Abstract:
A pilgrimage is a sacred journey, an act of religious devotion undertaken for a spiritual purpose to holy sites. Pilgrims are different from tourists for they travel for spiritual reasons, not just to relax or for fun. Pilgrimage is a search for meaning, purpose, values of life or truth. It has been the tradition for thousands of years in all religions, and hitherto today, we are witnessing global ecological crisis, the nature is suffering in ways we have never experienced before. In India we see this phenomenon significantly. Once where nature was abundant, we now see bare hills, polluted rivers, heaps of untreated waste, the receding of wild forests and the subsequent loss of wildlife. All of these bring trouble for human communities including lack of clean water, air and other natural resources, and unforeseen natural disasters such as floods and landslides. The environment in many holy places and pilgrimage centres is getting adversely affected by large incursion of visitors. In today's world, consumerism have corrupted pilgrimages. In ancient days, a pilgrimage was considered as a holy journey which was full of odds and difficulties. Introduction of comfortable and improved means of transportation has enhanced the accessibility of the tough religious sites which has led to adverse effects such as increased dumping of filth and waste. The religious observances have unknowingly affected the Natural Forests. This calls for an urgent need to bring a shift from the concept of just a simple "pilgrimage" to "green pilgrimage". This paper has made an attempt to highlight the significance of green pilgrimage and its beneficial effects on the environment of the present day. Green pilgrimage is need of an hour. It is essentially the sustainable behaviour of green pilgrimage that will show the means to protect the environment by changing the mindset of the travelling pilgrims.
