The 1992 edition of one of the travel guides on India incorporated Yaranasi’s road map. The main road leading into the heart of the city is called Guru Nanak Road. What prompted this political move is unknown, nonetheless, Sikhs do have a connection to Kashi. Guru Nanak visited Kashi and ridiculed the Pandas for thought learning and sanskrit were synonymous Guru Gobind Singh realizing Benares as the microcosm of Hinduism, sent five of his Sikhs to study there so that his Sikhs would be knowledgeable about Hinduism.
Ganga River flows in a South caster direction. However, atone place in Varanasi it resumes a northward direction for some distance before resuming its normal southeastern flow. The city is uniquely located on the west banks of the river precisely where it courses in a northward direction. That’s what sparks one of many reasons for is sacredness as if the rivet is heading back to the Himalayas, the very source of its origin, the home of Siva. The whole of Benares city lies on the west of the river, while nothing on the eastern side. Hindu pilgrims go from ghats to ghats, ghats to temples, temples to temples, temples to ghats, and circumambulate the sacred parameters of, the city all in their pursuit to check in and check out all the requirements to guarantee salvation. All this hard work and the troubles at the same time Keeping away from the eastern shore! Why? The answer is simple yet funny. If you ever cross to the other side of Ganga and happen to die there, you will at once come back to life again as an ass, No kidding. Over the centuries, many Westerners have visited Benares and recorded their observations. Only Mark Twain paid attention to this Hindu theory of “instant incarnation.” This is how Mark Twain wrote; “… Think of that, all this trouble and expense. You see how capricious and uncertain salvation is there. The Hindu has a childish and unreasoning aversion to being turned into an ass. It is hard to tell why. One could properly expect an ass to have an aversion to being turned into a Hindu. One could understand that he could lose dignity by it; also self-respect, and nineteenths of his intelligence. Butthe Hindu changed into anass wouldn’tlose anything, unless you count his religion. And he would gain much release from his slavery to two million gods and 20 million priests, fakers, holy mendicants, and other sacred bacilli; he would escape the Hindu hell; he would also escape the Hindu heaven. These are advantages which the Hindu ought to consider; then he would go over and die on the other side.”
It is indeed too bad Hindus didn’t listen to Mark Twain. If they had, perhaps both Benares and Hindus would have had a better spectacle to show to the world. However, I am obligated to inform the readers that Saint Kabir did go on the other side of Ganga and died there intentionally and did’t come back as an ass, either!
G.B. Singh Augusta, GA
Article extracted from this publication >> April 23, 1993
