|| Pilgrimage: fear to love ||

|| Pilgrimage: fear to love ||

Someone has rightly said, "Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart." In India, where we have so many temples and religious places to visit, every year so many people travel to do the pilgrimage, both from India and from abroad. Why do we travel for pilgrimage? Is it because everyone else is doing it? Is it because it's a well-known place to see? Or is it that you have faith that God exists there? Everyone has their own perception of pilgrimage. Our ancestors have really worked hard to preserve these places where we actually go on pilgrimage. They have even worked hard to preserve those values of rituals that have been there since the time humans have existed in this universe. In our country, every human being follows some religion, belongs to some community, and has their own rituals to follow. Out of 1.3 billion people in the country, the majority of them must have thought of traveling to their religious places to do a pilgrimage once in a lifetime. Why is it so? Because we all Indians believe we have our roots, which are calling us to get inspired and making us believe that god does exist. We have faith that someone is there guiding us. I believe a pilgrimage done once in life will make us believe that we can overcome the challenges of traveling and reach a destination where only God's love exists.

In the Ramayana, Lord Rama worked hard to make dharma survive, where, though as a human, he had all the respect and had his kingdom to run, he believed that relations mattered, whether it was love for family members or the wellness of other people who had faith in him. There were a lot of challenges in front of him, but he decided to spread love, and he gave up his kingdom for 14 years for his brothers at his mother's request. Lord Krishna lifted Govardhan Parvata to save people, made people believe that non-moving objects in this universe have life, and allowed them to work for love and humanity. Like this, many stories are embedded in our religious books, which narrate stories of our pilgrimage places, their importance, and their values. There is a lot of positivity and spirituality at such places, and those blessings are helping us Indians survive in this difficult time of rat race and scientific revolution.

One married couple chose to travel on a pilgrimage. The husband, an IAS officer, brought his wife along with him when he went on an official visit. His wife observed a lovely bird nest while visiting one of the local temples. It had two eggs, and the wife thought it was quite beautiful. She told her husband to get the nest and take it home. So he asked a boy who was playing nearby to help him. The boy was looking underprivileged but was confident in talking; he said, "I am sorry, but I won't be able to do the needful." The IAS officer made a second request, but the boy kept refusing. The IAS officer then offered to pay him for his work, but he declined, saying politely, "Sir, if I give you this nest, the bird who built it would be extremely disappointed if she does not see her nest and her offspring when she goes back to gather food for them." The fact that this boy from a little town has a nice heart, or that compassion and kindness exist there, where we had never anticipated finding those feelings and emotions, shocked the IAS officer and his wife. These are locations where humanity still survives, and those people are closer to God than we are, who just believe that we can purchase anything with money.

Recently, I visited Jatipura in Mathura, where devotees of Lord Krishna visit. In Jatipura, there is Govardhan Parvata, and devotees go there and do parikrama of Govardhan Parvata. I love to go there very often, and I do parikrama with faith in Lord Krishna. We were six family members who were doing parikrama: my sister-in-law, who is 68, and my brother-in-law, who is around 70, also did parikrama with us. Both of them at this age had faith that, with God's blessing, they would be able to do this parikrama. It took us three hours of continuous walking to do the parikrama. Like us, so many people do parikrama every day. Real devotees get such spiritual power being in this place that even people with an illness or who are not good at walking have some challenges, but if they feel faith in them, they can definitely complete it without any difficulties. People born and brought up in such pilgrimage places have such deep connections that if we outsiders go and make any changes, they don't appreciate them. They believe that if any rituals change their connection with God, their love will be affected. They don't fear talking against people with big personalities or high profiles because of their love for God, in whom they believe.

There are a lot of thought processes, a lot of divine power, and a lot of sweet memories embedded in such pilgrimage places. At this scientifically revolutionary time, people also believe that you can only go to such religious places when you get a call from god. Many times you decide to go, but some obstructions come up, and you just can't go. Many senior citizens feel that before they give up on life if they visit such pilgrimage places, they will feel blessed. Recently, when we visited Jatipura in Mathura, one of our aunts wanted to do Mangala, i.e., early morning darshan, and I decided to take her for darshan. There was a lot of rush, but we could do darshan peacefully. She had fear—its rush and its slippery, and so many people asked her how she would do darshan. But the moment she got a real, nice darshan, she felt God's love and blessings and knew she could do it. To overcome such small changes at such places also gives a big reward to an individual.

Middle-aged people or people who have money also take their own time and go on pilgrimages. Those who cannot afford to go but yet want to go just make the decision to do so. Instead, the process gets simpler since they aren't afraid to question, "how? when? where? They simply carry on with life as they have learned to do. When our cook decided to visit the Pavagadh Temple with his family, he took the train there, walked up, received darshan, and returned the next day. It's not easy, but completing his own request and receiving Mataji's blessings through Mataji's darshan provided him with the love and energy he needed to move forward in his life. Similarly, I've heard a lot of tales about people who manage to go on pilgrimages despite having financial constraints.

Every journey undertaken with the aim of discovering something that holds significant meaning for the traveler might be compared to a pilgrimage. Life is like a pilgrimage, and as we travel through it, we come to realize that it is your inner strength that will carry you to your final destination. It is not important to know this, but it will give you more insight into the work, devotion, and passion of our forefathers and religious leaders who made great sacrifices to make it through. Going on a pilgrimage enriches our lives and offers us a sense of blessing.

I personally feel that going on pilgrimage, especially as a devotee of Krishna, strengthens my confidence in God. Every chance I have to go on a pilgrimage, in my opinion, brings me that much closer to God. Being around people in such environments makes it seem as though they are so near God that they can spend time as devotees. Many young people from these regions, despite their education, feel fortunate to live in such locations and work as devotees in temples. I think a spiritual force helps individuals get over their fear of losing and being without anything. The only thing that sustains them is the unconditional love they receive through praying to God. It's a great lesson in life that everyone should learn.