The Ganga and Me

Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati was a 25-year-old Jewish woman from Los Angeles, studying for a doctorate at Stanford University, when she first travelled to India in 1996. Struggling with painful experiences from her childhood, she knew almost nothing about Hinduism or the sacred Ganges.
One day, she went down to the river simply to cool her feet. There, she experienced something so profound that it transformed her understanding of herself and set her on an entirely different path.
Within a year, she had left behind her marriage and life in Los Angeles to eventually become a Sanyasi, a saffron-clad Hindu renunciate living on the banks of the Ganges. Thirty years on, the river remains at the centre of her life in Rishikesh, where she has spent decades working across large-scale social, environmental and spiritual initiatives.
In this episode, Vishva Samani follows the unconventional story of Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati’s encounter with the Ganges, explores her experiences as a woman navigating spiritual life in India, and meets her in London as she prepares to take part in a traditional prayer ceremony honouring the River Thames - in the hope of inspiring Hindus globally to embrace a vision of the divine in all.