Реферат: Hindu Pilgrimage Essay Research Paper The following

i.e. sadhus. It entails then, that holy places of pilgrimages are an

extension of additional darsan, of which can be given and received by

travelling on a pilgrimage.

For example, pilgrims go to the sacred hill of Tirupati for the darsan

of

Sri Venkatesvara, an ancient icon believed to be a form of Visnu.

According to legend, the Lord came to bless a particular devotee who was

faithful in his duties towards his parents. The devotee took no time

out from his duties to greet the Lord properly, and so threw a brick

for him to stand on which impressed Krsna, and so Krsna has stood there

ever since.

It is important, however, to understand that Hindus do not only travel

as pilgrims for the darsan of divine images but also seek thedarsan of

the pilgrimage places themselves, which are believed to be the natural

places of where gods have dwelled. For instance, the river Ganga also

known as the Ganges is said to have flowed in heaven before she agreed

to come to earth.

Siva caught Ganga in his tangled hair to break her fall, and from his

head she flowed down through the Himalayas, so legend goes. And this is

why in Hindu hymns, the Ganga is praised as a liquid form of Siva’s

divine energy. The Ganges is the holiest river of all , where all

Hindus desire to bathe in this river, for it is believed by Hindus to

wash away all their sins.

No sin is too heinous, and no character too black to be washed away by

the waters of the Ganges. Essentially, all water used in rituals by

Hindus is symbollically transformed into sacred water by summoning the

presence of Ganga and other sacred rivers. Every great river is

supposed to hold the divine essence, and its waters held to cleanse

people from all moral guilt and contamination. On the whole,