Spiritual circuit– The Parikrama

Spiritual circuit– The Parikrama

• For centuries, journeys encompassing India’s ancient footprint, particularly spiritual landmarks where the traveller experiences life outside of comfort, lap of mother nature, and highest consciousness, have been regarded as a powerful means of achieving one’s spiritual goals, often referred to as Siddhi and Moksha. Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists have practised parikrama or pradakshina, or circumambulation of sacred locations such as temple clusters amidst hills, forests, or rivers, since time immemorial.
• The Narmada parikrama is a difficult spiritual exercise involving a 2,600-kilometer journey. The journey usually begins at the river’s source (Udgama) in Amarkantak in the Maikal Hills of Madhya Pradesh and continues along its southern banks (Dakshin tat) to its mouth in Bharuch in Gujarat. The Narmada River meets the Arabian Sea at Bharuch’s Mithi Talai. Pilgrims must take a motorboat from the southern to the northern end of the river to begin their journey back along its northern bank (uttar tat).
• Pilgrims living in the middle can start from the river’s mouth or anywhere in between, but they must complete the circuit and return to where they started. It is believed that in order to reap the benefits of this yatra, one must keep the river on one’s right at all times. Other strict rules and austerities must be followed on this pilgrimage, which could easily take four months if done barefoot. Hundreds of pilgrims walk barefoot on this journey, staying in ashrams, dharamshalas, or village shelters along the way
• Those who are unable to walk the distance can book public or personal transportation and spent overnight halts at key holy sites. This long parikrama, motivated by prayer, commitment, or penance, is claimed to accelerate the process of self-awareness and spiritual progress, provide travellers tranquilly, and fulfill their material and nonmaterial desires.