A Hindu Pilgrimage
- a discussion that attempts to justify that pilgrimages are not, and should not be of importance to
Hindus.
Although darsan of temple images and sacred places are sought by Hindus,
Hindus also value the darsan of holy persons, such as sants (saints), sadhus (holy men), and sannyasins (renouncers). Since Hindus are able to attain darsan from holy people,then there is no need for pilgrimages as it suggests that pilgrimages are unecessary and therefore should not be an important aspect of Hindu religion.
Hindus seek the darsan of sadhus and sanayasins; the term sadhu is translated as "holy man" or "ascetic", though in broad terms sadhu means "good man" or virtuous man". A sadhu is a man endowed with high spiritual learnings, and holding high religious values. Essentially, those who lead a saintly life, realise their goal in the shortest possible time may be called sadhu. a saintly life is a means to proceed directly to the ultimate goal of salvation.
In this sense, a sadhu is someone who has been initiated into an ascetic sect, devoting himself to achieving release from the cycle of death and relbirth. Some sadhus describe themselves as sanayasis or renouncers.
The way a person lives their life is sannyas; you can only become it because you cannot give it or take it. Therefore, Sannyas occurs from within - on the inside. Sannyas entails a symbolic death whereby all personal ties and possessions are renounced as they must devote themselves to the inner self. ( Aylett , L , 1992 , p 31 )
Sadhus are believed to live between the living and the dead - living in a state between the world of illusion, of which we live in and the world of reality, of which gods dwell and reside in. Essentially, sadhus are regarded as being dead and are a means by which to link the living to the dead.Sadhus believe experience is far more important than knowledge when assuming the role of a spiritual practitioner. Many sadhus accept disciples, regardless of caste and are expected and obligated to accept people whether they are rich, poor, powerful or powerless.
So what does the sadhu give to the people? A sadhu is a diety, and the diety of the sadhu gives darsan, and the people take darsan. The worshipper cannot initiate the act of seeing, therefore, the deity enables itself to be seen in its image. The contact between the worshipper and diety, is thus, carried out solely through the eyes.Since sadhus are able to given people darsan, it seems then, that pilgrimages in reality are unnecessary because one can attain darsan without having to incur all of the strenuous problems and hardship associated with a pilgrimage and without having to leave their place of domicile.
If pilgrimages are an important necessity for Hindus to undertake, and if the darsan received from pilgrimage is far greater than that which can be obtained from a sadhu, then it deprives, and places of those
Hindus that tdo not have the means and ability to go on a [next page]