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Reflections from a Sacred Water Cleansing Ritual
When I was in Bali, I visited a World Heritage and UNESCO site, Pura Mengening, a temple complex that within its compound was a sacred spring water site. The rapid stream of water came from the mountains above and it is open for visitors to enter for free. The fresh water is open for visitors to take a dip or to perform a mindful cleansing ritual. The experience was refreshing as I recall my first step into the cleansing site, it was early in the morning, and the water was really cold. I threaded my bare feet cautiously in the rocky waterbed and holding onto moss covered rocks. The instant moment that I dipped my head into the sharp overflowing current, I was shivering, feeling the irony of being both out of breath and alive at the same time.
Something was calming, sacred and beautiful about standing under that massive flow. I felt connected and one with my surroundings, that nothing else mattered, my mind felt soothed by the current. In that space, every worry that I carried to Bali seemed washed away.
Sometimes being long enough in nature, I feel that we don’t need many things to be happy. The essentials are always provided for by nature and whatever Man has created came from what was already fundamentally offered. If these basic needs are fulfilled, and I can spend more time with a life of such quality, I have reached my bliss point.
