The River - Hardcover

I have taken it upon myself to bring to the many the beauty of my River, the Ganga -- the sacredness of her abundance, the joy of her waters, and the fact that her holiness can and does heal the hearts of humanity's sorrow in this time of the AIDS plague.

The River and all her aspects or streams cool the aching, longing heart of the seeker. Whatever the religion of one who calls out to the Mother, my River can hear. Her very being grants grace and forgiveness. Her home is Kashi, the holiest city in all of India, some say in all the world.

I write this poetry from the place in my heart that stores the waters of the Ganga and allows me to flow freely in my teachings.

The mist of the Mother Earth comes from her daughter, the Ganga, the abundant river that nourishes all of mankind and the gods and goddesses.

I bow to my Mother, the Ganga. May her waters quench the thirst of humanity's needs. May we all swim in her flowing waters of compassion and truth.

-- from the preface

Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati is an American spiritual teacher, mystic, and visionary.  Although she has always offered an interfaith path, her visit to India in 1977 inspired her to speak and write about the sacred River Ganges and the holy city of Kashi (now called Benares) on its banks.

The River has become a central image for Ma Jaya's ecstatic expression of the truths that underlie all spiritual paths.  To Ma, the river represents the Mother, the Goddess, or the feminine face of God. She is also the river of life, the river of love, the river of breath, and sometimes the flowing power of kundalini that rises within us.

Kashi, the city of light, is also the city of death.  Many Hindus go to Kashi to die, believing that they may be released from the karmic cycles of birth and death when their ashes are placed in the sacred waters. Especially after Ma Jaya began to work with people living and dying with HIV/AIDS, she developed the image of Kashi into an expression of both bodily death and the more important ego death that accompanies spiritual enlightenment.
 
Ma Jaya resides at Kashi Ashram, and she has kept the image of the river alive in her paintings, and in the names of her various projects -- the River School, a River House respite for the dying, the River Fund service organization, and By the River, a community for low income seniors.