yātrā – pilgrimage;
also
tirth yātrā – pilgrimage to a sacred place
Beautiful explanation of the meaning of a (tirth) yatra.
Pilgrimage, tirtha yatra, is one of the five duties of every Hindu, along with dharma, worship, samskaras and observing religious festivals. A pilgrimage is an exercise in
willpower, humility and faith, when the devotee travels to often difficult locations, leaving his problems at the feet of the Deity and forgetting everything but God.… A pilgrimage is an intimate experience, a direct connection between the seeker and the sacred.
… a pilgrim journeys to see God, to have a life-changing, bliss-engendering, karma eradicating contact with the Divine. It may happen though a special vision, a particularly deep meditation or the altered consciousness following some grand puja. When the devotee sees God, God also looks at him—and rays of divine light change his karma forever.
~ Hinduism Today 2008
Indra says to King Harishchandra,
“There is no happiness for the person who does not travel; living amonst men, even the best man frequently becomes a sinner; for Indra is the traveller’s friend. hence, Travel.”
Aitareya Brahmana, VII, 15.
In, Agehananda Bharati, Pilgrimage in the Indian tradition, History of Religions, v3 (1): 135-167 (1963)
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