In the previous episode, we had witnessed two important questions with regards to going on “Teertha-Yatras”. We shall recall those questions as we proceed further – Why should we go for “Teertha Yatras”? What are we going to gain out of visiting various temples across our Bhaarata Desha? Why should we invest our time and money at our young age? Can we start going for all these Yatras after retirement? In this, we’ve tried answering the first question in a detailed way. We go for “Teertha-Yatras” because these are “Punya-Kshetras” designated by Bhagawan Himself, or, the “Alwars” and the “Aachaaryas”. As a “Jeevatma”, it is our bound duty to pay a visit to as many “Punya-Kshetras” as we can, so as to experience Bhagawan’s divine presence and vibrations. This is one way of looking at it. Of course, we’ve also seen that age is never a criteria to embark upon “Teertha-Yatras” to visit “Punya-Kshetras”. Many of us have pre-determined thoughts that we would take up these journeys only after retirement, and not while we’re young. We should ask ourselves here – Who said that we should not visit “Punya-Kshetras” while we are young? Who said that we should not exhibit Bhakti and Sharanaagathi while being young? What about little Prahlaada, little Dhruva and Andal? All of these people were extremely young when they embarked their spiritual journey! Hence, age is never a factor in this.
Moreover, we should also remember this – Do we know whether we would be alive the next minute? Do we even know that we would be alive tomorrow? Do we even know that we would be alive and fit next year? If such things are a huge question mark, what is the guarantee that we would live fit and fine after the age of 60 for undertaking “Teertha-Yatras”? Hence, if Bhagawan has given sound health, physical fitness and financial facilities today, we should look at making maximum use of the opportunity to visit as many “Punya-Kshetras” as possible, isn’t it? What are we going to get by postponing things further and further, without even an iota of guarantee about our life longevity? Hence, if we’ve to perform some good “Karma”, we should do it now, rather than procrastinating it to some other time! Given the uncertainty of the future, if something has to be done, it has to be finished today without any delay. Hence, this is one big reason why we should go on “Teertha-Yatras” in the present moment, if we have the time and the other requisite facilities.
Apart from that, we had asked another question – “What are we going to gain by visiting these “Punya-Kshetras”? This is an important question and we shall address this in detail before we move on further. By visiting more and more “Punya-Kshetras” and by taking a holy dip in the waters of “Punya-Nadhis” (Holy rivers) across the Bhaarata Desha, our “Paapa Karma” gets speedily washed away. Moreover, the spiritual vibrations in all the temples that we visit, are extremely powerful in nature, and this would soothe our mind which is constantly restless. Once our mind is calmed down, our way of thinking and approaching problems in life would change for the good, and this would enable us to make informed and correct decisions – both in terms of personal and professional lives. More than all this, if we’re visiting more and more “Punya-Kshetras”, Bhagawan is going to get pleased that we are taking several steps towards Him! As Bhagawan’s heart gets happy and starts to melt, “Moksha” is assured for us! Ultimately, getting “Moksha” depends upon how we’re able to melt Bhagawan’s heart towards us. If we’re doing this on a regular basis, Bhagawan would be waiting for us! For instance, if we have the habit of visiting a temple every day, after a point, rather than we waiting to see Bhagawan, He would start waiting to see us every day! Thus, even if we cannot go to the temple some day due to some constraints, Bhagawan would get so worried! He would start thinking within Himself, thus, “Oh! My child would come to see me at this time every day! Why is he / she not to be seen today? Is there any problem with him / her? Let me go and see what happened to my child!” This is how Bhagawan’s heart would melt towards us, if we’re systematic in this!
Thus, the main purpose of visiting “Punya-Kshetras” by undertaking “Teertha-Yatras” is to move closer and closer to Bhagawan. We should understand this point very clearly. Moreover, in today’s scenario, many things have become just a photo-op! We go to temples, click some pictures, post them on social media and come back! This should never be done! If we go to the temple, the connection should only be between us and Bhagawan (The presiding deity of the temple). There should not be anything else in between. This shows the level of depth in our connection between us and Bhagawan. If we’re doing all these photo-op business inside the temple, it merely shows that we’re on a tourism spree and not on a “Teertha-Yatra”. There is a difference between both of these terms, and readers should be aware of this. Hence, we should not transform a temple into a tourist spot. We should give the due respect to the presiding deity of that temple and take conscious efforts to get closer to Bhagawan.
So for today, let us understand these points very clearly and in the next episode, we shall commence witnessing the various places that the Paandava brothers travelled to! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 