faithAlthough Kumbha Mela is the world's largest act of faith, the faith demonstrated by the pilgrims is often misunderstood. Faith in the transcendent is something the modern mind tends to reject. Being partial to rational and scientific thought, we may mistake faith for sentiment or even ignorance. However, the faith demonstrated at the Kumbha Mela cannot so easily be dismissed. There, faith is as substantial as the ground upon which the pilgrims stand.
Faith, in the sense of divine experience,
has been described as "unflinching trust in something sublime." According
to the sages of India, there is an infinite, transcendental world, or
conscious perception, in which doubt is absent—a world guided by
faith.
Pilgrims
bathe in Ganges at Harkipuri, Haridwara Mela
That infinite plane of existence is obtained by an evolution in consciousness, and faith alone can lead one in the attempt. Faith asks one to approach the higher world—to have hope in the infinite. In the spiritual world, faith is more important than human calculation. The relative, physical truths of the lower plane of material existence have no substantial value in the higher, conscious world. The plane of the infinite reality transcends all the laws of the mundane world, regarding them as imperfect and false. Thus, faith is the most important thing for the pilgrims at the Kumbha Mela, all of whom desire to enter into the infinite realm of divine consciousness.
The Kumbha Mela has to be experienced personally, and the next opportunity will be in the year 2013.