Date: April 24, 2025
Part 1: Introduction
These are times when Nature is attempting at certain goals and Human Unity is undoubtedly one of them. Globalization on commercial front and Travel on the leisure front have been her tools. Like other movements of human development, travel, too has trends following the natural quest of the people, and presently, it is Conscious Travel.
There are several aspects to Conscious Travel. Mostly touted and promoted by the United Nations, it encourages the traveler to become aware of the specific region’s cultural milieu, economic development, community concerns, sustainable development and the impact of travel and tourism in such areas. But, for a conscious traveler, Bharat has something more to offer. And that is the Inner Consciousness.
Bharat is a land with a rich tapestry of stories that weave the inner and the outer worlds so seamlessly that Unity of Life is deeply implanted in our imagination. Here stones, trees, rivers, mountains, humans and gods come alive regaling us, instructing us and guiding us in our lives in so many ways about the tangible and the intangible, the material and the spiritual, the physical and the psychic worlds.
What is Consciousness?
“All can be rendered into terms of consciousness because all is either a creation of consciousness or else one of its forms. All exists in an infinite conscious existence and is a part or a form of it. In proportion as one can share directly or indirectly, completely or incompletely in the eternal awareness of this Infinite, or momentarily contact or enter into it, or formulate some superior or inferior power of its consciousness or knowledge, one can know what it knows, in part or whole, by a direct knowing or an indirect coming to knowledge. A conscious, half conscious or subconscious participation in the awareness of the Infinite is the basis of all knowledge.”
~ Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, 12: 285-286
Not to sound too outlandish, inner consciousness maybe described as our emotions, passions, sentiments, thoughts, guiding ideals and the psychic consciousness deep below — this last is best felt and experienced than formulated. Travel is experiential learning and helps broaden our external consciousness by exposing us to different cultures, people and landscapes. But if we are inwardly open and aware, it can also help deepen our consciousness leading to gradually resulting in a unified consciousness of our self, nature and beyond.
Traveling through Bharat is like a treasure hunt and the treasure is what humanity has always pined for – God, Light, Freedom, Immortality. The very sacred geography of Bharat is seen as the outer body of the Divine Mother, the Shakti that is the presiding deity of this eternal nation.
“The so-called fantastic geography of the Puranas, as we are expressly told in the Puranas themselves, is a rich poetic figure, a symbolic geography of the inner psychical universe. The cosmogony expressed sometimes in terms proper to the physical universe has, as in the Veda, a spiritual and psychological meaning and basis. It is easy to see how in the increasing ignorance of later times the more technical parts of the Puranic symbology inevitably lent themselves to much superstition and to crude physical ideas about spiritual and psychic things. But that danger attends all attempts to bring them to the comprehension of the mass of men and this disadvantage should not blind us to the enormous effect produced in training the mass mind to respond to a psycho-religious and psycho-spiritual appeal that prepares a capacity for higher things.”
~ Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, 20: 374-375
Bharat is like her ancient temples. Every crevice, nook and corner is filled with stories just as the celestial sculptures that fill up every inch of the temple walls. Each has a meaning and guides us in unravelling the story of the universe and the inter-connectedness of man, nature, gods and the supreme divine.
The Puranic stories of each place lift us from the outer geography into inner landscapes as the borders vanish and a path is laid out for the inner seeker. Rituals connect the matter to the spirit within and above. Once the consciousness is yanked to the higher levels and remains poised there, attachment to rituals withers away, so they are either abandoned or reformed in the light of new light.
Thus, a journey through Bharat can be transformational, shifting world-view to a more subjective experience. In this blog series we will take up some prominent places in Bharat and dive into their stories and gather the pearls of wisdom.
Editor’s Note:
This blog authored by Lakshmijyothi C. is being offered in collaboration with AuroIndian, a Tourism and Culture consultancy founded by her. AuroIndian endeavours to interpret India and Indian culture to the world in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision. It aims at being instrumental in promoting Conscious Travel among students and young adults. Lakshmijyothi hails from a family of Sri Aurobindo’s devotees. She is a researcher, writer and facilitator on Sri Aurobindo’s Thought.