My wife and I started planning for our yatra (pilgrimage) to the very holy place of Mayapur 6 months ago. She being eager to visit her home country for first time since marriage and myself eager for a vacation, saw Mayapur yatra as the ideal arrangement of the Lord. The annual yatra is lead by my spiritual master, Radhanath Swami, and we’re joined by 3500 fellow godfamily and devotees – a record for this 20+ year tradition.
Yatra is always a very special opportunity to make spiritual advancement and that’s why devotees make great efforts to attend. The Nectar of Devotion explains that there are 5 spiritual activities that have extra special potency, enough so that any one of them can send you to the eternal spiritual world if perfected. Namely, worshipping the Deity, chanting the Holy Names, associating with pure devotees, deeply studying and hearing the Vedic scriptures, and residing in the holy places. These yatras allow us to perform all 5 activities with increased intensity. The entire 12 day pilgrimage in turn becomes a special bullet that can pierce the bullet-proof vest of our maya-hardened hearts.
However in order to achieve this impact, we need to approach the yatra with the right attitude and consciousness. In short, with humility and tolerance. Long flights, long drives, bad roads, big crowds, power shortages, sickness, and all sorts of personal inconveniences will manifest. The more the devotee tolerates them, the more the Lord will be pleased. Even greater spiritual opportunity is when the devotee accepts the personal difficulties as the mercy of the Lord. So this is how you can prepare for a powerful spiritual experience.
