Where Lies the Real Benefit-Satsang or Pilgrimage?
Is the Benefit in Visiting Places or in Satsang?
Some people, whenever they come to satsang, have a strong urge to visit different places such as Barsana, Gokul, and so on. They asked Shri Maharaj Ji for permission, saying that they wanted to go.
You have wandered through 8.4 million species, and still you have not found peace. You still have not understood whether the real benefit lies in satsang or in travelling from one place to another.
If you go somewhere with Shri Maharaj Ji - whether to Barsana or even to hell - you will receive satsang there, and you will benefit from it. But what will you gain by travelling around on your own? Wherever you go, you will see the same five gross elements - earth, water, fire, air, empty expanse - that you see here. You will be troubled by the heat, and eventually you will return. In the process, your body, mind, and wealth will all be disturbed.
You should think carefully about where your true benefit lies.
If going there brings you some special benefit - if it increases your attachment (anurāg) towards Radha Krishna and towards Guru's lotus feet - and you are receiving less benefit from satsang here, then by all means, go. But if going there does not produce such a result, and you are receiving greater benefit from satsang here at this time, then what is the point of going there?
Countless lifetimes have passed in wandering from one place to another. You have already come to this very Vraj countless times in the past, yet it brought you no special benefit. True benefit comes only where there is detachment (vairāgya) from the world and attachment (anurāg) to Hari and Guru.
Therefore, Shri Maharaj Ji is giving neither a general instruction to stay here nor an instruction to go there. His instruction is simply this: if you are receiving greater benefit here, then stay here; if going there brings you greater benefit, then go there.
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