Pilgrimage

I know this journeying on the face of the world is nothing but a journey inside to find my inner self and in that sense it is a pilgrimage. When I travel I try to be conscious of what my experiences touch inside me. Sometimes the reason why I’m there makes itself very clear, and sometimes it is pretty hard to understand why I had to live that particular experience. Everything happens for a reason and this pilgrimage I’m on will lead me to my Mecca sooner or later.



I have also been to many pilgrimage places literally. I have been in the golden temple of Amritsar, the main Zoroastrian fire temple in Yazd, two Kumbha Mela’s in North India all at the right time. I’ve had a hand shake with H.H. Dalai Lama, did the 10 rounds around the biggest Buddhist temple Borobodur, been to the source of river Ganga and more. They all have been very memorable moments but I know they are also just superficial. I know I don’t need to go on a pilgrimage to become a pilgrim. I am already one.



In his book The Art of Pilgrimage, writer Phil Cousineau gives the description of pilgrim by some other people.

A pilgrim is a traveler that is taken seriously.

Ambrose Bierce

Pilgrims are poets who create by taking journeys.

Richard R. Niebuhr

Personal answers to ultimate questions, that is what we seek.

Alexander Eliot

And he lists five excellent practices for travelers on sacred journeys:

Practice the arts of attention and listening.

Practice renewing yourself everyday.

Practice meandering toward the center of every place.

Practice the ritual of reading sacred texts.

Practice gratitude and praise-singing.

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old,


seek what they sought.


Matsuo Basho