Lot of significance are there by taking a dip in the holy rivers like Ganges, Cauvery, Narmada, Yamuna and Godavari. Still village people used to take bath in the holy Rivers like Ganges and Cauvery, and some of the people would even wash their clothes in those holy rivers. For the past one week, I have also taken holy dip in the Cauvery River, and sprinkled the water on my head. By taking bath in holy Rivers, some of our diseases like skin and eye diseases would get relieved, and also we would get great cheerfulness and peace of mind.
Though the Rivers appear in our eyes only as a water storage space, but, inside each and every River, the concerned River Goddess would be meditating on either Lord Shiva or Vishnu, and some of them would even worship their immediate masters like Lord Varuna and Lord Indra. Lot of stories are associated with the holy Rivers, and it is considered as a very good act, to visit, worship and to take bath in the Holy Rivers. Though we cannot directly see the deities like Lord Indra, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, we could see the female River goddesses like Ganga, Yamuna and Cauvery in the form of holy Rivers, on our naked eyes itself.
Though gods like Surya and Chandra are visible to our eyes, but their abodes are situated far away from the earth, whereas, River goddesses can be visited at any time by us, and we can also touch the holy water, and we would also get a wonderful feeling,as if, we touch the River goddesses itself. Due to the selfless meditation performed by the ancient King Bhagiratha, we are all able to see the holy River Ganges, and we are also able to take bath in that.
But still some people, who belong to our religion itself, are of the opinion, that no holiness exist in the Rivers like Ganga, Yamuna and Godavari, and they are also having the opinion, that the details mentioned about our Holy Rivers in our Puranasare only fictitious stories. They are commenting like this, since they are unable to see the true form of the Rivers in their naked eyes. They must understand that at the present Kaliyuga, Gods/Goddesses would never reveal their true form before the humans, but they would appear only in the form of Holy Rivers, Holy Trees and Cows.
“JAI MA GANGA DEVI NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR