Talk:Reducing Bad Karm and Adding Good Karm:Augmenting Good Karm:Pilgrimage
By Vishal Agarwal The word ‘tīrtha’ denotes a purifier. There are three types of tīrthas resorting to which one can purify himself:
1. Itinerant or mobile tīrthas: The wandering sants and sādhus are treated as mobile tīrthas. By associating with them, listening and adhering to their teachings, and by imitating their practices, one gets purified.
2. Mental tīrthas: The following verses containing the speech of ṛṣi Agastya to his wife Lopāmudrā occur in the Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa:
O unblemished lady, hear me relate to you the mental tīrthas, having duly bathed in which a person attains the highest abode. Truth is a tīrtha, forgiveness is a tīrtha, controlling the sense organs is a tīrtha, having compassion towards all creatures is a tīrtha, straightforwardness towards all is a tīrtha. Celibacy is a tīrtha supreme, speaking lovingly is a tīrtha as well. Knowledge is a tīrtha, fortitude is a tīrtha, noble deeds are also said to be tīrtha. The best of all tīrthas is the purity of mind. Lady, what I have described above to you is a definition of the mental tīrtha. Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa
3. Stationary tīrthas: Hindu dharm is the oldest spiritual tradition in this world, and people have been blessed with an extraordinary large number of saints and sages. Thirdly, they worship the Supreme Being in many different manifestations and forms. There are hundreds of places, temples, mountains, rivers etc., that are associated with deities, saints and sages, and these sites have become important centers of pilgrimage. The Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa describes the rationale behind the existence of these pilgrim centers:
Hear the reason why the earthly tīrthas have become sacred. Just as in the human body, some parts are considered the cleanest, so also on this earth, some locations are considered as the holiest. The sacredness of these tīrthas results from their specific grandeur (their elevating effect on the mind), the luster of the water of these places and also because they had been chosen by ṛṣis for habitation. Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa
In the Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 82, the following additional reasons are given as to why the masses resort to pilgrimages:
In the Vedas, the ṛṣis have prescribed numerous yajñas that are performed in their due order. But King, these yajñas are not always practicable for those who are poor, because they require much material wealth and extensive planning. In general, only the rulers and the wealthy can perform them, not single individuals, or those who do not have sufficient means and are poor. Therefore King, the ṛṣis have prescribed this great secret – resorting to pilgrimages, which can be visited even by the poor, and which are superior even to yajñas. Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 82
The Purāṇas contain elaborate descriptions of the history and spiritual glory of these sacred sites, and the religious merit acquired by visiting them for pilgrimage. But here, we reproduce some verses from a Purāṇa that declare that a pilgrimage is futile if one is not clean from inside:
The sages said:
"O Sūta who are conversant with piety, it behooves you to narrate the tale of holy shrines and pilgrimage centers all over the earth. We are inclined to hear the same." Brahma Purāṇa 23.1
Lomaharṣaṇa replied:
He whose hands and feet are clean, whose mind is fully restrained, and who has learning, penance and fame, enjoys the benefit of visiting the holy shrine. Brahma Purāṇa 23.2
The pure mind is like a holy center within men. So also is the control over speech and the restraint of the sense organs. There are holy centers present in the physical body itself. They make the man understand the path of heaven. Brahma Purāṇa 23.3
The wicked mind situated within does not become purified by ablutions in the sacred water in the holy centers, like the unclean earthen pot of stale liquor which cannot be made free of stench even when washed with water a hundred times. Brahma Purāṇa 23.4
Neither holy places, nor charitable gifts, nor sacred rituals, nor sacred groves can purify the man whose mind is wicked, who likes to behave arrogantly or who has not conquered his sense organs. Brahma Purāṇa 23.5
Wherever a man stays after keeping his sense organs fully under control – the holy centers of Kurukṣetra, Prayāga and Puṣkara are present there. Brahma Purāṇa 23.6