purpose in visiting
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many persons come here in Vṛndāvana, tīrtha, but what do they think? They think, "Let me take bathing in the Yamunā River. Then my business is finished." But no. Śāstra says that you should approach to a bhāgavata, a de Go-kharaḥ. Go-kharaḥ means... Go means cow, and kharaḥ means ass. Yat-tirtha-buddhiḥ salile. Now many persons come here in Vrndavana, tirtha, but what do they think? They think, "Let me take bathing in the Yamuna River. Then my business is finished." But no. Sastra says that you should approach to a bhagavata, a devotee who is living in Vrndavana, pure devotee, and surrender unto him. That is tirtha-yatra. Not that coming here and taking bathing in the Ganges or... They are going to dūre vary-ayanam tirtham. General people think, in this Kali-yuga at least, that if you go thousand miles away from your home, then your tirtha is finished. Just like in Calcutta there is Ganges, but people come to Haridwar to take bathing in the Ganges. Now, what is the difference between the Haridwar Ganges and Calcutta Ganges? But he thinks, "If I go three thousand miles and take bathing there, that is real Ganges." So dūre vary-ayanam tirtham. These are the symptoms of the Kali-yuga. Yat-tirtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicit. Many thousands of people come to Vrndavana, but they think by taking bathing in the Yamuna, his tirtha is finished. Or going to Prayaga, taking bath... Christian also, they go. They take bathing in the...? Water of...? Jordan?
(More...) Persons who attempt to visit the holy places of pilgrimage, like Vṛndāvana, Mathurā or Dvārakā, are actually glorified. By such traveling activities, they can pass over the desert of material existence. It is stated in the Puranas: "Persons who attempt to visit the holy places of pilgrimage, like Vrndavana, Mathura or Dvaraka, are actually glorified. By such traveling activities, they can pass over the desert of material existence."
(More...) In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, there is a statement about the benefit of visiting the temples of Lord Krsna. As we have explained previously, in Vrndavana, Mathura and Dvaraka the system is that all the devotees take advantage of visiting various temples situated in those holy places. It is stated in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya: "Persons who are impelled by pure devotional service in Krsna consciousness and who therefore go to see the Deities of Visnu in the temple will surely get relief from entering again into the prison house of a mother's womb." The conditioned soul forgets the trouble of living within the mother's womb during birth, but it is a very painful and terrible experience. In order to make an escape from this material condition, one is advised to visit a temple of Visnu with devotional consciousness. Then one can very easily get out of the miserable condition of material birth.
(More...) Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/?qg=412
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