4 How to visit a place of pilgrimage
Thakur Sri Ramakrishna dev advised to meet
Holy men (Sadhus, saints) and to give alms (donations/ daan)
while visiting these pilgrimages. In every tradition, whatever be the religion,
such practices of austerity (tapas) and charity (daan)
are advised. Our Gurudev, always harps that one should do the following four to
bring a pilgrimage to fruition.
(b)
Tapas (Austerity): some suggestions are listed later in
this article.
(c)
Daan (Charity): give alms to the poor and the sadhus.
If you don’t have money to spare then do japa for everyone and offer to the
Lord.
(d)
Japa-Dhyana (Japa and Meditation):
4.1
Sadhusanga:
While
visiting a pilgrimage, one must seek company of sadhus who are knowledgeable
about the sthan-mahatmya (glory of the place). Whichever sampraday one
belongs, usually Kashi has a branch of it. If none are available, Ramakrishna
Advaita Ashram is open to all pilgrims seeking amrita-tattva (Nectar/knowledge
for eternal life). Weekly classes are held and all sadhus are approachable by
any devotee who seeks Param-Jnana. The Adhyaksha of Advaita Ashram, himself
grants interviews. There is a sadhu-niwas in the RK Mission where retired
sadhus live. They grant interviews and teach classes.
4.2
Tapas:
In Kashi many different austerities are
performed by different devotees. Some are outlined below.
4.2.1
Pradakshinam
Age-old
practice of circumambulation also known as “parikrama” or “pradakshinam”
is a part of spiritual austerity. In almost every religion of the world this
practice is a followed like during Hajj the pradakshinam of Kaaba. All devout
Hindus walk around the temple in a clockwise fashion called pradakshinam.
Similarly, Kashi-Khand Parikrama of Benares, Govardhan
parikrama of Vrindavan are famous Parikramas.
Many
devotees perform this parikrama atleast once in their life and there are some
who do it every year.
4.2.2
MahaShivaratri
Shivaratri,
the main festival of Kashi, is celebrated throughout Varanasi with huge pomp
and show. Devotees pour in from all parts of India and world for this event.
Crowd control measures are put into place a week in advance for this festival. Every
year this special day, Lord Shiva gets married to Mother Parvati. Many bridal
parades are taken out throughout the city all culminating at Baba Vishwanath’s
temple. Devotees attired as Lord Shiva’s Bhoots (ghosts) and Ganas
(ghouls, dwarfs, ogres etc - celestial
beings who are constant companions of Lord Shiva) dance, chant, play-act,
scatter confetti and play in the band of the procession on their way to the
temple. Loud chants of “Namah Parvati Pataye! Har, Har, Mahadev...!”
fill the air with accompanying deep bass Damaru and trebled cymbals.
On Mahashivaratri day, devotees fast the
whole day, perform whole night vigil and puja over 4 prahars which are 3-hour
slots each. The puja usually starts at 6pm ending at 6am the next day with
aarati. Devotees visit Baba throughout the night. The temple of Baba Vishwanath
is kept open for darshan 24 hours this special day! Inside the temple,
beautiful fragrant Holi colors are thrown into the air and the blessed visiting
devotees get colored in Baba’s blessings.
In Ramakrishna Mission, Shivaratri is
celebrated in two phases. Devotees attend the first part of the puja starting
around 5:30pm with Vedic chanting and bhajans at Lobeshwar Shiva Temple
(discovered in the ground during excavation for laying the plinth for the
ashram). This is followed by attending the second part at the Advaita Ashram.
At Advaita Ashram, the ceremonial worship starts concurrently in the Durga
Mandap extending over the entire night. This puja is done in 4 prahars with
different mantrams at each prahar. Uniqueness of this puja lies in the fact,
here at Advaita Ashram, both male as well as female devotee are allowed to
offer their naividya of Bel-pata (Bel leaves,
favorite of Lord Shiva), white flower and Gangajal individually
at the Shivalinga by touching ...! True to the folklore that Mother Annapurna
does not let anybody go hungry even for a single day in Kashi, fasting devotees
are always offered prasad at the end of each prahar. Thus, one can break the
fast if one wishes at the end of any prahar.
Usually, the fast is broken at the end of final aarati. Another fantastic phenomenon occurs when both
mangal aarati of Sri Ramakrishna and final Aarati of Lord Shiva happens
simultaneously at Ramakrishna Advaita Ashram.
Many devotees travel to Kashi to attend
this Shivaratri celebration every year.
4.2.3
Ganga Snaan
(Bathe in Ganga River)
Some devotees like to bathe in the
purifying waters of Mother Ganga everyday first thing in the morning before
visiting the temples.
4.2.4
Baba Vishwanath Darshan
Some devotees visit Baba everyday at 4am
and offer Bilwapatra (Bel pata) and ganga jal. This is one of the age-old
customs of worshipping Lord shiva.
Typically, after having Darshan of the
Lord in the temple, one must sit down in the sanctified premise and meditate on
the experience. Every place of pilgrimage has a particular time specific for meditation
associated with that pilgrimage. When one meditates during that specific time
in that particular pilgrimage, the mind gets concentrated very naturally and
hence the resulting mediation is very sound, peaceful and enlightening. Though Brahma
muhurta is between 3-4am but in Kashi, anytime is the most auspicious time.
It’s strange, even though lot of commotion maybe going on; still if one sits to
do japa in the newly constructed corridor facing the Lord’s temple or in Ma
Annapurna’s temple or by the Ganges, or anywhere in Kashi-Khand; immediately
the mind settles down in a peaceful state. This mysterious phenomenon has been
vouchsafed by one and all ...!
4.2.5
Ma Annapurna Darshan
Some like to chant the entire Annapurna
Stotram composed by Sri Adi Shankaracharya. Incidentally this Stotram is
engraved on the wall of Mother’s temple. In recent times, some ladies chant the
Lalita Sahasranama with/without Sindur in the natmandir of Mother’s
temple.
4.2.6
Ganga Aarati
Some devotees like to attend this
spectacular Ganga Aarati every evening.
4.3
Daan
One must make a donation while visiting these
pilgrimages. Even Sri Ramakrishna said so. Some like to feed the hungry while
others give alms, clothes, blankets etc. to the poor and the sadhus. The sadhus
subsist on the donations from the householders. If one is incapable of
providing pecuniary help then one can do japa for the others. This is the
command of Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi.
4.4
Japa & Meditation
According to Revd. Maharaj, after having
a darshan one must reminisce on what was observed. This should be done
preferably at the temple that one is currently visiting. The reason for this
is, all temples have positive vibrations created by the visits and tapas
(austerity) of thousands of sadhus and saints. They leave their fruits of tapasya
at these pilgrimage places thereby sanctifying it making it holier for the
pilgrims’ benefit.
The pilgrims, go to these places to absorb these vibrations, thereby gaining
the peace and contentment of mind.
In Kashi, any temple, any Ganga-ghat
provides this contemplative atmosphere. The place, Kashi, is so spiritually
vibrant, that anytime of the day or night, anywhere, amongst a crowd or
secluded corner, one can do japa. The mind just settles down by itself even
amidst ruckus marriage crowd…! It is said in Kashi, that by Baba’ blessings, one
japa count in Kashi is equivalent to 10 japa count!
It helps to research beforehand and
enquire about the folklore, tradition and mythology associated with that
particular place one wishes to visit.
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