The story on Kumbh Mela

The story on Kumbh Mela:

As told to Gargi Arora by Swami Atmajnananda,a monk of the holy Ramakrishna Order, serving in the centre of Vedanta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America.

According to a famous legend, once, in the kumbh mela lots of devotees were taking a dip. Shiva and Parvati were looking at all the people who were taking a dip there and Maa Parvati says to Shiva that it is so nice that all these people are going to be liberated!

Shiva smiles and says, “No! Not all of them, only those who have complete faith will be liberated.” And  Parvati Maa replies innocently, that she is sure that these people have Faith and that's why they have come here.

So Shiva says, “Let us test their conviction”, and explains the purifying power of Ganga Maa in a dramatic way. Shiva poses to be a dead person and lies down amidst the people like a dead body! Parvati Maa, like an ordinary woman, starts crying, acting like his faithful wife. People gather around them wanting to help cremate the dead person, but, she says  not everybody can touch his body! He is a very great person and pure. Only a pure person can touch his body! People were listening and they slowly moved away! Nobody dared to touch the dead body! Just then, a person who looked very poor and dirty, as if he had never been in a good society, sees and hears about the condition of Maa Parvati. He goes and takes  a dip in the Ganges.  He returns and touches the dead body with devotion. Shiva and Parvati are pleased with him and show him their true form. This is the power of faith! It cures us from all past Karmas or evil tendencies and liberates us.