Sacred Crossing / Pilgrimage (Tīrtha)
A 'ford' where the worldly and the holy nearly touch — and the pilgrimage that crosses there.
A tīrtha is a 'ford' or crossing-place — literally a spot where one fords a river, and by extension any sacred site where the divine is felt to be especially near and the passage from the worldly to the holy especially easy. Pilgrimage to such places, above all to the great river-confluences and temple-cities, is one of the oldest and most widespread Hindu practices, undertaken for purification, blessing, and the merit of the journey. The word also became an honorific for great teachers, themselves living 'crossing-places.'
Key passages(7)
Therefore he who has crossed that bank, if blind, ceases to be blind; if wounded, ceases to be wounded; if afflicted, ceases to be afflicted. Therefore when that bank has been crossed, night becomes d
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He said: 'You know well that I have plenty of gold, plenty of cows, horses, slaves, attendants, and apparel; do not heap on me what I have already in plenty, in abundance, and superabundance.' The ki
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)