Back تيراث Arabic তীর্থ Bengali/Bangla Tirtha German Tirtha Spanish Tirthadana French तीर्थस्थान HI Tirtha Italian ತೀರ್ಥಕ್ಷೇತ್ರ KN Tirtha Polish Тиртха и кшетра Russian
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Tirtha is particularly refers to pilgrimage sites and holy places in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.[1][2][3]
The process or journey associated with tirth is called tirth-yatra,[4] while alternate terms such as kshetra, gopitha and mahalaya are used in some Hindu traditions to refer to a "place of pilgrimage".[5][6]
Tīrth (Sanskrit: तीर्थ) literally means "a ford, a "crossing place" in the sense of "transition or junction".[1][2] Tirth is a spiritual concept in Hinduism, particularly as a "pilgrimage site", states Axel Michaels, that is a holy junction between "worlds that touch and do not touch each other".[2][7] The word also appears in ancient and medieval Hindu texts to refer to a holy person, or a holy text with something that can be a catalyst for a transition from one state of existence to another.[2] It is, states Knut A. Jacobsen, anything that has a salvific value to a Hindu, and includes pilgrimage sites such as mountains or forests or seashore or rivers or ponds, as well as virtues, actions, studies or state of mind.[3][2] Tirtha can be an actual physical sacred location in Hindu traditions, or a metaphorical term referring to meditation where the person travels to an intellectual sacred mind state such as of "truth, forgiveness, kindness, simplicity and such".[4][8][9] Tirtha in Hindu texts, states Bhardwaj, is "one of the many ways toward self-realization and bliss".[10] The field of our state of mind is the body, mind, intellect and ego, a quadripartite. Yoga prepares the field to understand God (God's grace).[11] Antahkarana is the levels of mental layers and, or including mental body.
The word Tirth is found in the oldest layer, that is the Samhit of the Rigved as well as other Vedas.[12] In the hymns of Rigved, such as 3 and 4.29.3, the context suggests that the word means "a way or road".[12] In other hymns of Rigveda such as 3.33.33, states Kane, the context suggests the term means "a ford in the river".[12] Yet, in other cases, Tirth refers to any holy place, such as by the sea, or a place that connects a sacrificial ground (Yajna) to the outside.[13][7] Later texts use the word Tirtha to refer to any spot, locality or expanse of water where circumstances or presence of great sages or gurus has made special.[14][3][15]
In the Upanishads, states Diana L. Eck, the "crossing over" refers to the "spiritual transition and transformation from this world to the world of Brahman, the Supreme, the world illumined by the light of knowledge".[16] The emphasis in the Upanishads, in Tirth context is on spiritual knowledge, instead of rituals, and this theme appears in the Hindu epics as well.[16]
- ^ a b James G. Lochtefeld 2002, pp. 698–699.
- ^ a b c d e Axel Michaels & Barbara Harshav (Transl) 2004, pp. 288–289.
- ^ a b c Knut A. Jacobsen 2013, pp. 157–158.
- ^ a b Bhardwaj 1983, p. 2.
- ^ Pilgrimage, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Koeln University, Germany (2012)
- ^ Monier Monier-Williams. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 800.
- ^ a b Diana L. Eck 2012, p. 7.
- ^ Diana L. Eck 2012, p. 10.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
holmbowker69was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bhardwaj 1983, p. 3.
- ^ Atmananada, Paramhansa (24 October 2018). "Chitta Suddhi". www.kriyayogajagat.com. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ^ a b c Kane 1953, p. 554.
- ^ Kane 1953, pp. 554–555.
- ^ Kane 1953, p. 555.
- ^ Trithurari, Swami, Sacred of the Sacred, Harmonist, 2009.\; Quote: ... India and its sacred places are sacred by and large for one reason alone. Sacred places are such because sacred persons, who have crossed over the river of samsara, reside in them. There is no more sacred place than the heart of the sadhu, wherein God himself resides.
- ^ a b Diana L. Eck 2012, pp. 7–8.