Last

The Purpose and Significance of Pilgrimage(Translation of a discourse on "Tirthasevan Ke Mahatva Aur Prayojan ")
Let us begin with the collective chanting of the Gayatri Mantra:
“Om Bhur Buvah Swah, Tatsaviturvareñyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yonah Pracodayet ||”
Sisters and Brothers,
"Tirtha" – a holy place of pilgrimage – hearing this word itself is so soothing! It fills our hearts with sacred feelings and joy.  Just, imagine! How beatifying the tirthas must have been in their original forms, when the transforming spiritual vibrations of the Tapa-Sedhanes of great rishis and siddha saints were intensely tangible in these places? Pilgrimage to such places used to cleanse the pilgrims' inner selves, wash out their evil tendencies and open up before them the path of righteous living. It must have been truly purifying and enlightening to live there for sometime! 
I do not know whether bathing the physical body in the water of holy rivers like Ganga washes away your sins or not. But, I can assure you that if you take a deep plunge in the spiritual Ganga of divine knowledge at a vibrantly alive tirtha, it would not only cleanse you from within, but also enable you to keep the 'cloth' of your life always 'clean' in the future as well. Why? How? Because, you have practiced penance and devotions at such places and performed sedhanes in the spiritually empowering ambience there. You seek guidance of the elevated devotees and sages there to solve the problems of your worldly life, to get rid of your shortcomings. You derive inspirations and mental strength from their ennobling and enlightening company, teachings and blessings. All these help in cultivating virtuous tendencies (susanskeras) in you. The latter become intrinsic and an integral part of your nature, if you also assimilate these teachings and inspirations in your conduct and deeds; if you follow an altruistic, duty-bound life imbued with high moral values.    
You think that just worshipping the God and chanting some mantras or reading devotional epics like the Ramayana would do everything towards your self-realization. No. This itself is not sufficient to inculcate the susanskeras. Sentiments, thoughts and corresponding actions – the integration of these alone can complete the process of cultivation and sprouting of the noble sanskeras.  In fact, spirituality also means awakening and expression of susanskeras. And, these are generated only by the righteous integration of knowledge (Gyena) and deeds (Karma). Divine prayers, worships, devotional practices, japa (rhythmic enunciation or chanting of mantras), meditation, swedhyeya and satsang1 pertain to what is essential for the knowledge aspect of sedhane. 
But what about the actions? What is required to be done on this front of spiritual development? Refinement of personality by dedicated sedhanes and selfless service for the welfare of others of lesser lot around us, adoption of generous, altruistic attitude in daily life – are essential components of the yoga of works. It is these kinds of karmas that correspond to what is referred in the religious terminology as puñyas.  Progress on both fronts is necessary for washing out the sins and attainment of auspicious qualities and divine grace. Connection between the two poles of electricity is essential for the flow of current in a circuit. Similarly, the harmonious conjunction of both Gyena and Karma leads to fulfillment of devotion and righteousness, which then effectuate the supernormal attainments or siddhis of spiritual elevation.  Tirthas were created in the ancient times to provide the motivating energy and atmosphere for transcending and transmuting both –– Gyena and Karma into the supreme state of self-realization.  
If you go for pilgrimage, you must keep this purpose and importance of tirthas in mind.  If you are lucky to reach and stay at a tirtha where the spiritual vibrations of the Rishi Age are still active in some form, you must devote yourself to cultivating an attitude of quietude to the uplifting vibrations pervading there. You must know that tirthas are not meant for merely going through some mechanical rituals and beseeching worldly favors from the deity. If you regard Shantikunj as Gayatri-Tirth (a Tirtha for Gayatri Sedhane), you must follow the disciplines here and make the best use of every moment of your stay for your spiritual enlightenment. Here we have strict timetable from the moment you get up (early in the morning at 3:30 am) till you go to bed (at 9pm). The arrangements, activities and time-schedule are so designed that if you follow them sincerely, within a few days, you would imbibe a regimen of self-restraint and moral discipline. Interaction with people here will also inculcate in you the art of living a truly civilized and cultured social life. You will get an opportunity to know the fundamentals of spiritual Sedhane and Indian Culture and also gain an experience and practical guidance for imbibing an austere, ascetic life dignified simplicity.            
This place is like a sanatorium for spiritual healing. Doctors and medical experts may be there in any conventional hospital, but sanatoriums are equipped with a distinct additional facility – viz., health restoring atmosphere in a natural setting.  What patients now a days gain in good sanatoriums in terms of health benefits, used to be provided in the Gurukuls and Aranyaks to the aspirants in ancient times in terms of virtuous mundane and spiritual growth.  In ancient India, Gurukuls were educational tirthas for young children where they used to gain in-depth knowledge of life and existence from their mentor rishis on all aspects of life. They also used to get thorough training for activation, refinement and growth of their talents and for overall development of their personalities. Aranyaks also used to serve as centers for training of the elders (vanprasthis) in the sedhane of altruistic service and social welfare. 
The monasteries established by Lord Buddha were also like Aranyaks. Those who used to renounce their worldly attachments and were dedicated to selfless service and dissemination of the divine teachings of Lord Buddha for the welfare of all used to be the permanent inmates of these monasteries.  Well, you may call them as "Bauddhvihars" instead of Aranyaks; it hardly makes any intrinsic difference.  Such sacred centers of learning and training, where every moment of life is dedicated to tapa-sedhane and service, are tirthas indeed. 
Tirthas are not the sites where people congregate out of religious faith and do nothing except crowding the place with cars, buses and modern – day gadgets of tourism; bathing in the ponds or rivers there, offering some customary worship in the shrines and distributing some alms to beggars. Such a pilgrimage is no different from a picnic trip. After spending all the money and time, you may have the satisfaction of completing a pilgrimage to a 'popular tirtha', but reality is that doing a pilgrimage in this manner is not genuine and worthwhile. You must understand the correct meaning of pilgrimage. While going to a tirtha, you must remember that your journey and stay there are meant for getting deep inspiration for self-refinement and self-upliftment Pilgrimage is for introspection, practice of penance and selfless service and for resolving to single-pointedly strive for an enlightened future. The devout endeavors of self-discipline and self-transformation of today lay the foundation of a brighter tomorrow. Pilgrimage should be a milestone in this ascending uphill climb of the individual self. 
You have come here to the Gayatri-Tirtha (Shantikunj) for a sedhane retreat. You must understand that this kalpa - sedhane experiment is not going to transform you from a physically old or weak person into a young and stout one; rather, it is actually meant to transform your inner personality. You should therefore make the best possible use of your free time here (beyond sedhane and discourse sessions) in –– introspection, swedhyeya, contemplation, japa-upesane, and discussions with enlightened sedhaks around. Go over to the banks of Ganga nearby; take a stroll there in the evening; sit and meditate or relax and energize yourself in the purifying vicinity of the holy river….  Don't let any part of your routine be wasted in wayward activities and thoughts. This is what would justify your being here in a real tirtha. I have attempted to make this tirtha as a living replica of the tirthas of the ancient times. It has been established in the sacred Saptsarovara region on the banks of Ganga, right at the place where Maharshi Vishwamitra's Tapasthali was located in the Vedic Age.            
Adi Shankaracharya had resurrected the Vedic tradition of tirthas by establishing the grand "Chara Dhams" (four tirthas) with the help of Mandhata.  Lord Buddha had also encouraged the expansion of tirtha tradition in the form of Bauddhavihars and Sangharams. Where…? These centres were spread all over Asia. Rigorous sedhane retreats and training programmes for lay Buddhists and Bhikshus used to be run at these centres. Were they tirthas? Yes indeed! I call them the real tirthas.  Lord Mahavir had also propagated the system of such tirthas through Jain Ashrams.  Samarth Guru Ramdas had followed the same path during the seventeenth century AD. Moreover, as per the needs of the times, he had expanded the tradition of tirthas at the grassroots level. 
Sarmarth Guru Ramdas visited almost every town and village of Maharastra and encouraged widespread establishment of Hanuman temples throughout the Maratha Kingdom. From where did he get the money? Some people may think that temples should be grand and gorgeous in appearance and people should donate lots of money for such religious activities… That way there are many so-called religious trusts and maÚhas, which collect huge amounts of money by exploiting the faith of credulous devotees. Some people may become rich by cheating the poor or by befooling the innocent and thus amassing wealth by making others suffer…, but even they themselves are often found fooling themselves and pouring heaps of money as alms in the shrines to 'get rid' of their sins.  Guru Ramdas was not interested in taking such donations.  He got the temples of Lord Hanuman built by collective participation of the local people. These were constructed by using local soil and wood, or as huts or thatches, or small structures of bricks, as per the capacity of the villagers. And what about the idols and their ornaments and dresses, etc…? He knew that it is the purity and depth of faith which matters in the eyes of God and not the grandeur and decoration of His idols. He got the idols of Hanumanji made up of stones available in the village/town and encarved by local talents. No need of jewelry and gorgeous dresses; the idols were painted by the color made up of ger¿ (Ruddle, red ochre).     
More important for him was the necessity of making these spots as tirthas – centres of soul awakening and faith-instilling for the masses. The purpose was to train the youth to become true devotees of Lord Hanuman. That means, to make them strong, prudent, morally elevated and fully dedicated to noble ideals of social and cultural upliftment of the motherland. All that is happening in most of the temples today is mechanical ritualistic worship of the idols of God, may be coupled with some devotional songs. But the temples established by Samarth Guru were not like that. Ritualistic worship was only a part of the activities there. Main thrust of activities was the development of people's personalities in accordance with the Indian ideals of virility and vibrancy. A gymnasium was attached with each temple. These used to serve the purpose of improving the physical health, courage and valor of the masses in a collective way; above all, people used to learn team work, organized efforts and unity there. There also used to be arrangements for mass education and civic and cultural awareness programmes in the temple premises. The priest of the temple used to supervise and conduct all the educational activities. In the evenings there used to be satsang and kathe-vechana2 to enlighten the masses and guide them to resolve social or familial problems by taking examples from the ancestors. Attending "kathe-vechana" is more of a hobby or an easy way of satsang for many people today.  So let me warn you on that. 
Kathe-vechana is an effective mode of teaching the illiterate masses. It should not be misused (as is done by many so-called popular priests these days,) as mere storytelling, or amusing people by the rhetoric or allegoric representations of the scriptures (Purnas) without trying to understand and explain their implications. E.g., telling that  "Lord Krishna had sixteen thousand one hundred and eight queens, and what not…." or that "Lord Shiva had cut Ganesha's head and then stuck an elephant's head on his neck…", etc –– is all mindless; rubbish. Such narration never had any truth or meaning – neither in the earlier ages, nor now. These kinds of 'stories' convey nothing but the ignorance and shallowness of the so-called 'preacher'…. The kathe-vechana by such preachers is shear wastage of time and degradation of scriptural texts. 
In order to protect "kathe-vechana" from such aberrations and distortions in the temples founded by him, Samarth Guru Ramdas had to write a new treatise.  The stories and associated teachings from this volume called "Das Bodh" were used for kathe-vechana in these temples. "Das Bodh" was like a "Purana", which was most suited for enlightenment and moral elevation of the people of his times.  He thus pioneered the renaissance of the glory of tirthas and the Vedic tradition of kathe-vechana and satsang in a remarkable, relevant and practical way. It was indeed these Hanuman temples that trained and produced the army of patriots, which fought the historic battles against the invaders of Indian self-esteem under the leadership of his intrepid disciple Chhatrapati Shivaji.  Notes: 1. Satsang: Being in good company; attending enlightening discourses, discussions on different aspects of life. Swedhyeya: Self-training through study of sagacious thoughts/teachings and works of elevated souls.
2. Kathe-vechana: Discourses in an enchanting way, by means of telling or reading the stories from scriptures and inspiring episodes from world history with proper explanation.
(To be continued in the next issue)

Last