Rishikesh Ganga Aarti, India

Ganga Aarti in Rishikesh

Ganga Aarti ceremony is done every day in the evening at ParmarthNiketan Ashram. Through this aarti River Ganga is worshipped. Everyday nearly 50-100 people come to watch this aarti. Ganga arti too done in places like Haridwar and Varanasi, but they are a crowded noisy ritual with loud screaming speakers, people troubling you to make donations or hawkers trying to sell something very overpriced.

Ganga Aarati in Rishikesh is totally a contrast to it. It is done at a small place and only few people are there performing the aarti and is a relatively quite affair. You can sit calmly in a corner and enjoy and watch the rituals or you can join the crowds singing Bhajans.

At ParmarthNiketan Ganga Aarti is organized and performed by ashram residents, particularly the children who are studying the Vedas there. The aarti begins with the singing of prayers, bhajans, and a sacred and purifying ritual with the offerings made to Agni, the fire god around a fire. The lamps are lit and the aarti takes place as the final part of the ceremony. The children sing along with the spiritual head of the ashram, in sweet, haunting voices. A huge statue of Lord Shiva overlooks the proceedings.

Everyone who is present there for the aarti forgets everything and deeply engaged themselves into the aarti. Thus, incalculable floating lamps beautify the rapid current of River Ganga. The starry night sky seemed to be a reflection of the river below. The river, revered as mother, looked dazzling, dressed in a sari embroidered in flickering flames of gold. Rishikesh becomes a heaven in divinity's lap.