by Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan
–Excerpt from August 8, 1997 lecture in Espanola, NM
The word yatra – when the pilgrims go with the clarity of mind to go through the ordeal to cleanse their karma and deal with their soul. Yatra is not a holiday, going to five-star hotels; though we try to make in convenient. But we do go every year and people do not understand the beauty and the realism about it.
Let me tell you in very simple words: yatra is nothing but a man going to his higher self. It’s a journey on earth to ones Isht. Isht means higher self; to his altar. So the destiny may be not alternated and one can travel through the destiny and walk on the land and with his feet where all the great men’s feet have already walked. It’s a self-purification. It’s not something…. I know it is a western world, therefore you have lot of sightseeing, etc., etc., but it is not purpose of yatra.
Purpose of yatra is ya-tra. Thou shall swim across the karma. Tra means you swim across; ya means must – you must swim. That’s what yatra is.
So, we go from here to designated holy places and we have no other work, but get up in the morning to meditate; to go to these beautiful surroundings. Sometimes our mind hassles us but we do conquer it. This is the purpose of yatra.
As far as I am concerned right now, we are going for one simple act, I would like to test myself and my purity by myself. That’s yatra.
You are invited to join us to experience the blessing of the Raj Khalsa Yatra to Harimandir Sahib and Patna Sahib (the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh) in celebration of the 350th anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh’s birth.
Please visit www.sdiyatra.com for more information.
Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh
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