Religious Journeys In India

Explores how religious travel in India is transforming religious identities and self-constructions. In an increasingly global world where convenient modes of travel have opened the door to international and intraregional tourism and brought together people from different religious and ethnic communities, religious journeying in India has become the site of evolving and often paradoxical forms of self-construction. Through ethnographic reflections, the contributors to this volume explore religious and nonreligious motivations for religious travel in India and show how pilgrimages, missionary travel, the exportation of cultural art forms, and leisure travel among coreligionists are transforming not only religious but also regional, national, transnational, and personal identities. The volume engages with central themes in South Asian studies such as gender, exile, and spirituality; a variety of religions, including Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity; and understudied regions and emerging places of pilgrimage such as Manipur and Maharashtra. Andrea Marion Pinkney is Associate Professor of South Asian Religions at McGill University. John Whalen-Bridge is Associate Professor of English at the National University of Singapore. He is the coeditor (with Gary Storhoff) of many books, including The Emergence of Buddhist American Literature; American Buddhism as a Way of Life; Writing as Enlightenment: Buddhist American Literature into the Twenty-first Century; and Buddhism and American Cinema, all published by SUNY Press. He is also the author of Tibet on Fire: Buddhism, Protest, and the Rhetoric of Self-Immolation.

Explores how religious travel in India is transforming religious identities and self-constructions. In an increasingly global world where convenient modes of travel have opened the door to international and intraregional tourism and brought together people from different religious and ethnic communities, religious journeying in India has become the site of evolving and often paradoxical forms of self-construction. Through ethnographic reflections, the contributors to this volume explore religious and nonreligious motivations for religious travel in India and show how pilgrimages, missionary travel, the exportation of cultural art forms, and leisure travel among coreligionists are transforming not only religious but also regional, national, transnational, and personal identities. The volume engages with central themes in South Asian studies such as gender, exile, and spirituality; a variety of religions, including Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity; and understudied regions and emerging places of pilgrimage such as Manipur and Maharashtra. “It’s rare to find such diverse accounts of religious travel collected in a single volume, where scholars’ engagements with individual places of pilgrimage in India and with the journeys surrounding them are truly in conversation with one another. For readers, it makes for a deeply enlightening journey. It also raises an interesting question: Is the reality of India powerful enough that it absorbs divergent expressions of religious tourism, making of them a common fabric? Here, so unusually, readers have the materials to decide.” — John Stratton Hawley, author of A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement

As humans, we lead a life full of struggle and strife. During trying moments, we might knowingly or unknowingly indulge in actions that may be sinful. After a certain time, the wrong actions start weighing us down, and our conscience prods us to atone for our sins. That is when we consider visiting a teertha, where we can go and ask for forgiveness. Such a spiritual journey is termed as a pilgrimage or teertha yatra, which is one of the distinguished facets of Hinduism. Though, undertaking a religious journey is not mandatory in this religion, still a number of Hindus visit the teerthas every year in search of peace and enlightenment. Hindu Pilgrimage - The Teerthas takes you on a mental journey to such spiritual places in India. The book discusses in detail Chaar Dhaam, Himalayan Chaar Dhaam, Sapt Puri, Dwadash Jyotirlingam, Panch Sarovar, Sapt Sarita, Divya Desam, Shakti Peetha, Yatras and also some of the famous temples in India. Enhanced with vivid and exclusive pictures, the book brings the places alive and inspires one to make a pilgrimage to these holy shrines.

Why do we pray? What is the role of religion in your life today? Do you commune with the divine through rituals? Or is it a comforting routine, going to church or temple once a week or month? Are these questions making you uncomfortable? Do you think religion is a private act to be done in the confines of one's home, with family, and not something to declare publicly? These are the questions this book seeks to answer. Shoba Narayan travels across some of the most prominent places of worship in India and presents to her readers the mythologies, histories and contemporary relevance of these sites.

Religion and spirituality are still among the most common motivations for travel - many major tourism destinations have developed largely as a result of their connections to sacred people, places and events. Providing a comprehensive assessment of the primary issues and concepts related to this intersection of tourism and religion, this revealing book gives a balanced discussion of both the theoretical and applied subjects that destination planners, religious organizations, scholars, and tourism service providers must deal with on a daily basis. Bringing together a distinguished list of contributors, this volume takes a global approach and incorporates substantial empirical cases from Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, New Ageism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and the spiritual philosophies of East Asia. On a conceptual level, it considers, amongst other topics: contested heritage the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy secularization of pilgrimage experiences religious humanism educational aspects of religious tourism commodification of religious icons and services. A vibrant collection of essays, this outstanding book discusses many important practices, paradigms, and problems that are currently being examined and debated. It raises an array of significant and interesting questions and as such is a valuable resource for students, scholars and researchers of tourism, religion and cultural studies.

An adventure into the heart of spiritual India that could change the way you think and live . . . Acts of Faith: Journeys to Sacred India is a sensitive and enriching exploration of the essential meaning and inner dynamics of sacred India. Through a series of deeply textured narratives of well-known masters, ashrams and sacred sites, it engages with that area of contemporary India where the profane and the sacred intersect, each transforming the other. This unusual pilgrimage shows how the pathway to the Divine is plural and open, rather than closed or restricted. While there are many travel books on India, few combine an inquiry into the meaning of India with actual visits to sacred sites, encounters with contemporary gurus, and reflections on perennial themes like ‘faith’ and ‘love’. Using both textual sources and actual experiences, Acts of Faith tries to define what constitutes the sacred, making for a highly interesting cartography of ‘India of the spirit’.

Embark on a transformative journey with Spiritual Pilgrimages: Sacred Sites and Religious Journeys. This comprehensive guidebook delves into the profound world of spiritual travel, offering insights into some of the most revered pilgrimage destinations across the globe. From the sacred trails of the Camino de Santiago to the mystical landscapes of Mount Kailash, discover the spiritual significance, historical backgrounds, and practical tips for each site. Whether you're seeking personal growth, spiritual awakening, or a deeper connection with the divine, this book provides all the guidance you need to embark on a meaningful pilgrimage. Enrich your soul, embrace new cultures, and capture the essence of sacred travel with Spiritual Pilgrimages: Sacred Sites and Religious Journeys.

This volume brings together researchers to analyse and describe the concept of happiness in its various appearances in the history of thought. They trace its journey from the very first writings in Greek literature and historiography, through early Greek philosophy, Classical, Hellenistic and Neoplatonic philosophers, 10th century Christian manuscript writings, early and late medieval mysticism to the medieval Hindu philosophy of liberation, early modern philosophy and contemporary positive psychology. As the volume shows, happiness appears in many forms, all connected with the human sense of approaching oneness with the world or with the divine.