The water in the Yamuna is very dangerous for the health of the people who bathe in it, even more harmful than the corona virus, the saints said. They went on to add that the Yamuna is being polluted by cities upstream, including Delhi-NCR. – Siraj Qureshi
Mathura in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra division has been transformed into a religious destination with CM Yogi Adityanath seeming especially interested in the development of this district.
With the Kumbh underway, a large group of Hindu saints conducted the first ritual bath in the Yamuna at Vrindavan. The saints expressed their utter displeasure at the state in which the Yamuna River is in. They claimed that the water of the Yamuna is more dangerous than the novel coronavirus.
The principal saints of Akhada Parishad have started preparing the outline of the Maha Kumbh which will be organized in Haridwar next year. Warning the Uttarakhand government, the group of saints said that the state should not meddle with the religious beliefs and traditions of the saints in the name of Covid-19.
Akhil Bhartiya Shri Panch Nirmohi Akhada national president Rajendra Das Maharaj said that after the ritual baths and processions at the Vrindavan Kumbh meet, the Kumbh meet is now proceeding peacefully in Haridwar.
That meet will decide what arrangements need to be made during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar next year.
Uttarakhand government should not interfere with the traditions of the Sanatan Dharma in the name of coronavirus, Rajendra Das Maharaj remarked.
‘Delhi-NCR polluting Yamuna’
One of the seasoned saints told India Today that the Vaishnava community’s beliefs are being kept in mind in the preparations of the Vrindavan Kumbh, but the condition of the Yamuna breaks his heart.
The water in the Yamuna is very dangerous for the health of the people who bathe in it, even more harmful than the coronavirus, the saint said. He went on to add that the Yamuna is being polluted by cities upstream, including Delhi-NCR.
When UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had arrived in Mathura, the water quality in the Yamuna was bearable, but since then, the water has become polluted with sewerage and other impurities, rendering it unfit to bathe, the saint told India Today.
Mahant Ramdas said the Kumbh signifies ‘Amrut’, but the Yamuna water is no longer a blessing for humanity, but a danger. Narendra Das Maharaj said that the government should be taking strict action aimed at controlling pollution in the Yamuna and form effective laws to that effect.
Saints return without bathing in Yamuna
Residents of the Braj region have written to the UP Chief Minister Adityanath, requesting him to take immediate steps towards countering the practice of dumping polluted water into the Yamuna by Delhi and Haryana.
A number of saints returned from Vrindavan after seeing the state in which the Yamuna was at the time of the ritual bath and Braj residents have requested better arrangements for the next royal bath to be held on March 9, so that the saints do not have to return from the Yamuna bank without taking a bath.
Mahant Dharmdas said that although the Yamuna water was extremely polluted, still a lot of saints bathed in the Yamuna as the river itself is a divine entity that blesses those who bathe in it.
However, if the river water remains polluted to this extent, the saints will have to take matters into their own hands and ensure that the water of the Yamuna river is clean. – India Today, 3 March 2021
› Siraj Qureshi reports for India Today from Agra.
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