Achariya Fritz Kramer
Speaks on "Inner Pilgrimage"
Sunday, November 9, 2014 at 11:00am
As the days become shorter, the temperatures colder, and we begin to look toward the Season of Thanksgiving, may we first take time to contemplate the way of the pilgrim. From time immemorial, pilgrimage has played a paramont role in the spiritual life. People from all times, lands, and faiths have set out searching for, and journeying to, the divine. Sacred sights, where saints have lived and left their holy vibrations, or where Mother Nature has revealed her majesty, can be places of renewal, transformation and awakening. Yet, the wise pilgrim also sets out on the path within. Let us come together this Sunday to meditate on our inner pilgrimage.
—Acharya Fritz
From the Gurus and Swamis: AUM
"Man has always searched for truth, truth regarding the universe around him as well as the kingdom within himself...There is a divine mystery hidden within our innermost being. It is a mystery because we have not yet gained the full comprehension of its glory."
—Swami Premananda
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"The spine is the highway to the Infinite. Your own body is the temple of God. It is within your own self that God must be realized. Whatever places of pilgrimage you visit outwardly, and whatever outward rituals you perform, the ultimate ‘pilgrimage’ must be within. And the ultimate religious rite must be the offering of your life-force on the altar of inner God-communion.”
—Swami Yogananda
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"I am He; I have neither life nor death; I have neither father nor mother; I am not bound by time or space; I am Existence infinite, Bliss infinite, and Knowledge infinite; I am He, I am He. I am not bound by books, or holy places, or pilgrimages, or anything whatsoever; I am the Existence Absolute, Bliss Absolute; I am He, I am He."
—Swami Vivekananda
Noble Thoughts: ("Let Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides." —Rigveda)
"Pilgrimage to the place of the wise is to find escape from the flame of separation."
—Rumi
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"By showing veneration or reverence at the holy shrines, one is able to purify one's thought, speech and action. In this way, the pilgrim is endowed with the morality of Right Thought, Right Speech and Right Action."
—Chan Khoon San, "Buddhist Pilgrimage"
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I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being… And I saw that it was holy.
—Black Elk, "Black Elk Speaks"