Two days ago I returned
from helping to lead a trip to India for 24 Ananda members and students, most
from the Seattle area. I've been many times to India but I would say that this
trip was a highlight for me. I think I may, at last, have some perspective on these
trips worth sharing.
Here's a few general
things that have come clear:
1. A true pilgrimage always
involves "tapasya." Tapasya can, in this case, equate to the hardship
and self-sacrifice that is entailed in leaving home, comforts and routine to
travel a long distance to a foreign country for the sake of spiritual
purification and upliftment. As one of the pilgrims put it, "it's not what
you put in the brochure!" Maybe it should be, but we didn't! (We DID talk
about it, however.) You can start with the simple fact that it is expensive to
take such a trip but that's only one kind of tapasya. There's the discomfort
and weariness of travel; the exposure to illness, disease, and general malaise
associated with bacteria of a far distant country. There's heat, humidity and
coldness: and we had it all, though truthfully, the heat was no by no means
extreme, nor the cold, though we were near to literally freezing in the
Himalaya (there was an unseaonable snow in Ranikhet). There are unlimited
opportunities for annoyances specific to travel and to traveling in groups
(where's there's bound to be one or more fellow travelers who get on your
nerves).
2. There's the unrealistic
expectation that you are going to go into "samadhi" (a high spiritual
state) at these holy shrines or in the presence of saintly people; or, that you
might have visions or deep insights into your life's drama or into universal
truth. Even though, in fact, you might have such experiences,
the issue is one of expectations. What then is a realistic expectation in
regards to the spiritual "fruit" of pilgrimage? Let me share some
thoughts a little ways further on this very important topic.
3. The bonds of friendships
that derive from sharing meaningful, adventurous and new experiences, both
mundane and sublime, cannot be understated. The value of learning patience with
others and acceptance of self are enduring, practical, and life-long traits.
4. Entering into a culture
that is so different than one's own is expansive to the mind and heart. The
importance of, as one pilgrim put it, "getting out of the bus" (from
where we look out at Indian street culture, separate and safe), is paramount to
the instinctive impulse in signing on to such a trip. Immersion is what the
pilgrim seeks: both material and spiritual. It is empowering to ride local
transportation; to visit the homes and families of locals; to learn about their
history and way of life, and, more importantly, to experience their
way of life: these are also essential. As visitors this is not easy and
attempts to induce this integration can be all too false (like tourists
attending a luau organized by their five star hotel in Hawaii). There are
risks, both to health and person. But making the effort (which takes some courage,
common sense, and intuition) is important. Five our pilgrims accepted the auto
rickshaw driver's invitation to his home. They were all women. On paper, at
least, it was risky, perhaps foolish. But grace and intuition seems to have
guided them to a genuine and heart opening experience.
5. India is changing
rapidly. New apartment buildings are rising to surround temples, ashrams, and
other sacred sites. Don't put off unnecessarily your inspiration to go on
pilgrimage. Our travel to and our devotion to these holy places will help them
survive and thrive. The Indian people take notice of our sincere interest in
preserving and honoring these holy sites. A culture that historically and
instinctively honors saints and sacredness seems wonderfully unusual to us. We may
be stunned when we meet an Indian professional man or woman (perhaps in fields
such as medicine or technology) who, while well educated and traveled,
spontaneously and naturally expresses deep devotion to the guru, deities, or
shrines. Same for the rickshaw driver. Either way, we contribute not only to
developing our own devotion but preserving theirs by our example and our pilgrimage.
6. No pilgrim from western
countries can avoid the intensity of encountering first hand the contrast and
seeming conflict and injustice between luxury and poverty; health and disease;
life and death; self-indulgence and hunger, to name a few. To return each night
to one's four or five star hotel after walking the streets where trash,
hardship, and poverty run amuck is a contrast guaranteed to generate tears of
sorrow or guilt, anger at injustice, or worst of all, deadening indifference.
It is our intention that
dictates the consequences. If we go truly on pilgrimage, offering ourselves and
any tapasya that comes, into the flames of devotion, self-sacrifice, and desire
for soul-freedom (ours and others), then the results are "guaranteed"
but not in any way we can or should expect. Non-attachment to the fruits of
pilgrimage must be our starting point.
Spiritual consciousness
and insight come "like a thief in the night" Jesus warns us. We must
be prepared but not expectant. "Two are working in a field; one is taken,
the other remains." This paraphrase of another of Jesus' metaphors reminds
us that our consciousness (including intention) is more important than any
outward (travel) or position (role). Prayer, meditation, humility, openness,
equanimity under stress or success........these reflect the ways we must
approach our pilgrimage if its spiritual fruit is to be tasted.
Spiritual blessings from
pilgrimage may well be experienced after, even long after, the trip itself. The
power to suddenly make important changes in your personal life may be felt
almost immediately. For some, time is needed for the seeds of grace planted
during the pilgrimage to sprout. The joy of pilgrimage may appear like flowers
in the Spring but may not even be noticed by you until you return home when the
contrast with your pre-pilgimage state becomes noticeable. Meditating in Babaji’s
cave may be, for some, a contemplation of discomfort rather than bliss. But the
effort may produce spontaneous wisdom or joy under otherwise challenging
circumstances just when you need it most.
When we travelled to the
Himalayas to visit Babaji's cave on Drongiri Mountain, northeast of the hill
station of Ranikhet, we were met by unseasonable and near winter conditions.
Hope of even ascending the path to the cave was silently at stake, potentially
crushing our highest hopes. But, all in all, our group remained cheerful and
confident regardless of weather conditions. But the following morning dawned
bright and sunny, even if still cold. Our climb that day, and the next day's
trip back down to the plains, was met with gorgeous, sunny weather!
Every culture has its
own tailor-made ways and karmic patterns which produce misery for its people.
India is no exception. Once one of the richest countries in former times,
centuries of foreign occupation had reduced the subcontinent to the poorest of
the poor countries. A rigid class (caste) system nurtured exploitation and
prejudice even as it stifled freedom, creativity and energy for far too
long.
But all of this is
steadily, even rapidly, changing. One cannot but experience the vibrancy and
creativity of modern India. While loss of spiritual values attends growing
material prosperity everywhere, it is a necessary stage in India's recovery and
in overcoming past karma. Underlying this obvious trend, a pilgrim finds the
innate sweetness, kindness, devotion to saints and sacredness, and hospitality
very much alive today. India's avatars and saints, nurtured by the native
devotion of its people, has, as Yogananda put it in his "Autobiography of
a Yogi," bulwarked India against the fates of Egypt, Rome, Greece and
other past civilizations.
The pilgrims' discomfort
in encountering a culture that tolerates widespread beggary is not so easily
resolved or dismissed. Each pilgrim must confront his response to extreme
poverty in his or her own way. While we cannot end injustice or hunger by our
own individual actions, we mustn't let this reality excuse our own
indifference.
Share, then, as or if
you feel to do so and under whatever circumstances confront your conscience.
There is no one way; no pat response. I've seen the simple act of giving a few
"cents" to a beggar create an onrush of fellow beggars grasping and
pawing at the hapless foreigner whose confusion and discomfort grow to the
point of panic or even anger.
At a train stop, some of
us, with meal plates in front us in our seats, were confronted with a little
boy outside our window on the platform asking for food. We had eaten a banquet
only hours before and had little need for the meal placed in front of us on the
train. There was no time to jump up and try to give our meal to this boy as the
train was about to lurch forward. The feeling of helplessness: both his, and
our own in responding to his need, produced tears and averted eyes. This is the
price of expanding our awareness of realities far from our own. It is the price
of opening one's heart to the realities of others. For this we have traveled so
far.
The bonds of friendship
in a holy and sacred effort last far beyond the few weeks of a pilgrimage. The
simple exchanges of kindness with those in India whom we encountered in our
journey, too, are heart-opening. We need not measure "success" by
visions or superconscious experiences but by the yardstick of the open heart.
Open not merely to sentiments or personalities but to the great Giver of Life,
Love, and Joy from which the transforming power of love and friendship come. To
attune ourselves to that divine power as manifested especially in the lives of
those great saints whose lives reflect this power so perfectly is find a
channel, a life-spring, to the Source.
We, who are, in a sense,
privileged, have put our karmic inheritance to good use in fulfilling the
timeless inspiration to leave all, risk all, and go on pilgrimage. Pilgrimage
is a metaphor of the soul’s journey back to God. Not only do the destinations
offer to us priceless blessings but the very journey itself opens our hearts
and minds to the greater reality which we call Life: the divine Life.
It’s good to be back and
it’s a blessing to have gone!
Nayaswami Hriman
