January 2nd, 2014: The word yatra means many things, besides a journey. It means a festival, a custom, a procession etc. There is a particular yatra, which when it ends, another automatically begins in its place. When the journey of this body ends, the journey of the soul begins. These are the two yatras we should know about, if we are to attain moksha. The yatra of the body is determined by our past acts, or our past deeds over our many births. We suffer hardships, or enjoy boons, depending upon our accumulated baggage of karma. And as we go about our lives, which include our day to day activities, our occasional worries, our joys, our work, our many roles in life, it seems as if we are journeying. But what are we journeying towards? That is the question. We must understand what we should journey towards, and how to begin this journey. Who should go on a yatra? Where should we go? What is the path? What will we get at the end of this journey? And lastly, what are the hurdles we will have to face in this journey? In a discourse, Kidambi Narayanan posed all these questions and gave the answers too.

The answer to the first question is that we must all work towards a spiritual journey. We should all aim for moksha. The paths are shown in the Bhagavad Gita- the paths of Karma yoga, bhakti yoga, gnana yoga and Saranagati (total surrender). If we follow the paths shown by the Supreme One, then we will reach His feet. There we will get the opportunity to serve Him. But before we reach there, we must overcome the hurdles in our path. The most important hurdle is our inability to distinguish between the atma and the body. Once we realise this distinction, we overcome the first hurdle in our path. Shedding our ego, and our pride in our abilities, we must solicit His grace to attain the ultimate goal. To think we can achieve moksha without His grace is to put another obstacle in our path.

The Lord had His own journeys too, although they were different from ours, His journeys being journeys of His choice. His avataras were journeys which He undertook to save His devotees. If we understand His avataras and enjoy them with bhakti, we can make progress in our spiritual journey.