6 weeks ago, about 24 of us went on a pilgrimage to India. We visited the ancient city of Benares, which is said to have existed from before Creation – talk about being timeless – and were blessed by the extraordinary spiritual magnetism of this place. It was also to home of Lahiri Mahashaya. From there, we went to the seaside city Puri, where Sri Yukteshwar had an ashram; we meditated on the site of his Mahasamadhi. Next stop was Kolkata where, for 3 blissful days, we absorbed the vibrations in the childhood home of Yogananda and in the famous Dakshneshwar temple, hallowed by the presence of the great saint Ramakrishna Paramhansa. The climax of our pilgrimage was in the Himalayas, meditating in a remote cave which is blessed by the living presence of Babaji.
We traveled thru exotic landscapes and visited places of great spiritual merit. But the real point of the pilgrimage is “not sightseeing. It is a journey toward inner awakening, made sacred by your own devotion” (Swami Kriyananda). Yogananda said that we’ve spent a million lifetimes slowly ascending the spiral staircase toward God. A pilgrimage is shorter journey in this lifetime that hastens our progress up this staircase: because every sacred place we visit, we recollect with a bit more clarity our own Divine nature. It makes us more receptive to the presence of God within.