fascinated when he elaborated the spiritual aspects of the River Ganges and the city of Varanasi. Varanasi and the River Ganges are symbols of the Kingdom of God where various peoples from different religions, cultures, castes and languages harmoniously gather together for prayers, study tours, etc.

Hindu Seminarians ... they start young

Normally, a river flows from north to south or from uphill to downhill. But the uniqueness of the River Ganges is that it flows from Mt Himalaya (North) to South and when the rivers comes to Varanasi it returns to North again. The Hindus believe that Mt. Himalaya is the head of Shiva and the River Ganges is the body of Shiva. The flow of the river from north to south and to north again symbolises the cycle of births and rebirths. The other thing we learned is that the King of Varanasi does not stay in the city of Varanasi. He believes that there should be only one king in one kingdom. For this reason the king resides at Kashi (outside of the city of Varanasi) because the King of Varanasi is the Lord Shiva who resides in the city as a head.

Life in the city of Varanasi begins at 3.30 am (Local time of India). People start to go the river for their ritual bath, washing cloths and performing “puja” to the rising sun and to the Lord Shiva. It symbolises like a baby once wakes up from his or her sleep will play on its mother’s laps. The River Ganges symbolises the laps of a mother and the sunrise’s rays which gracefully shine on the River Ganges symbolises the father. Therefore, we see throng of people come early in the morning at the River Ganges to enjoy playing on the laps’ of their divine mother and father. Even though the water does not look appealing and is filthy, the Hindus believe that this river has the power to wash away one’s sins.

A typical morning scene at the River Ganges

Scientifically, it is also proven that its water has a medicinal value.
When Fr Chandrakant spiritualised the city of Varanasi and River Ganges, it reminded me of the Dead Sea in Jerusalem. On the last day of our programmes during the evaluation I shared with him and my group about the Dead Sea and also the elements of truth in God’s creation. There are many streams flowing in the land of Palestine and finally they end at the Dead Sea. The many streams symbolise the various religions in the world are finding the one truth that is in one God. The mud and the Dead Sea water have medicinal value too. I also said that in the beginning no one knows about the spiritual aspects or elements of the River Ganges, Dead Sea and any of God’s creation. In the course of time and space the religious leaders and elite groups have spiritualised everything and discovered the mystery in everything that God created. Whenever we spiritualise anything from God’s creations it really surprises and amazes us. When we discover and rediscover from the creation of God then we can glorify and praise God for His mighty work.

The trip was really interesting. I have gained a lot of knowledge through this inter-religious exposure and study tour programme. I realised that there is a lot of religious freedom here and how the people are living harmoniously with each other in Varanasi. In Malaysia we have so many restrictions in order to profess, practise and propagate one’s religion in a community or individuals especially for us Christians. I think the civil authorities, individuals and groups have to respect the freedom of other faiths.

The journey to Varanasi and back was also interesting. It was my first experience travelling by train for such long hours. I had a panoramic view of the country side during the journey. It is sad to say that the city of Varanasi is very dusty and filthy. It is an unorganised city. I have never seen such poverty and an immense number of beggars. At the same time I asked my God why life is unfair. My only prayer is, “May the God of Justice feed the poor.” Overall, it was an enriching experience for me.