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204 PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE IN INDIA.

following communication sent to me by a Student of Occult Science will throw some light on the significance attached to the ancient Hindu religious symbology as illustrated in the various places of pilgrimage abounding in India, and account for the high veneration in which these places are held by the masses of the Hindu population. Speaking of "pilgrimage as a means of spiritual education," the said correspondent writes as follows:—

"The insistance of the later Brahmanical Scriptures on pilgrimages as a means of spiritual education is well known. At the present day there is hardly a pious Hindu, of whatever sex and in whatever part of India, who considers his or her religious duties performed without visiting the principal places of pilgrimage. In this respect the modern Hindu differs so completely from his Christian contemporaries, that the latter would hardly credit what a vast number of pilgrims annually circulate over the country to fulfil their religious obligations and to what trouble and expense they put themselves for the purpose. With the social aspect of the question, the present paper is not concerned. It is proposed to examine what real good pilgrimage in India does produce in the spiritual education of the people, and what is the rationale of the institution. The places of pilgrimage are so numerous and their esoteric significance so deep, that anything like completeness must be disclaimed by the present writer. At the same time the hope is expressed that the lines of inquiry indicated herein may be followed up by competent scholars and mystics, so that the highly beneficial character of pilgrimages may be made apparent to all open-minded people, and the great wisdom of his ancestors shown to the Hindu of the present day.

"In the first place it is to be remarked that the sacred cities of the Hindus are well-organized and powerful spiritual centres, and from them there radiates an elevating influence which is not the less active because unperceived by the ordinary Philistine. Places of pilgrimage are truly spiritual seminaries