Ganges: a Sacred River?
Mar 11, 2020 20:40:58 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Mar 11, 2020 20:40:58 GMT -5
Ganges: a Sacred River?
There are Asiatic Hindu Indians who speak of the Ganges River with great reverence and refer to it as being holy and sacred. The word sacred"" indicates something special, to be cherished add respected or worthy of religious veneration. So it came as a great surprise when I learned that although Hindus considered the Ganges holy, they dump human excrement, animal carcasses and human cadavers into it.'
It also surprises me, that a people of a nation which is advanced enough to participate successfully in space exploration should be drinking that water in which untreated sewage, human excrement and decaying cadavers are dumped as if they had absolutely no idea of the link between such water and the onset of disease.
Thousands of bodies are cremated on the banks of the river yearly with many being released into the river with hopes that their souls may have a direct path to heaven.
Hundreds of unwanted or 'illegitimate' babies, cattle and other animal carcasses are also dumped in the Ganges again with religious significance
. The levels of Coliform bacteria is over 2800 times the level considered safe by the W.H.O (world health organisation).
The Ganges River Pollution is now at such a high level that the amount of toxins, chemicals and other dangerous bacteria found in the river are now almost 3000 times over the limit suggested by the WHO as 'safe'.
Hundreds of unwanted or 'illegitimate' babies, cattle and other animal carcasses are also dumped in the Ganges again with religious significance
. The levels of Coliform bacteria is over 2800 times the level considered safe by the W.H.O (world health organisation).
The Ganges River Pollution is now at such a high level that the amount of toxins, chemicals and other dangerous bacteria found in the river are now almost 3000 times over the limit suggested by the WHO as 'safe'.
Some might attribute this total lack of concern for hygiene to strong Hindu religious faith. But faith has to be based on fact which strengthens and supports it. As it stands, the statistical evidence of its unhealthful effect on the people who disregard the pollution supports the fact that this river water is unsafe to bathe in or drink.
These dangerous levels of pollution do little to deter religious practice from the sacred river. Hindus believe drinking water from the Ganges brings fortune, while immersing oneself or one’s belongings brings purity. Those that practice these rituals may become spiritually clean, but the pollution of the water afflicts thousand with diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, and even typhoid each year.
www.learnreligions.com/ganga-goddess-of-the-holy-river-1770295
www.learnreligions.com/ganga-goddess-of-the-holy-river-1770295
Also the lack of government concern with this urgent issue is very hard to understand.
We can send a shuttle into space, we can build the Delhi Metro. We can detonate nuclear weapons. So why can't we clean up our rivers?
—Rakesh Jaiswal, Ganges activist since 1993
—Rakesh Jaiswal, Ganges activist since 1993