As a rare yoga practitioner and monotheistic religious person, I approached the journey to the Kumbha Mela less as spiritual necessity and more as bucket list adventure—it’s not too often you get to be part of a pilgrimage involving millions of people, some of whom are holy men who rarely come out of their caves. And bathing in the river—The incredibly sacred and notoriously polluted Ganges—on auspicious dates which is believed that it supposedly helps clear sins is always an add on and a plus.

Millions participate in the Kumbha Mela pilgrimage, bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges River. Yet few outside of India are familiar with the largest human gatherings in the world, an event in which entire populace of Rome and Berlin put together participate.

We could feel the pulse start to quicken the moment we entered Haridwar which sits at the foot of the mighty snow-capped Himalayas. It was the second day of the Maha Kumbh 2010 immersions and there was an air of expectancy as people from all walks of life and from all corners of the country started to pour into the eternal city.

In today’s world, bath is a habit which all people associate with cleanliness. However, when we go through history, we can realize that the act of bathing in the past implied differently to people of different religions and eras. What was once considered a ritual and a religious activity, gradually turned into an act of recreation, and then to something associated with hygiene.

More than a million devout Hindus bathed in the Ganges River Friday, braving the risk of terrorist attack, stampede and petty crime for the chance to wash away the sins of a lifetime and open the gateway to heaven after death.

But perhaps the greatest threat to the devotees who flocked to Haridwar, India, on one of the most auspicious days of the triennial Kumbh Mela festival, was the water itself.

After visiting the Kumbh Mela of 1895, Mark Twain wrote: “It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. Is it done in love, or is it done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold white”.

After visiting the Kumbh Mela of 1895, Mark Twain wrote: “It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. Is it done in love, or is it done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold white”.

Paramilitary forces in charge of security at India’s massive Kumbh Mela religious pilgrimage have extended security measures to prohibit tourists from taking photos at Har-Ki-Pauri and other important bathing ghats in Haridwar.

Ever since I started blogging about the Kumbha Mela and related topics about it, it has been a fascinating experience and I am surprised about the fact that I hardly know anything about the various Kumbha Mela that happens in India.

Millions of people are making their way to the banks of Ganga in Haridwar for the Kumbh mela, often described as the largest gathering of humans on the planet for a shared objective. They take holy dips in the river Ganges on auspicious dates convinced that it will grant them salvation, ‘moksha’. My thoughts go back to the Mahakumbh 2001 in Allahabad where I finally ventured a dip in the dirty, freezing cold waters for – if not salvation – a transformative experience.