By Teresa Guerra
Jan 29th – I could hardly sleep last night because of the excitement, the loud chanting in the street, and jetlag…Women in the tent started getting ready before 2:00a.m.
At 3:20a.m., the swamis and nuns were lined up. That was a scene to be seen! What a joy!!! So uplifting! One of the swamis applied vibuthi (ashes) on the other swamis’ foreheads. The matajis did the same and also applied on the devotees’ foreheads, including us. The procession began. Many were chanting Hara Hara Mahadeva! Srilatha and I were next to each other. At that time in the morning the crowd was huge!
People kept pushing and cutting in front of us, increasing our distance from the sadhus. At one point, the road divided. We could not figure out which was the correct way and ended up on the incorrect route. Srilatha asked a police officer for the sadhus from Sri RKM. They showed the way but there was a barricade. The police officers asked Srilatha to show them the badge/ID, which we were given when we registered. Srilatha showed hers and asked me for mine. I didn’t bring it because I thought it was unnecessary. Srilatha replied that Secretary Maharaj had said that we had to wear the ID as it would help the police to keep us together; she had translated that to me, but I didn’t copy that. I immediately got very worried, turned my back to the police so he wouldn’t ask me, and I prayed to Mother to please help me otherwise I would not be allowed to continue. People started pushing at the barricade, the police pushed back. I got scared as the back and forth was intense.
We stayed to the side. Once the barricade was completely opened, we rapidly crossed. We got to a couple of crossing points where Srilatha had to show the ID, and again, I maneuvered to avoid the police asking for my ID. Thank God!!! Finally, after several inquiries, we got hold of the sadhus. We walked a few steps with the crowd and then the police stopped everyone. We were stuck. People started pushing, police officers were yelling to back off. The police actually grabbed people that were much ahead of us and shoved them to the side. They were all yelling in Hindi. The swamis were spread out. Srilatha said that we had to leave. Someone said that there was “an accident” and that we had to take another route. I was so lost trying to figure out all the information people next to us were sharing.
Some of the swamis reportedly went back to the camp and would try again later on. Others went to the Ganga (instead of Triveni Sangam). We decided to go to the Ganga. A devotee named Yugal Kumar Chaturvedi from the camp, a disciple of Revered Swami Bhuteshanandaji, was walking with us. He said he was taking dips every morning in the Ganga at a spot about 10 minutes away. It was 5:15a.m. and we started walking again. I thought it was not going to be a big deal. We got to an intersection and the pushing in all directions was insane. It felt like I was in a whirlpool! The three of us were holding each other. We also had to push to continue walking. When we got to the Ganga, around 5:45a.m. the crowd was very big but easier to manage. We took turns to take our dip. We had our Mahasnan by Mother’s Grace!
By 6:15a.m. we started to walk back to the camp and had to push to get through every intersection. We reached at almost 7:00a.m. We heard that there was a stampede and that people had died; the count fluctuated between 12 to 2,000. Later that day, access to Triveni Sangam was closed.
We sat at the Shrine, and Yugal narrated incidents about his Guru. By 8:00a.m. Srilatha reported at the dispensary. By 8:50a.m. I had breakfast and met with Pravrajika Sarvagitopranaji. Then, I washed the wet clothes from the morning. I got a nice surprise visit from Abhijit K. Jayant and Krishan (devotees from NY) that day. Afterwards: lunch, nap, teatime, Aarati, and dinner.
It was a long and very blessed day!
