Indian cultural ethos teaches us that we must go on pilgrimage and learn simple ways of life. We need to live out our lives with austerity. But, we now want to live extravagantly in lavish hotels in these piligrimage centres. So our pupose of pilgrimage is defeated.
The tragedy in Uttarakhand has been unimaginable for all. All the Char-Dham bore the brunt, with Kedarnath being the epicenter. Our condolences to thousands of pilgrims and local residents who died in the process. Some of video clips remind us of the tsunamis which come with such a terrible magnitude, force and suddeness. We are pained badly. While natural calamities keep happening, but the religious people always connect prakriti with God, and thus all cordial situations are seen as his blessings, while all such disasters are seen as anger of Gods. The Gods are indeed angry and we need to seriously introspect if our deeds and ways need to be corrected. Nobody should ever have the arrogance that they can ever control nature, we just need to invoke its blessings and need to humbly live in accordance with the laws of nature, and its possible occasional extremes. Obviously we were unprepared for various things and were arrogantly complacent, and were most importantly compromising very badly on various fronts.
The tragedy in Uttarakhand has been unimaginable for all. All the Char-Dham bore the brunt, with Kedarnath being the epicenter. Our condolences to thousands of pilgrims and local residents who died in the process. Some of video clips remind us of the tsunamis which come with such a terrible magnitude, force and suddeness. We are pained badly. While natural calamities keep happening, but the religious people always connect prakriti with God, and thus all cordial situations are seen as his blessings, while all such disasters are seen as anger of Gods. The Gods are indeed angry and we need to seriously introspect if our deeds and ways need to be corrected. Nobody should ever have the arrogance that they can ever control nature, we just need to invoke its blessings and need to humbly live in accordance with the laws of nature, and its possible occasional extremes. Obviously we were unprepared for various things and were arrogantly complacent, and were most importantly compromising very badly on various fronts.
Everyone needs to introspect in their fields as to what can be corrected; we as sadhus too realize the shortcomings in the religious beliefs & values of the people at large. Ages back when these pilgrimages were started, the Himalayas must have been much more inaccessible as compared to what they are today, yet the masters made the various inaccessible & literally god-forsaken places as the pilgrim centers. Why? The reason for this was that the real objective of a pilgrimage is not finally being in the presence of some idol, but it was the journey which made all the difference. Today this has gone.
Commercialization and ignorance of our traditions have converted these pilgrim centers into tourist spots, bereft of all the piousness and austerities which were associated with these places and traditions. Our priorities are now earning money, so that the locals can make a living etc. While all this is fine but we need to remember that if we do not stick to the basic objectives of pilgrimages then they will slowly die, and this will be far more detrimental to the money-makers. We need to keep the sanctity of pilgrim centers at all cost. Anyone who has visited any pilgrim centers in Himalayas are sad to see the clutter, dirt, unplanned development, mushrooming buildings in any possible places, degradation of eco-system etc - all because of our changed priorities of money-making. However unpleasant this may be but this indeed is a fact. All our visitors need to come out more purified, blessed & charged. We need to keep these places clean, pure, inspiring. For this it is important that we keep these visits a bit difficult, because then alone we will have to depend on God to undertake the journey. This is a very important aspect of all such Yatras.
Compromising on these will tantamount to playing with our religion. No body can dare to play with the traditions of other religions, so why should we let this happen in our religion. We need to protect our systems ourselves. Our over secure life tends to make God irrelevant and this only increases our ego & arrogance, and these alone are the thorns which are aimed to be removed by such yatras etc. Every pilgrimage was a package wherein there was an amazing misxture of Yagna, Daan & Tapas, the three things which Bhagwad Gita tells us never to let go. Let us not dilute the tapas componenet just for the sake of some old people or business community etc. When old people also dare & resolve to undertake such journies then we will help to carve out truly good human beings - more humble, pious & blessed. Making money alone is not enough, it is the making of good human beings which matters more. Hindus need to wake up fast, there are many elements who are playing with and exploiting our traditions blindly. We cannot remain an uninvolved spectator. All this is a wake up call. Let us not miss this call and humbly go back to the basics & roots. After all we all know that the prevalent values are making a terrible mess of man and also the world.
Commercialization and ignorance of our traditions have converted these pilgrim centers into tourist spots, bereft of all the piousness and austerities which were associated with these places and traditions. Our priorities are now earning money, so that the locals can make a living etc. While all this is fine but we need to remember that if we do not stick to the basic objectives of pilgrimages then they will slowly die, and this will be far more detrimental to the money-makers. We need to keep the sanctity of pilgrim centers at all cost. Anyone who has visited any pilgrim centers in Himalayas are sad to see the clutter, dirt, unplanned development, mushrooming buildings in any possible places, degradation of eco-system etc - all because of our changed priorities of money-making. However unpleasant this may be but this indeed is a fact. All our visitors need to come out more purified, blessed & charged. We need to keep these places clean, pure, inspiring. For this it is important that we keep these visits a bit difficult, because then alone we will have to depend on God to undertake the journey. This is a very important aspect of all such Yatras.
Compromising on these will tantamount to playing with our religion. No body can dare to play with the traditions of other religions, so why should we let this happen in our religion. We need to protect our systems ourselves. Our over secure life tends to make God irrelevant and this only increases our ego & arrogance, and these alone are the thorns which are aimed to be removed by such yatras etc. Every pilgrimage was a package wherein there was an amazing misxture of Yagna, Daan & Tapas, the three things which Bhagwad Gita tells us never to let go. Let us not dilute the tapas componenet just for the sake of some old people or business community etc. When old people also dare & resolve to undertake such journies then we will help to carve out truly good human beings - more humble, pious & blessed. Making money alone is not enough, it is the making of good human beings which matters more. Hindus need to wake up fast, there are many elements who are playing with and exploiting our traditions blindly. We cannot remain an uninvolved spectator. All this is a wake up call. Let us not miss this call and humbly go back to the basics & roots. After all we all know that the prevalent values are making a terrible mess of man and also the world.
