Pilgrim's Quest

Peace and tranquility are the only two things craved by every pilgrim. We go to God’s house with lakhs of hopes and expectations, asking him to fulfil our desires and wants. We beg for hours asking him to forgive the sins we commit on a daily basis. We talk to him for hours, telling him about our problems and expect him to give us solutions in a jiffy. In order to fulfil our desires, we are ready to go to any extent. We offer fruits, coconuts and even gold as an offering to please God.

Before going on a pilgrimage, we make sure we plan everything. From the destination to the hotel bookings to the offerings. Going on a pilgrimage means washing away all the sins that you have committed and being a better version of yourself. It includes getting rid of your bad habits and immersing yourself in the faith and worship of God.

By nature, man has always been selfish. We always put our needs and wants before others, to the extent that we don’t care about the place, the time, the people in front of us or the circumstances. I can illustrate this further by giving an example of an incident which happened when I had been on a pilgrimage. We were returning back by bus and had to travel for around 14-15 hours. All the passengers including us were pretty tired and had a long journey ahead of us before we returned to our respective homes. Due to the travel agent’s mistake, the same seats were booked twice by different people. The situation was pretty normal till the second family came into the picture.

It all started with “ Excuse me! This is my seat.” With continuation of “ NO. This is our seat.” A small argument turned into a huge squabble while the onlookers including us just stared at each other in confusion. Both parties hurled abuses at each other; including the mother-sister ones. This continued for a few minutes till the driver left his seat and intervened in the middle. If he hadn’t, the two men were almost on the verge of hitting each other.

His words were blunt enough to stop both families from arguing further.

“ Have you come here on a pilgrimage or have you come here to fight?” He looked at both their tickets and called one of his colleagues. After the call was over, he apologized to both of the families and one of them were accommodated in another bus.

After seeing this situation right in front of my eyes, I wondered if these families had fulfilled even 50% of a pilgrim’s duties. Was there any use of visiting God’s house when they couldn’t control their anger and their tongues for even five minutes? True. They had paid for their seats and had every right to disagree. But surely there was a more mature way to deal with it rather than arguing and giving bad words. And at which place? A place where they had just bowed down in front of God and maybe asked for his forgiveness.

Why do we forget that respecting a fellow human being in turn means respecting God Almighty? Respecting God and his creations, putting others’ before yourself and being polite and courteous are also considered acts of humanity. What is the use of begging God for his forgiveness when we plan on repeating our mistakes the moment we leave his place? Isn’t asking for forgiveness a way of promising? Don’t you think selflessness is a way of worship? Had at least one of the families tried to be selfless, the situation would have been different.

We think that we will be closest to God only if we go on a pilgrimage and visit his holy home. But God exists everywhere. He can see and read our thoughts inside out. Controlling one’s anger, mood and tone in difficult situations, being calm and content with whatever we have, helping others’ in times of need, being optimistic in life, admiring the nature created by God, respecting people irrespective of their status, caste or religion and smiling for everyone including yourself are also ways of worshiping God. For doing this, going on a pilgrimage isn’t necessary. What is necessary is understanding faith and imbibing the teachings of God in your daily life. Only then will you be the closest to God when you are the closest to mankind. Only then will a pilgrim’s quest come to an end.