Caption: A photo of a woman hiking down wooden steps in Jeju Island, South Korea.(Getty Images)Pilgrimages test your faith, devotion and commitment to your chosen deity. To undertake them, one requires personal effort and sacrifice. They prove how far you can go to affirm your faith and devotion. They are meant mainly for Hindu householders. However, traditionally many ascetic people also undertake pilgrimages as a part of their spiritual practice. They keep wandering from one place to another to fulfill their vows and cultivate purity, and during their wanderings they visit pilgrim places also to engage their minds in devotion and contemplation.
In India, a popular pilgrimage circuit is that of The Jyotirlingams.
A Jyotirlinga or Jyotirlingam, is a devotional representation of the Supreme God Shiva. Jyoti means ‘radiance’ and lingam the ‘Image or Sign’ of Shiva; Jyotir Lingam thus means the Radiant Sign of The Almighty Shiva.
There are twelve traditional Jyotirlinga shrines in India. I hope to visit these over the next few years.
The link below lists the twelve Jyotirlinas - their locations and thumbnail descriptions;
Jyotirlingas - The Pilgrims Way
To understand Shiva, it helps to know the concept of Trimurti. The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver and Shiva the destroyer or transformer. These three deities have been called “the Hindu triad” or the “Great Trinity”.
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Thanks for reading. Wishing you happy pilgrimages!!!