The Mahakumbh is transient, a brief yet profound convergence of humanity. Participants, from saffron-clad saints to curious foreigners, return to their daily lives after this spiritual renewal. It is not a permanent exhibition but an occasional reminder of the eternal pursuit of balance and harmony.
The Mela doesn’t seek validation or approval. It marches forward, much like Shiva’s baraat—a universal celebration of life, faith, and the cosmic symphony.
IIT BABA
Imagine Abhay Singh, the IIT Baba, entering the Mahakumbh. He strides in with his sharp mind. His wry humor accompanies him. He carries a mission to decode the chaos of existence. The crowd, a living sea of humanity seeking redemption, surrounds him. Yet, unlike most, he’s not here to wash away sins or find answers in rituals. He’s here to embrace the absurdity. Stephen Dedalus once stood on the windswept shores of Dublin Bay. He shed the weight of catholic guilt. If we’re paying attention, there’s another figure threading through this narrative. It’s Swami Vivekananda, the original rebel saint. He reminds us that freedom—true moksha—is a battle fought within.
Weight of Guilt and the Promise of Liberation
Stephen Dedalus wrestled with Catholicism’s suffocating grip, his every step haunted by guilt and shame. Swami Vivekananda, too, battled the traditionalist mindset of a colonized India, weighed down by orthodoxy and social inequality. Both men saw these forces as spiritual quicksand, dragging people away from their potential.
And now in Mahakumbh, enter the IIT Baba. He is a product of hyper-modernity. Here, guilt has evolved into notifications, deadlines, and self-improvement mantras. His rebellion isn’t against gods or colonizers but against a world that demands perfection and offers anxiety in return.
For all three, liberation lies in rejecting these chains. Dedalus turned to art. Vivekananda found liberation in the universal truths of Vedanta. IIT Baba preaches the acceptance of chaos—not as failure, but as the essence of life itself.
Swami Vivekananda once declared, “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity.” The Mahakumbh, chaotic as it seems, becomes a stage for this manifestation. The pilgrims, jostling and bathing in the Ganges, aren’t just erasing their karmic debts, they’re dissolving their egos. Vivekananda believed in transcending narrow identities, such as caste, creed, or nation. What better metaphor than losing oneself in a crowd so vast it renders individuality meaningless?
IIT Baba sees this as the point. The Mahakumbh isn’t about finding yourself; it’s about realizing you were never a single, fixed entity to begin with.
It’s an echo of Stephen Dedalus’s revelation, liberation isn’t about answers but the freedom to embrace the unknown.
Swami Vivekananda’s journey mirrors that of the IIT Baba in profound ways. Both were rationalists at heart, questioning blind faith and demanding proof. Vivekananda’s early skepticism led him to ask Sri Ramakrishna, “Have you seen God?” When assured of a direct experience of the divine, Vivekananda embraced spirituality with the same rigor he applied to philosophy. The IIT Baba doesn’t reject tradition outright. Instead, he seeks its relevance through reason. He refuses to take anything—rituals, dogmas, or societal norms—at face value.
Stephen Dedalus, too, rejected inherited truths, carving out his identity as an artist with an almost divine mission. For all three men, the journey inward was the ultimate rebellion—a shift from external expectations to internal clarity.
Moksha As Freedom from Guilt:
Swami Vivekananda reframed renunciation not as a retreat but as a dynamic act of freedom. He taught that true spirituality isn’t about escaping the world but engaging with it without attachment. The IIT Baba embodies this in his own irreverent way, laughing at modern anxieties and turning guilt into a punchline. He’d agree with Vivekananda’s assertion: “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”
For Dedalus, this meant shedding the weight of religious and societal expectations to soar as an artist. For the IIT Baba, it’s a daily act of rebellion—whether by walking into the chaos of the Kumbh, or by rejecting the treadmill of guilt-driven productivity. Moksha, as they all discover, isn’t about leaving the world but about liberating oneself from its burdens.
The Mahakumbh is a microcosm of life’s absurdity. It is a swirling mass of chaos that offers no answers, only the chance to surrender. Vivekananda saw this surrender not as defeat but as the ultimate strength. It was a relinquishing of ego to embrace the divine within. Dedalus glimpsed it in the vastness of the Dublin coastline. The IIT Baba finds it in the absurdities of modern existence. Even the act of “letting go” has become a commodified checklist.
In the end, all three remind us that the only path to liberation lies within. The spiritual genius of Vivekananda guides us. The artistic flights of Dedalus inspire us. The sardonic wisdom of IIT Baba advises us. The message is clear: stop searching for answers. Accept the chaos, dilute the ego, and laugh in the face of life’s absurdity.
Moksha isn’t a destination; it’s a mindset.
(Dr Naresh Purohit is advisor Nationd Mental Health Programme. The views and opinion expressed in this article are those of the author)