Why does a man go on a pilgrimage when the
Ultimate Paramatman which he searches is within his own heart? The reason is,
man cannot listen to himself. The ear cannot hear itself. The tongue cannot
taste itself. The eye cannot see itself. In order to enable these senses, to
identify the objects of the senses, these are placed in front of him as
symbols. The great Rishis like saint Madusudhana Saraswathi, say, “Baktyatartham,
Kalpitham, Dwaitham, Advaithat api Sundaram”.
Though the Ultimate Paramatman is within you, in order to enable the senses to
see Him, the mind, the intellect and the praana, we need to search for Him/ the
Ultimate. It is positioned as an object.
The places of pilgrimage are sanctified by
the visits of the great Rishis of the Vedas, the Puranic saints and avataara
purushas, and later-day great saints. So, the
pilgrim centers that a saadhaka
seeks to visit are thrice-blessed either in the Vedas, the Puranas or by the avataara
purushas. Every pilgrim center finds some kind of
glorification in the Puranas, Vedas or in the Upanishadic scriptures. The
Upanishads themselves talk about Benaras (Kashi) as the avimukta
kshetra. The Puranas describe in great detail,
the places of birth of avataara purushas
like Ayodhya, Mathura, and the places where the Paramatman in the form of
Shiva, Rudra stays; for example, Kashi, Haradwar and Ujjain. These places are
the locations where God is equally, easily found. This kind of pilgrimage has
been the age-old practice in India.
Perhaps, the Saadhana
of spiritual journey is as old as Bharat itself. The (Tamil) Sangam poetry
talks about a man going in search of God, in search of his love, a man going
out for earning money, or for a war, or delivering a political message. To
carry man from place to place, different yanas,
the different vehicles, are also described in our scriptures. From the Rigvedic
period downwards, the great ship-building industry was flourishing in India
enabling man to go to different places. The carts, the elephants, the horses
are also described on which man could ride and go to different places. Palkhis
(palanquins) are also mentioned in the Shaastras, carrying saints and those who
cannot walk. Even today pilgrims going to Amarnath or Sabarimala are being
carried there by paid employees who can carry the old and disabled people up to
the temple precincts. The facility of vaahanas,
development of vehicles for carrying the needy pilgrims has been a great facet
of development in Indian society. Once, a minister of tourism and pilgrimage
development in the Delhi Govt. told us that 90% of the tourism out of which
Delhi Govt earns money is only through spiritual tourism. For the Hindus,
tourism means going on a pilgrimage, a Teerthasthaana or a temple. Ordinary
site-seeing has grown a little now-a-days, perhaps, as a result of further
developments and modern facilities.
Then, because of the variety of
experiences, tremendous amount of literature has grown around the concept of
pilgrimage. For example, Vivekananda Kendra Patrika
brought out a volume years ago, titled ‘The
Pilgrim Centers of India’. About each temple, there are books about
how the pilgrim centers attract yatris.
Coming to Itihasas,
Rama’s great pilgrimage, from Ayodhya to Mithila to marry Sita and then coming
back to Ayodhya, and then going to Lanka to kill Ravana was the very purpose of
his Avataara. Then, how Rama journeyed from Ayodhya to Srilanka and how he
returned by Pushpaka Vimana
back to his capital Ayodhya have all been described in great detail. Maps have
been produced and descriptions were made on what are the important places that
Rama visited while going from Ayodhya to Mithila, Mithila to Ayodhya, Ayodhya
to Srilanka, and Srilanka to Ayodhya again. That gives an idea of the
geographic extent of India in those times. Following in the footsteps of Sri
Rama, the Pancha Pandavas also went on pilgrimage. Similarly, in the
Mahabharata, the Pancha Pandavas go on pilgrimage on two occasions. When they
are in the Vanavaasa
tenure, one of the Panchapandavas lives with Draupadi and the other four
brothers go out as pilgrims. These pilgrimages are described in great detail.
Then, Dharmaputra, Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva have established a
number of temples, from Gokarnam to Kedarnath to Kanyakumari. The pilgrim
centers where the Pancha Pandavas have established Shivalingas, have been
described in the Puraanas, and more in the Sthala-puraanas. When Dharmaputra
was to be coronated as Chakravarti, he performed Rajasuya Yajna. Then, the four
Pandavas, Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva branched out to different parts
of India, to earn money and collect wealth and tributes from the titular kings
for the proposed Rajasuya Yajna
of Dharmaputra. This also has been described in detail in the Mahabharata. All
the travelogues make up a great wealth of pilgrim(age) literature. Then,
following these sanctified routes, the great Rishis wandered from place to
place preaching the message of Sanatana Dharma.
For example, in the year 2025 Jan. 14th
to Feb. 26th there is going to be / there was a Mahakumbh in Prayag.
Mahakumbh occurs once in 144 years. What happens when the Mahakumbh takes
place? The great Rishis and saints who perform tapasya
in the Himalayas, always stay in very great heights where snow does not melt;
they come down once in twelve years, reach Prayag and stay in great tents and
huge camps. And then pilgrims from all over the country reach Prayag. There,
for 45 days, the kalpavasis,
the pilgrims who come to Prayag, stay and get instructions on different aspects
of Sanatana Dharma from the Himalayan saints. It will be about Vedas, it can be
about spiritual saadhana,
it can be about Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, it can be about
different Shaastras, different types of Pranayama, herbal treatments, Ayurveda,
grammar and so many other topics. Every subject, which the Vedas cover is
discussed by the Himalayan saints for the benefit of the pilgrims who gather in
Prayag from all over the country and all over the world. This is a kind of
spiritual parliament. Such spiritual parliaments are being held once in every
twelve years at Prayagraj. Countless number of pilgrims return home from the
Mela refreshed and spiritually rejuvenated.
In the Kumbakonam Mahamakam, in the Tamil
month of Maasi in
the Maka Nakshatra
(Feb-Mar.), pilgrims come and take bath where all the saptateerthas
converge. “Gangecha Yamunechaiva Godavari Saraswati
Narmade Sindhu Cauveri jalesmin sannidhim kuru”.
All the teerthas
conjoin at the Mahamakam temple pond and people take a dip there. And
similarly, in the Rivers Tamiraparani, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, and Narmada,
in every 144 years a Pushkara (holy assembly) is held. These are very sacred
days even for the rivers themselves. People from all over the world come there
to take bath in the rivers, and they get purified. Therefore, pilgrimage made
to get purified of one’s past sins, or spiritually elevated, is a very very
important saadhana
for any common man of Hindu faith.
There is a Puranic story. Once, Parvati
asked Shiva, “Is it true that when a man takes bath in Ganga during the
Kumbhamela, he is purified of all his sins? If that is so, then the whole
creation will come to a standstill. All the people will take bath in Ganga, and
the creation will end because everybody will be absolved of all his/her sins
and go to Swarga or attain Moksha, or whatever he wants”. Then Paramasiva laughed
and they both descended on earth. Paramasiva was lying down as an old man and
Parvati was sitting by his side. Then Paramasiva pretends that he is dead.
Parvati weeps. People who came to take bath in Kumbhamela asked the woman, “Ma,
why are you weeping?”. Parvati said, “My husband is dead. Whoever has not
committed any sin, brings out a handful of Ganga water and pours it in his
mouth, he will come back alive”. Everybody said, “Oh I am a sinner, I cannot
save your husband, I cannot
be of any use to you” and turned away. At last, there came a very ordinary man.
He said, “Oh, I might have committed so many sins, but whatever be the kind of
sinner one is, if he takes bath in Ganga, all his sins will be nullified.”
Saying this, this young man, goes and takes a dip in the Ganga, brings a
handful of water and pours it in the mouth of Lord Shiva, who was laying there
in the manner of a corpse. Then Paramasiva comes alive and tells Parvati, “See,
this is the only man who believes that the Ganga purifies man of his sins. So,
it is simply not that you take bath in the Ganga, it is the question of your
intense belief, that Ganga purifies your sins”. The number of such pilgrims who
come to Mahaamakam will be in crores. But how many are really believing that a
bath in Kumbhmela will absolve the man of his sins is what is to be seen. There
is a great stress on shraddha,
when you go to a pilgrim center or a place of Mela like the Kumbhmela. The
history of Kumbhmela is also very important. The same story applies to
Mahaamakam in Kumbakonam also, in the South.
We all know the story that Devas and
Asuras churned the ocean of milk with the help of Vasuki snake and Mantara
mountain to get Amrita.
Lord Narayana also came in the form of tortoise (Koorma
avatara) to support the Mantara mountain. There
were number of divine things like Uchchaisravas, the divine horse, Kalpataru,
Jewel etc. emerged. Finally Lakshmi came and then Dhanvantri comes with a pot
of Amrita. Then devas and asuras fought for it and Narayana in the form of Mohini,
cleverly deprived the asuras of the Devaamrita and gave it all to the devas who
were all restored to their original glory. That Amrita kumbha
fell at a number of places. There are legendary stories, puranic instances
which say that where the Kumbha
fell, is the place of Kumbhamela or the place of Mahamaka. When the amrita
kumbha fell near Kumbakonam, the places where
the coconut, the mango leaves and the sacred thread from the Kumbha
fell, became the places of pilgrimage around Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu. Thus,
such pilgrim centers have got the touch of amrita,
the heavenly ambrosia. Whenever you go to such great pilgrim
centers, you will find some such puranic stories, which authenticate the
holiness of these places. Therefore, the yatras to Kumbhmela and the teertasthaanas
link the soil of India, the air of India, the water of India, the space of
India, the energy of India, the Panchaboothas
of India to the puraanas
and God Himself. Each teerthasthana
has got a great sanctity. These pilgrims are doubly blessed because, the common
man goes there to remove his sins and the saints go there to remove the sins of
the teerthaas
themselves, thus replenishing their sanctity.
And then, to sanctify these places, our
ancients have built great temples in these places. For example, in the birth
place of Dasharatha Rama, Ayodhya, a great temple has been built. Then in Puri
Jagannath a great temple is built. In Ujjain, a Shiva temple is built. In the
great Hrishikesh, where the Ganga descend from the Himalayas to the plains, a
great temple is built. And then in Rameshwaram, where Sri Rama is said to have
worshipped Shiva, a great temple is built. There are the seven
Mokshapuris. These are the places which
confer Moksha on people who go there. And there are the Char Dhams in the four
corners of India, namely, Rameshwaram, Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath. These are
also places which confer Moksha on the pilgrims. There has been a continuous
tradition of thousands of years, of pilgrims going on specific occasions to
these pilgrim centers to purify themselves.
Pilgrimages are inextricably interwoven with India’s spiritual culture.
If a metaphor could be used, life itself
is a pilgrimage. Pilgrimages are great
opportunities for self-exploration, and to connect oneself with the higher
levels of existence, thereby seeking fulfilment in one’s life. This issue of Vivekananda
Kendra Patrika has ‘Yatra’ as its central theme. In the preceding passages, some puranic
stories have been briefly recollected, paving the way for the rest of the
journey, yatra, as could be covered within the limits of this volume. Here,
yatra has been taken in its spiritual sense, as a kind of saadhana,
or a mission in ones’ life, and not a mere pleasant tour or holidaying trips as
is often the spirit in sabbaticals.
An individual’s life itself is a
yatra. From the tiny tots to the aged,
life is a yatra, a constant progress towards higher goals, culminating in
Self-realization. This idea has been
brought out in the light of the Kendra Prayer in one of the articles titled dhyeya
maargaanu yatra. This
volume seeks to celebrate the glory of yatra in a spiritual perspective. Great unifiers of the nation like Sri Adi
Shankara and other great teachers have immensely contributed to the sacredness
of teerthayatras through
their own examples. Hence the tradition
continues with its unflagging spirit. Yatras could be in quest of spiritual
knowledge. They could be in fulfilment
of vows. They could be undertaken as a
kind of traditional sacred practice.
They have been an unshakeable unifying force in our country. Travelling
through the length and breadth of the country, Swami Vivekananda internalized
the essential
India which is nothing but spiritual to the core, and he called himself a
Condensed India. Such was his identity
with the country.
This volume discusses the concept of yatra
in an impressive manner with contributions from very knowledgeable
persons. Reading this issue itself, we
hope, will give the reader the experience of performing an exhilarating and spiritually
elevating pilgrimage. All said and done,
much remains to be said. Nevertheless,
what is contained in this volume, it is hoped, will claim its own worth as a
sumptuous fare on the subject.
N. Krishnamoorti
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