The River Ganges
One beautiful day I saw a vast crowd toiling about their business washing linen in the great river, washing themselves in the sacred River Ganges to purify themselves. Out of the crowd stepped a young girl about fifteen years of age, her head covered with a beautiful cloth her eyes sparkling with excitement. She too washed her arms in the sacred waters symbolising her hope for sanctity. She stepped into the water her sari clinging to her body just like her hopes clung to the promise of rebirth for she was of low caste and was in love with a wealthy young man; a Brahman who did not even notice her beauty. She prayed to her Hindu god to relieve her of her life that she might be reborn , that her sins from her previous life would be forgiven as she led a pure and selfless existence and that she would finally become worthy of a higher and more dignified life. As she prayed these words she tripped by accident ant fell into the water. There were so many people yet no one noticed her trip and I found it impossible to work my way through the throng of crowds. I do not know why no one helped her; were they blind to her struggle within the sacred waters, or did they not care enough to notice? Whatever excuses they had; no one offered help, so instead the blackness of the water engulfed her. The helpless girl’s prayer seemingly unanswered within the depths of the water in which she ritually cleansed herself. Her life forfeit, her beauty submerged, her dying thoughts of salvation lost in the Ganges.
Does wishing ones life away so recklessly cause our destruction or is it a cruel twist of fate? What leads us to these fantasies and gruesome ends? Is it our own minds and desires – the false belief that is imprinted upon us by society, self and others? Who informs us that we are not good enough, not pretty or clever enough? Where do these ideas originate? We are listening to the evil one who tempts us in this way to end our lives or to self mutilate; for hatred of self is rooted in evil.
Yet accidents occur in all our lives that end them suddenly like a flame extinguished by a breath of air. What we can take from this untimely death is that God did hear her prayers as he hears all prayers. That the girl was reborn into the Kingdom of Heaven; that her faith was rewarded by betrothal to the King who loved her beauty, her purity of heart.
