("crossing location") Any holy place's most common
name.
A tirtha provides a way to "cross over" from
mundane life to sanctified life or, on a larger scale, to "cross
over" from this ephemeral and ever changing world to the unchanging,
blissful, final liberation of the soul, much like a ford on a riverbank provides
a safe place to cross from one side to the other (moksha).
Many tirthas are real places—many of them on the banks of
India's holy rivers, particularly the Ganges—and the name tirtha connotes a
pilgrimage site in its most colloquial sense.
Traditional pilgrimage literature, on the other hand, is
certain that tirthas are not limited to physical locations: The term may also
apply to holy persons (ascetics, saints, gurus, and sages), as well as
attributes like generosity, knowledge, compassion, and heart purity.
A tirtha is first and foremost a location or item that
provides access to holiness and religious power, and this power is available to
everybody in the case of physical sites (rivers, mountains, towns, temples, or
pictures).
Such sacred sites are considered as providing not only
quicker access to the divine, but also as regions where religious merit may be
earned more easily and abundantly.
When looking over the literature on particular topics, one
of the most prominent themes is the idea that religious activities conducted at
site X (the actual tirtha) have the same worth as religious acts performed in
regular places by a thousand (or a million, or a billion).
The rarified atmosphere in tirthas has a similar impact on
bad deeds, amplifying their ramifications.
In this regard, a tirtha's activity may be likened to that
of a microphone; just as a microphone magnifies any sound, whether harsh or
pleasant, a tirtha magnifies the consequences of any action, for good or bad.
As a result, pilgrimage literature often reminds people of
the holy merit that their deeds might bring, while also cautioning them that
careless or bad actions can have equally terrible effects.
As a result, those on religious pilgrimage (tirthayatra)
were urged to adopt an austere, self-aware lifestyle, both to avoid lapses and
to make the trip a self-aware process of change.
Diana Eck, Banaras, 1999; E. Alan Morinis, Pilgrimage in the
Hindu Tradition, 1984; A. W. Entwistle, Braj, 1987; Ann Grodzins Gold, Fruitful
Journeys, 1988; and Peter van der Veer, Gods on Earth, 1988 are also good
sources of knowledge.
