Реферат: Hindu Pilgrimage Essay Research Paper The following

make their spiritual crossings. (Eck, D, 1985, PP 67 – 68) .The essay

now will focuss on the opposite perspective – 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