For over 4,000 years, India–one of the most spiritually enriched places on earth–has been the cradle of spirituality. Actually, the Land of the Vedas and Temples, India is the Spiritual Capital of the World. India, its people, its infrastructure, and, in fact, its very soil, encourage and nurture spiritualism, allowing religions to thrive, flourish and prosper.
No wonder every major religion in the world, as well many of their off-shoots and facets, get support and nourishment in India. Many of these religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism were conceived in India, and others sought refuge in India after being persecuted in their own countries.
Apart from religions, numerous sages, philosophers and founders of religions also sought and received sanctuary and enlightenment in India’s soil and spirit. The trend continues even today after so many years, the reason being as the people across the world veer towards the capitalistic way of life, the quest for spirituality becomes even more urgent.
Spiritual Destinations of India
India is dotted with several spiritual destinations. A visit to them is essential is one is on the path of self spiritual discovery. Actually, spiritual tours of India enable one to nurture the spirituality within oneself by delving deep into the rich spiritual history of the country.
Spiritual tours of India take one on tours to several spiritual destinations of the country which are much renowned for their religious and spiritual significance. Scattered all over India, these places give the tourists the bliss and peace that may have eluded them for long and which may have inspired them to visit the spiritually and religiously rich India.
Golden Temple and Anandpur Sahib (Amritsar); Varanasi, Mathura, and Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh); Somanth (Gujarat); Dargah Khwaja Saheb (Ajmer); Rishikesh and Haridwar (Uttrakhand); Pushkar (Rajasthan); Jagannath Puri (Orissa); Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh); and Bodh Gaya (Bihar) are just some of the many top religious and spiritual destinations of India that inspire the religiously inclined people from far off places to go on spiritual tours and discover the meaning of their life and physical existence.
By: Sanjay Kumar Pandey
Posts Tagged ‘Jagannath Puri’
Spiritual Tourism and India
November 30th, 2009India Pilgrimage Tours Take You to the Roots of Secular and Grand India
November 11th, 2009
This has been the practice since ancient times. India Pilgrimage Tours take you to some of the most sacred temples, pilgrimage sites, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and synagogues across different regions and states of the country.
The philosophy in Hindu Vaastu Shastra highlights the temple as figurative representation of creator. The dictum necessitates a temple to be with entrance and the affiliated structures, and the internal sacred sanctum. To visit a series or some of these significant temples is believed to lead one to Moksha or Salvation; in other words, an exit from the birth-death cycle. For this reason, many Hindus specifically plan pilgrimage tour to holy temples at least once in a lifetime.
The world’s highest mountain Himalayas, since time immemorial, has religious connation; it is also called the Abode of Gods. Thus, it is the first pilgrimage choice of most Hindus. The tours in this difficult terrain include the well-known trek annually in July-August to ice idol of Lord Shiva – Amarnath Yatra – in the Jammu and Kashmir State. The North India travel packages and pilgrimage tour to Char Dhaam, namely Badrinath shrine devoted to Lord Vishnu, Kedarnath – an abode of Lord Shiva, Gangotri – the inception point of the Ganges, and Yamunotri of River Yamuna, is a tour package that covers major pilgrimage sites in Himalayas that are situated above 3000 ft elevation.
Yet another more elaborate Char Dhaam Yatra in India covers Badrinath in the North, Jagannath Puri in the East, Dwarka in the West and Rameshwaram in the South. It is believed that after undertaking a holy pilgrimage tour to these Four Holiest Hindu Sites, one must visit Pushkar in Rajasthan and take a dip in its Holy Lake to attain Salvation. The chain of Indian pilgrimage tours includes the revered Vaishno Devi Yatra to the pious 100-meter long cave with three idols of Goddess on Shivalik Hills in Jammu. Other crowd-puller temples include the Tirupati Balaji in South India at 2800 ft, the Golden Temple in Amritsar in Punjab with Sikh ideology, and the Hemund Sahib at 4329 ft at Parvati Valley near Kullu Manali. Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is sacred city since ancient times.
The Jain community goes for Tirth Yatra to Shri Achalagadh on Aravalli Ranges, Shri Amarsagar Tirth located at Amarsagar village, Shri Aur Tirth at Aur village, the Nasik Tirth and many others scattered all over India where Jainism flourished. Buddhism has been a part of Indian philosophy right from its inception. People of all nationalities are ardent devotees of this philosophy of life. Bodh Gaya is the site where Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment, Sarnath is the place where Buddhist philosophy was perpetuated to the world, Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh is pious because the Buddha as God did miracle acts here to prove his divinity. Nalanda, the world renowned University, is also a sacred pilgrimage center for Buddhists along with Kushinagar, where Lord Buddha attained Nirvana.
Muslim, the second largest community in India, has many significant mosques and revered shrines to visit too. Ajmer Sharif, Jama Masjid at Delhi, and Sheikh Salim Chisti’s Dargah at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra are just some of the places where millions and billions of devotees throng to seek blessings of the saints and prophets. Among the churches, the most sought-after is the Church of Goa built way back in the 16th century. Discover grand India by planning theme-based holidays to see and experience how diversity in culture, language and lifestyle can add beauty to the social fabric of a nation.
By: Adiba Roshan Khan
