Acharya Prashant explains that while many people come, very few reach. He states that coming is wonderful, but one must also reach, and reaching is dissolution. Anything that begins must gain completion; nothing begins just to remain begun. He illustrates this using the Indian concept of Brahma, Vishnu, and then Shiva. Shiva is considered the highest, not because he creates, but because he dissolves. Shiva has no interest in creation itself; he prepares the ground for creation by flattening everything that was ever created. Rishikesh is described as the city of Shiva, the city of ending. One should come to Rishikesh to stop, not to find another beginning. We have many beginnings in lifeāa new book, a new woman, a new movieābut things must end somewhere, and there is no better place to end than Rishikesh. After going through Brahma and Vishnu, it is time to meet Shiva. The journey through various gods, goddesses, and gurus is meaningless if one does not meet Shiva, who represents annihilation and a full stop. Every full stop is the ground for infinite new universes. The speaker further explains that the Ganga, symbolically rising from Shiva's forehead, represents stillness, not flow. It comes from nowhere, which means it comes from ceasing. Shiva does not particularly like the endless business of beginning, continuing, and maintaining associated with Brahma and Vishnu. When their activities become a serious preoccupation, Shiva, with a blink of his third eye, ends it all. Therefore, Rishikesh must not become another continuation. If Rishikesh means anything to you, you are keeping Shiva in abeyance. Rishikesh must become nothing, for when Rishikesh is gone, Shiva will be there.
