OM SAIRAM

Role of Pilgrimage in Indian way of life
In India, hills and forests, rivers, seas, and all nature are held as aspects of the divine. The Puranas celebrate and sing the glory of many rivers, temples and holy places. An Indian feels elevated and purified when he visits such a temple or takes bath in these streams and lakes. Places where divine incarnations were born, or shed their bodies, the places of their meditation, places of meritorious deeds like killing demons or protecting the saints are to be visited during a pilgrimage. When inevitable death approaches an old man, he should have prepared himself by being away from his family for some time and by devoting his mind to the divine. Pilgrimages serve this purpose. In age-old spiritual practice, right from the Puranic age, Sri Rama walked all the way from Ayodhya to Rameshwaram; Sri Krishna walked too as an emissary of the Pandavas. Buddha and Mahavira went from village to village preaching more values to people. Revering the entire country as one large temple, Adishankara, Chaitanya, Guru Nanak, Sharadadevi, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Vinobha circumambulated the land. To follow their footsteps will give in the strength to follow spiritual paths. These are the purposes of pilgrimages in Indian culture tradition.

The entire creation is a temple of god. The physical body is also the shrine of the divine. An idol in the temple is compared to god in the creation and the atman in the body. Temples have been the centres of power, medicine, art, worship, language and culture of the community in Hindu tradition. The philosophy behind the mode of worship in a temple is all nature including five elements worship the ultimate divinity. The five elements have the five senses in the human body. Temple worship inspires man to offer his five senses to the divine.the element of water constitutes the sense of taste in the human system. Tasty things are therefore offered to god before being partaken by man to purify his sense of taste. The element of Earth forms man's sense of smell, which is purified by the act of offering sweet smelling incense in a temple worship. Air related to man's sense of touch is offered to the lord in the form of flowers, or holding the choweries, the sense of hearing by blowing the conch shell, or ringing the bell. Hearing represents the element of space in the body. Lighting of a lamp, camphor burning, etc., Symbolises our offering the sense of sight, the corresponding element being fire, to the lord. Thus the five senses and the five elements are symbolically offered to god during a formal and ritualistic worship.

The temple is a symbol of creation. When Devi shed her physical coil at Daksha's altar of sacrifice, Shiva was found roaming about carrying her dead body on his shoulders. Vishnu chopped the dead body into pieces using his Chakra [wheel] and scattered the pieces all over the land. The limbs fell at such places as Kanya kumari, Kanchipuram, Calcutta, Jwalamukhi, Vaishno Devi, Kamakhya temple etc. They all are called Shakti Peethas or places of Devi worship; the land of India is thus the physical body of mother divine.

Religious symbols remind a devotee of god. A devotee recognises another with their help. Rudhraksha symbolises shiva, Crystals stands for Nirguna Brahman. Basil Beads are dear to Vishnu. Symbols also have philosophical importance. Holy Ash and Holy Dust remind man of the transience of life and that rich and poor alike will be reduced to a handful of ashes at the end. Man therefore is advised to perform meritorious deeds. Sandal paste cools the body. Gopichand also cools the body. Kumkum reminds devotees of Devi, and heals infections and wounds. It also stimulates the nerve centres situated between eyebrows. Turmeric is an insecticide and a disinfectant.

Pilgrimages of India