Your Excellency, Sri Satyanarayan Reddy and Dear Participants & Distinguished Scholars
The select assembly of Vraja Academy scholars and its distinguished associates heartily welcome you here today. This Academy recognizes you as a most significant link in the global network of those who are ushering the spiritual age through a synthesis of the ancient wisdom and modern science for reaching the truth. We welcome you heartily to this holy place and repose our confidence in your dynamic energy, which we believe, is a transcendental movement representing the dynamic evolutionary aspects of life of nation. Through your innate spiritual inclinations and higher aspirations of life you are intimately aware of character of this holy birth-land of Lord Sri Krishna. Seekers of truth, love and spirituality, saints, poets philosophers and all have been drawn to this holy land since ages. The Divine message of Sri Krishna resonates through the melody of his flute and it is a living experience for those who have captured the meaning of existence of man on this planet. His benedictions, message of peace, and of true happiness of the human spirit continues in this age when mankind is in the grips of disaster. And his eternal message brings back the hope for humankind that he will come forth in moments of utter despondency and darkness. In the 16th century Vraja experienced the peak of eco-cultural spiritual harmony of body and mind and excellence prevailed in all spheres of life and endeavors. The forests of Vrindavan unfolded and displayed their beauty in flora and fauna and the lovers of the holy land, kings, rulers, merchants and priests protected this exquisite beauty and natures grandeur. Scholars and mystics meditated in their enchanting silence and guided the psyche and the lives of the people and harmonized their inner selves with their external forms. The eternal and celestial pastime of Radha and Krishna offered them bliss within the eternal lila. The exhuberant Bhakti emerged from the spiritual zeal of seekers of love and truth. The discipline of peregrinology enrooted from the very inception of Vedic heritage of the Vraja, and Vraja Bhumi has been the harbinger of the sanctity of pilgrimage. The heart centre of beauty and splendour merged here in the Supreme Divine Lord Krishna in his pastimes experience. In the splendour and the beauty of its own creation here he walked, slept and played in that mood of ecstasy, which still prevails in the rhythms of the consciousness of the sacred land. The episode of Bhagwatam depicts the moods of Krishna in Vraja in all the dimensions, and spheres of his lila have been appearing time and again through the ages. Lord Krishan herded the cows in the land of his pastures of Vraja and His Divine footprints are still visible in the soil of the Vraja and His shadow reflects in the molten flow of the Yamuna and under the ethereal canopy, which casts its shadow on the landmarks of Sri Krishna in Vrindavan. History traces back to earliest times of the Indian civilization the centrifugal force in compassing its historicity, sacrility and spirituality. Therefore the discipline of peregrinology infused in the holy feet of Krishna in Vraja invites every one of us to be in Vrindavan to play with him, and be the seeker of the bliss of pilgrimage of inner and inner spheres; the ultimate aim of the pilgrimage. Pilgrimage to Vrindavan is an experience of bliss and happiness. In quest of inner happiness man's interest has focused on endeavours that transcend the material and, bodily aspects of pleasure. As you are aware pilgrimage acquired unprecendented significance in the Semitic and non-Semitic religions. Whereas, the cult of worshipping the dead and of human sacrifices as it had existed in the pre-historic and even the primitive religions, the civilized religions of India and the middle east-polytheistic as well the nonotheistic replaced the flavour of those cults with pilgrimage, and have common psychological characteristics as regards the belief in the transcendent power and adoration of the Divine. Among the ancient religions the vitality of the Hindu religion lies in love toward all men emanating from the very sources of Bhakti. Sri Krishna's Universal God promises salvation through love toward the divine. This spirit is the heart of pilgrimage leading into the religion of humanity. The Jainism & Buddhism, despite their subjective personification touch the core of human spirit, and the tradition of pilgrimage to holy places is definitely meant to elevate the spirit, which alone is the cohesive power as regards human brotherhood. Sikh tradition combines the Hinduism with the monotheism of Islam but Bhakti is still the overriding spirit of Sikhism, and pilgrimage to Golden Temple means the vivification of the Bhakti. In the Semitic religions, the religion of the Hebrews upholds the idea that wherever good men meet together there is the slechina the dwelling place of God below, as it is exemplified in Jerusalem through the centuries. The Christian spirit is embodied in the commandment for the love of the Lord and in love thy neighbour as thyself. The holy land of the Christ is Jerusalem the place where the eternal fellowship with God can be experienced. The Islamic religion makes pilgrimage to Mecca Obligatory as the fifth tenet of faith. All distinctions of race, colour, languages and cultural differences must be dissolved. The sufi interpretation of pilgrimage based on the notion of inner spiritual journey, which is given expression by Rumi, Al-Ghazzali and Indian Sufis. The human heart with effluent love of God and his creation is the abode of the Almighty. Routes of pilgrimage, therefore and the different faiths to which humankind adheres are linked up only at one point in higher dimensions where the mystic realm of existence opens up the gateway to the direct experience of the Divine. The Bhakti tradition and its effluent love reminds us of the renaissance of spirituality which ushered in Vrindavan. The universal spirit of pilgrimage binds together the soul and hearts. The academic interest in this subject has revealed that Vrindavan is a response to this age of renaissance in the present century which has stood the test of time when foreign invaders heedlessly went astray from the path of righteousness in their greed for power and wealth. Despite their relentless onslaughts Vrindavan continues as the most stable foothold for the future renaissance and the transformation of man in the whole man, carrying within his heart the spirit of human love and brotherhood. Vrindavan is the vertex and centre where the meeting point still exists for the North and the South, and for the East and the West. The Vraja Academy has taken this historic initiative for deliberations where the theme for the larger international symposium may be discussed which is to be held in early 1991. The academy cordially invites the learned scholars for pooling their valuable thoughts concerning the academic approach to the subject of pilgrimage. We are indeed most thankful to distinguished scholars who have taken pains to reach the holy place despite the existing uncertainties in undertaking a journey. We really are not able to express in words our deep feelings of appreciation of their enthusiasm for participating in this symposium and are unable to convey to them our-feelings of gratitude for it. The great saint and Yogi of our time Devraha Baba, the ageless one, who has left the mortal plane and joined the cosmic plane in June this year is the source of inspiration for us all and this workshop is a tribute to that immortal soul to salute his cause and mission which leads to the age of spirituality of the 21st century as a century of compassion and love for humanity. His simple tut across the Yamuna in Vrindavan immensely vibrates to nourish for the times to come everyone who visits with faith the banks of Yamuna so that they can quench their thirst as seekers of truth while the perennial flow of the Yamuna passing thereby carries the vibrant consciousness of the great saint who lived there for the enlightened cause of the humanity. We, on behalf of Vraja Academy, once again welcome you all most heartily to this Seminar. We request your forgivance and patience for any lapses in the arrangements made for you. This has been due to present socio-political situation in this country over which we have had no control. We wanted to make arrangements on a grand scale and organize the Seminar properly but the national events urged us to consider postponing this Seminar at the last minute. However, since distinguished participants started arriving from all over the world, we thought it fit to conduct the Seminar even on a humble scale and we seek your indulgence in over looking our lapses. We have had no time to edit and print all the thought provoking papers we have received. We, therefore, had to be content with sharing with you a s summary of these papers may be, at a later stage, we will print all these paper s and send them to you. We ardently hope and pray that the lively and thought provoking discussion that will follow during these few days will overcome the short-comings in the organization of this Seminar and every one will return to his home with grater understanding and love in his or her heart. We thank you all once again for coming here and making this Seminar a great event. We especially thank H.E. the Governor for his address and for joining us in this Festival of love and light by sparing some time from his busy schedule. Thank you.
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