Concluding Remarks on Tīrthas — Volume IV

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON TĪRTHAS

At the end of this long list of tīrthas a few words, as promised on p. 722 above, must be said about the attitude that we Indians of the 20th century should adopt towards the moun-tains, rivers and other holy places in Bharata. Modern secular education and the prevailing economic conditions, stresses and trends leave hardly any room for moral and spiritual uplift. We are surrounded on all sides by anxiety, want, misery, hardness of heart and crime. Therefore, the endeavour of all those who have the good of our country at heart must be to cherish all such institutions as tend to lift the mind out of narrowness and to make it concentrate for some time at least on noble thoughts and aspirations and on detachment from the all-engrossing pursuit of money. Pilgrimage is one of such institutionṣ Those who have faith in pilgrimages as enabling a pilgrim to attain heaven, to collect merit and reach release from samsāra should give pilgrimages a new orientation, should see that their charity is not wasted on indolent, ignorant and vicious priests, should improve the methods of worship at holy places in such a way as will satisfy all hygienic requirementṣ The priestly class at holy places should remember that in the coming generations they are likely to find their occupation gone, unless they improve themselves, unless they try to be less ignorant and indolent than they are at present and really serve as honest business agents or Travellers' Guides The number of people visiting holy places in the belief of accumulating merit is sure to become less and less, as modern secular education spreadṣ But it would be a calamity for the moral and spiritual greatness of India if pilgrimages to holy mountains and rivers came to be stopped altogether. I would very strongly recommend to all men, however highly educated, the undertaking of pilgrimages to certain hallowed spotṣ Our country has recently secured independence and it now rests entirely with us to make or mar the character of the teeming millions of this our lanḍ All things that tend to create in Indians the deep feeling that amidst diversities of physical features, food, dress and habits, all of them are one people, that there is no part or district of this vast land which cannot claim to have made some substantial contribution in religious and philosophical thought, in abiding literature, in works of art and in holy places, that the destinies of the Indians of one part of Bhārata are bound up with the destinies of all otherṣ Frequent visits to distant places in Bhārata, mixing up among people of other parts and understanding their peculiar good points, needs and failings is absolutely necessary if we are to keep our freedoṃ India is thrice best in the mountain ranges of the Himālaya, which contains the highest peaks in the world and is full of large and life-giving rivers and of numerous shrines associated with the names of the greatest sages and heroes of antiquity. Every Indian who is proud of the great religious and spiritual heritage of our country must make it a point to devote some part of his time to frequenting holy mountains, rivers and other places of pilgrimage. When we see even from a distance the purity, the whiteness and the serenity of the snow-capped peaks of the Himālaya, the play of delicate and exquisite hues and tints of blue, mauve, and pink when the sun begins to shine on them, a sense of wonder, joy and elevation comes upon uṣ The glorious view of a peak like Kinchinjunga, which is an unforgettable experience, lifts up the whole life of the onlooker to a higher plane for long. Similarly, the sight of the holy Ganges at night or at sunrise in Haridvāra or on the majestic Ghats in Banaras surely empties our minds of meanness and for the moment at least fills our hearts with a sense of nature's beauty and with purity, and brings us in tune with the Infi- nite. I may state here that the talk of the conquest of Everest in which some members of European expeditions indulge jars on my earṣ This great peak has so far vanquished (physically) all those who attempted the conquest ^§ But in a figurative sense Everest and other high peaks have been for ages conquer- ing the hearts of meṇ Even the members of these expeditions will admit that Everest and its brethren have drawn men to themselves from all parts of the world, made them give up their usual uneventful and placid activities, have evoked in the climbing of these giants unbelievable courage, endurance, resourcefulness and self-abnegation and have been instrumental in exhibiting to the world what un- known powers the human spirit possesseṣ Therefore, these silent but awe-inspiring peaks should be looked upon as teachers of mankind and not as material things to be conquered and dealt with by human beings as they please

While these pages were passing through the Press, news was broad- cast on the very morning of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II that Sherpa Tensing Norkay and Mr Edmund Hillary, two members of Col. Hunt's British Expedition, had successfully climbed to the top of Mount Everest. ↩