There is an ancient tradition of Kumbh Mela in Bharat. It is a little difficult to say when the organization of Kumbh Mela started, but it can certainly be said that it has a long and rich tradition.
Currently, the Mahakumbh organized in Prayagraj is the world’s largest spiritual fair, in which about 50 crore people are expected to come. When modern means of communication like TV, radio, newspapers, internet etc. did not even exist, even then lakhs of people from all over the country used to reach to participate in Kumbh on a fixed year and date.
This is a symbol of the religious faith, spiritual vision and national unity of the Bharatiya people. Taking a bath in Kumbh, meeting sages and saints and getting their blessings and guidance, this has been a natural tendency in our country. But, Adi Shankaracharya gave the vision that there should be discussion and deliberation on knowledge in religious, spiritual events like Kumbh. In such events, saints and sages used to brainstorm and guide the citizens of the country from religious, spiritual and cultural point of view and used to show the path to strengthen the character and moral values of the society Kumbh Mela was not just a gathering from spiritual and religious point of view, but it was also a collective event of reorganizing and rethinking the rules and codes to make new regulations according to the times to run the progress of the society and the nation smoothly after every twelve years and here new knowledge was also created from knowledge discussions.
Similarly, in Gyan Maha Kumbh, people from the education world of the country can gather and work to give direction to the education sector of the country to re-establish the Bharatiya knowledge tradition in accordance with modern requirements. With this goal in mind, Gyan Maha Kumbh is being organized by Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas. Just as Kumbh is organized at four holy places of the country (Haridwar, Prayag, Ujjain and Nashik), on the same format, before the Gyan Mahakumbh, Gyan Kumbh was successfully organized in the four directions of the country, Haridwar, Nalanda, Puducherry and Karnavati (Ahmedabad).
In Bharat, education, that is, acquiring knowledge, was never considered a business, but it was considered a medium of imparting knowledge with a spirit of service. In this Gyan Mahakumbh, hundreds of people directly associated with education have contributed their body, mind and money to make this Gyan Mahakumbh successful. Unfortunately, in independent Bharat, the subject of improvement and change in education, except for a few exceptions, became a subject of speech or intellectual discussion only. Those who aspire and expect change in any field should start it from themselves, this has been the Bharatiya
tradition, only then steps can be taken forward in the direction of real change.
Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Gijubhai etc. had made similar efforts to bring about
change in education. Getting inspired from those great men, this subject should be first made popular among the people of the education sector and later it should become a movement of the general public, this is the basic concept of Gyan Maha Kumbh.
It is a matter of joy that today the country has become the fifth economy of the world by striving towards material progress in many fields like information technology, space technology etc. However, this is only one dimension of development. But even today we are struggling with environment, moral values and character crisis etc. As a result of this, along with casteism, linguistic discrimination, male-female, untouchability etc., we are also facing the challenge of problems like oppression of women, violence, communal tension etc., which are yet to be conquered. That is, only with the balanced coordination of both material development and spiritual development, the above problems can be resolved and steps can be taken towards becoming a world leader. In this way, the basis of balanced and holistic development of the country can be possible only by acquiring knowledge.
The most powerful medium of acquiring knowledge is education. Education is the foundation of development of any country. The ‘Gyan Mahakumbh’ organised at Prayagraj Mahakumbh is an initiative in this direction. It is said in the Bhagavad Gita that ‘ na hi gyanen sadrisham pavitramih vidyate’ i.e. there is nothing as sacred as knowledge in this world.
Kumbh is a small form of taking a step in this direction. In Kumbh, millions of people from the country and the world take bath together. They take prasad, food etc. together in the camps of saints and social organizations, then the problems of the country visible on the surface do not seem to exist there. This is the symbol of practical spirituality. Also, due to Kumbh, economic development of that area and its people is also seen. We can see and experience this coordination of materialism and spirituality in the Mahakumbh organised at the Triveni Sangam of Prayagraj. What else can be the medium of coordinated and holistic development of the country by reestablishing Bharatiyaness through the organisation of Gyan Mahakumbh? With this vision, along with crores of people taking a holy dip in the Ganga, people from the world of education should join the Gyan Maha Kumbh, take a dip in the Ganga of knowledge and pledge to revive the education in the country and together in their respective educational institutions, take forward the campaign from local to nationwide; this is the future direction of organizing the Gyan Maha Kumbh.
(The author is National Secretary, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, Delhi)
