There is an ancient tradition of Kumbh Mela in Bharat. It is a little difficult to say when the organisation of Kumbh Mela started, but it can certainly be said that it has a long and rich tradition. The Mahakumbh organised in Prayagraj is the world’s largest spiritual fair, and about 50 crore people are expected to come. When modern means of communication like TV, radio, newspapers, internet, etc. did not even exist, lakhs of people from all over the country used to reach out to participate in Kumbh on a fixed year and date. This symbolises 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 has been a natural tendency in our country.
However, Adi Shankaracharya envisioned that knowledge should be discussed and deliberated during religious and spiritual events like Kumbh. In such events, saints and sages used to brainstorm and guide the country’s citizens from a 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 a spiritual and religious point of view. Still, it was also a collective event of reorganising 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 every twelve years. Here, new knowledge was also created from knowledge discussions.
Similarly, in Gyan Mahakumbh, people from the education world of the country can gather and work to give direction to the country’s education sector to reestablish the Bharatiya knowledge tradition in accordance with modern requirements. With this goal in mind, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas is organising Gyan Mahakumbh. Just as Kumbh is organised at four holy places of the country (Haridwar, Prayag, Ujjain and Nashik), on the same format, before the Gyan Mahakumbh, Gyan Kumbh was successfully organised 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 a medium of imparting knowledge with a spirit of service. In Gyan Mahakumbh, hundreds of people directly associated with education have contributed their bodies, minds, and money to make it 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 a change in any field should start it by themselves; this has been the Bharatiya tradition, and only then can steps be taken toward real change. Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Gijubhai, etc., had made similar efforts to change education. Inspired by 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 Mahakumbh.
It is a matter of joy that today, the country has become the fifth world economy 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 struggle with the environment, moral values , character crises, 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 and spiritual development can the above problems be resolved, and steps can be taken towards becoming a world leader. In this way, the country’s balanced and holistic development can be possible only by acquiring knowledge. The most powerful medium of acquiring knowledge is education. Education is the foundation of the 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 a bath together. They take prasad and food together in the camps of saints and social organisations, and the country’s problems visible on the surface do not seem to exist there. This is the symbol of practical spirituality.
Also, due to Kumbh, the economic development of that area and its people is 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 Bharatiyans 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 Mahakumbh, 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 organising the Gyan Mahakumbh.
