The Ganges or Ganga is perhaps the holiest river in any religion. Many believe the river has cleansing and healing powers, Hindu's believe that bathing in the Ganges will cleanse their karmas. It is traditional to dip once for your past karma, once for the present and once for the future. Throughout history, people found many medicinal qualities in the Ganga water.
For Hindus in India, the Ganges is not just a river but a mother, a goddess , a tradition, a culture, and much more. The river has an unusual ability to retain dissolved oxygen, but the reason for this ability is unknown. The Ganges' purifying action has strong scientific evidence, DS Bhargava, a retired professor of hydrology, who has spent a lifetime performing experiments up and down the Ganges in the plains of India, says that in most rivers, organic material usually exhausts a river's available oxygen and starts putrefying. But in the Ganges, an unknown substance, or "X factor" that Indians refer to as a "disinfectant," acts on organic materials and bacteria and kills them. Bhargava says that the Ganges' self-purifying quality leads to oxygen levels 25 times higher than any other river in the world.
Many parts of the Ganges are now dirty and polluted, however in Rishikesh near the source of the Ganges the water is clean and inviting. The current is fast here and rafting through the rapids is popular, but there are a few safe 'beaches' where you can't enjoy the regenerative qualities of a dip in this sacred River.
Enza DeLuca
www.blissfulmind.com.au
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