Why do many devotees have problems after visiting holy places?
Many passages recommend that a devotee should regularly visit, and if possible, even live in a holy place, such as Vṛndāvana or Mayapur. Many, however, go and have problems. Why is that?
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Many passages recommend that a devotee should regularly visit, and if possible, even live in a holy place, such as Vṛndāvana or Mayapur. In SB 4.8.42, for example, Prabhupāda mentions:
“Places of pilgrimage yield a special advantage for a devotee in quickly advancing his spiritual life. Lord Kṛṣṇa lives everywhere, but still it is very easy to approach Him in holy places of pilgrimage because these places are inhabited by great sages. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that He lives wherever His devotees are chanting the glories of His transcendental activities. There are many places of pilgrimage in India, and especially prominent are Badarī-nārāyaṇa, Dvārakā, Rāmeśvara and Jagannātha Purī. These sacred places are called the four dhāmas. Dhāma refers to a place where one can immediately contact the Supreme Lord. To go to Badarī-nārāyaṇa one has to pass through Hardwar on the path to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, there are other holy places of pilgrimage, such as Prayāga (Allahabad) and Mathurā, and the topmost of them all is Vṛndāvana. Unless one is very advanced in spiritual life, it is recommended that he live in such holy places and execute devotional service there.”
We can practically see that many devotees visit holy places and, in fact, become more inspired and more fixed in their spiritual practice. In many cases, the difference can be radical.
On the other hand, we can also observe that many devotees visit holy places but get the opposite result: instead of being helped by them, they end up facing many challenges in their spiritual practice afterward. If the holy places are so pure and offer so many opportunities for spiritual upliftment, why is the result not always positive?
The point is that although the holy dhāmas are very powerful, they can be a double-edged sword. In the same way the results of devotional service executed there are amplified, allowing one to quickly advance, the results of offenses and sinful activities are also amplified, creating the possibility of a sharp fall down.
We can see that in his purports, Prabhupāda always emphasizes the point of visiting holy places to associate with the saintly persons who live there, often mentioning that one who visits holy places just to bathe in the rivers is no more intelligent than an ass or a cow. Asses are the epitome of ignorance, and cows are certainly very pious and sāttvic, but not particularly intelligent. This comparison thus illustrates two types of people who can’t see beyond mere rituals.
One who goes to holy places to just bathe or perform rituals is surely missing out, but this is not inherently bad, it is just we are not getting the most out of it. There is, however, something that is seriously dangerous: holy places are the home not only of saints but also of sahajiyās, ordinary materialists, and even common criminals. As the holy places amplify both the good and the bad, such persons when living in the dharma can be quite a dangerous association, much more than in other places.
That’s why it’s generally recommended that one visit the holy places as part of a group, and stay there just a few weeks at a time. We should take a visit to the holy places as something serious, not just an ordinary tourist vacation.
If we just accept whatever conditions we have got and spend our time attending programs, hearing, and doing service (instead of just trying to satisfy our material needs), we have the chance of making a lot of progress even in just a few days. However, the longer we stay, the higher the possibility of developing a proud attitude, taking things for granted, finding the wrong type of association, and starting to offend others. If we fall into this path, the results can become quite bad, quite fast.
It’s especially important to strictly follow the four principles and avoid any type of sinful activities. Śrila Bhaktivinoda Thākura explains that sins can usually be easily washed away by the chanting of the holy names, but sins executed in a holy place become a very hard knot in the heart of the conditioned soul that is very difficult to destroy. Śrila Prabhupāda, for example, was showing concern about single Western women living in Vṛndāvana due to the possibility of them finding boyfriends and having illicit relationships in the holy dharma.
The longer we plan to stay, the more we should be careful. We will always see people doing all kinds of things around us, but what is important is what we do, and not what others do. They will get the results for their activities, and we will get the results for our own activities.
Holy places are thus places that exacerbate the free will of each soul. If we want to advance spiritually, they give us that, but if we desire to become degraded, they also make it possible in real time.
Although both possibilities are there, we should not be scared. The opportunity of advancement by visiting holy places is too big to miss. The point is just that we should be careful. The best is to visit the holy places as part of a group, led by an advanced devotee. Usually, these groups stay for a short while in each place, with a routine of solid spiritual practice. One can also go with a friend who already knows the place; the main point is to surround ourselves with good association and spend our time there engaged in spiritual activities. We can just ask ourselves, honestly, how long can we maintain a standard of solid spiritual practice, waking up early, going to the morning program, eating only prasādam, chanting a lot of rounds, etc. For some it may be one day, for others, one week, or maybe even a month or a year. Whatever the number is, that’s a good general plan for our visit.
Many of us may have a desire to live permanently in a holy place the first time we go there. That’s surely a good sentiment, but in practice it’s not so easy. One may rent or buy a flat there and keep some money in the bank for living, but this is just the beginning. To live in a holy place, we need to radically adjust our consciousness, being able to tune in with the spiritual atmosphere. Every holy place is like a portal where the material and spiritual worlds meet. According to our consciousness, we may tune up one or another frequency. Some go to Vṛndāvana and see the kalpa-vṛkṣa trees, while others see the hogs and monkeys. One who is in material consciousness may have a really hard time living in a holy place, develop a long list of complaints, and eventually decide to leave.
Usually, it takes a long time for us to properly adjust our consciousness to be able to really access the spiritual frequency of the holy place. The safest way to do that is to have short and regular visits for a few years and gradually try to reinforce our spiritual practice over time.
Śrīla Prabhupāda was quite insistent on temples making arrangements for all resident devotees to visit Mayapur and Vṛndāvana once per year. When a temple president argued that it was too expensive, Prabhupāda argued back that they could fast during the year, and thus save money for visiting India, making the point that to visit the holy places is more important than eating opulently.
One may not be able to visit every year due to different circumstances, but we should not miss the chance when it appears. We need to be careful, however, to get the most benefit while at the same time avoiding the dangers.
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