Once a poverty-stricken descendent of a once-prosperous clan went to a foreign land in search of better prospects in life. He struggled hard to succeed there. Meanwhile a resident of that foreign land heard about this person’s ancestral wealth, came to his family estate, found a vast treasure buried there and became a millionaire. This allegory illustrates the state of modern Indians vis-a-vis Westerners. Indians are going to the West in search of greener pastures and are struggling to make it big amidst cut-throat competition in the corporate jungles there. But Westerners are coming to India to understand the Vedic philosophy and culture. And by studying, assimilating and adopting the Vedic principles, they are finding deep fulfilment in their lives.
Pilgrimages help you break free from your daily routine and mundane problems, and perform devotional service to God. While for the wandering monks, life itself is a long pilgrimage to the abode of Brahman, for the householders it is an opportunity to practice temporary renunciation, in which they have to briefly leave everything behind and go on a spiritual journey to the abode of God.
Pilgrim places are powerful energy centers. They are filled with sacred presence and aura of the deities as well as the strong vibrations caused by the prayers and supplications of devotees, priests and saintly people. When you visit them, you become soaked in that positive energy and feel refreshed and uplifted. The strong currents of spiritual energy radiating from these powerhouses cleanse your mind and remove your negativity and impurities.
As a pilgrim, you will find many opportunities to engage in purification practices such as charity and selfless service and cultivate virtue. In Hinduism, many rituals and sacraments are customarily performed at religious places so that devotees can benefit from the visit by engaging in good actions.
Many spiritual people, sadhus and holy men regularly visit them and make them the centers of their activities. Hence, when you go on a pilgrimage, you will come across many spiritual people, yogis and babas, with whom you can interact and benefit from the association (satsang), seeking their advice, knowledge or blessings.
Lord Krishna lives everywhere, but still it is very easy to approach Him in holy places of pilgrimage because these places are inhabited by great sages. Visiting a holy place of pilgrimage means neutralising the reactions of sinful life. The holy places all over the earth are meant for purifying the polluted consciousness of the human being by an atmosphere surcharged with the presence of the Lord’s pure devotees.
To travel to different places of pilgrimage means to attain emancipation from material bondage. This emancipation, however, is not the highest perfectional stage. After attaining this liberated stage, one has to become engaged in devotional service to the Lord. After attainment of the brahma-bhuta stage, one can further advance to engagement in devotional service. So this attainment of transcendental loving devotional service to the Lord is the goal of life.