A Spiritual Journey
Ashwin Sathyanarayanan
English 10
Professor Stanley
Personal Essay
That Once in a Lifetime Chance It is a great feeling going to a place where it’s a huge matter in one’s life. “Revisiting Sacred Ground” N. Scott Momaday had made a pilgrimage which his Kiowa ancestors. Momaday has said,” There are certain villages, and towns mountains and plains that, having seen them, walked in them, lived in them, even for a day, we keep forever in the mind’s eye.” Just like how Momaday relived his ancestor’s trails, I had a chance as well. I was lucky enough to be able to go on such a sacred journey that people would pay in thousands of dollars. The pilgrimage I would like to talk about is the one I took to a sacred city in India called Badrinath. I follow Hinduism, and in Hinduism there is a saying/belief that if we go on this enriching, and spiritual journey, we will go to heaven after we pass. I have a guru, like a living god, who I listen to and look up to. He took me on this spiritual journey. This spiritual journey had started for me 7 years ago in 2005, around June I had left San Francisco International Airport, and left to my motherland India. I landed in New Delhi, India to be exact. From there we drove to a city called Kasi. The city of Kasi is known for its sacred river. My guru had told me that in Hindu mythology if you bathe in the holy river of Ganges it will get rid of all your sins. We stayed the night there and we went to the sacred river and bathed early in the morning around 5. Then we went to the temple and did some prayer rituals that are performed after the bathing in the river. Later that day we took a bus from Kasi and drove into a city called Haridwar, one of the beautiful cities in the foothills of the Himalayas.
When we reached the city of Haridwar, my guru told us a little about the place before we got out of the bus. That is where I learned the myth being told that Haridwar is one of the four cities where amrit (the elixir of immortality)
English 10
Professor Stanley
Personal Essay
That Once in a Lifetime Chance It is a great feeling going to a place where it’s a huge matter in one’s life. “Revisiting Sacred Ground” N. Scott Momaday had made a pilgrimage which his Kiowa ancestors. Momaday has said,” There are certain villages, and towns mountains and plains that, having seen them, walked in them, lived in them, even for a day, we keep forever in the mind’s eye.” Just like how Momaday relived his ancestor’s trails, I had a chance as well. I was lucky enough to be able to go on such a sacred journey that people would pay in thousands of dollars. The pilgrimage I would like to talk about is the one I took to a sacred city in India called Badrinath. I follow Hinduism, and in Hinduism there is a saying/belief that if we go on this enriching, and spiritual journey, we will go to heaven after we pass. I have a guru, like a living god, who I listen to and look up to. He took me on this spiritual journey. This spiritual journey had started for me 7 years ago in 2005, around June I had left San Francisco International Airport, and left to my motherland India. I landed in New Delhi, India to be exact. From there we drove to a city called Kasi. The city of Kasi is known for its sacred river. My guru had told me that in Hindu mythology if you bathe in the holy river of Ganges it will get rid of all your sins. We stayed the night there and we went to the sacred river and bathed early in the morning around 5. Then we went to the temple and did some prayer rituals that are performed after the bathing in the river. Later that day we took a bus from Kasi and drove into a city called Haridwar, one of the beautiful cities in the foothills of the Himalayas.
When we reached the city of Haridwar, my guru told us a little about the place before we got out of the bus. That is where I learned the myth being told that Haridwar is one of the four cities where amrit (the elixir of immortality)